TAM/PIT
Time: 1 PM ET
Spread: PIT -9
Total: 45

Betting odds courtesy of Bovada

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have predictably begun its season 0-3 and will face the Pittsburgh Steelers on the road this week in a game NFL oddsmakers are favoring the Steelers by 9-points.

Pittsburgh may finally be putting its offense together, which is bad news for the Bucs. Tampa Bay is coming off an embarrassing loss last week and the Steelers rank 2nd in the AFC with 419 yards per game. Last week, the Steelers amassed 454 yards in a 37-19 victory over the Carolina Panthers. Ben Roethlisberger threw a seven-yard TD pass to Antonio Brown to connect on the duos first TD since week 1.

The Steelers paraded in for three more TDs and Le’Veon Bell rushed for a career high 147 yards. He has 461 yards from the line of scrimmage this season and LaGarrette Blout rushed for 118, as well. It was the first time two Pittsburgh teammates had run for 100 in the same game since 1986.

Roethlisberger threw for 196 yards on a 73.3 percent completion ratio, also throwing two TDs. The Steelers are beat up on the defensive side of the ball, with three starters out, including Ike Taylor who broke his right forearm and is out indefinitely. Pittsburgh signed James Harrison to add some depth, but he may not be ready to go for this contest. He had 456 tackles in 11 seasons with the Steelers before heading to Cincy last year, where he had just two sacks.

The Bucs lost 54-16 to the Falcons last week, which was the third-worst defeat in Bucs history. The Falcons had 488 yards to Tampa Bay’s 217, and the Bucs only had 10 first downs to Falcons’ 26. The five turnovers Tampa Bay committed was its first with as many since 2012. Lovie Smith said that “when you get beat that bad, you need to make changes…you’re looking at all areas when you feel like you need to go another direction.”

Josh McCown suffered a sprained thumb last week, and it’s unclear who will start between he and Mike Glennon. The Bucs were 4-9 with Glennon starting at QB last year, and he threw for 19 TDs with 9 INTs. The Steelers have an 8-1 series edge with Tampa Bay and won the last matchup 38-13 in Tampa on Sept. 26, 2010.