St. Louis Rams at Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, FL
Sunday, October 24, 2010, 1:00 pm EST, TV: FOX
Opening Line: Bucs -1.5
Current Line: Bucs -3
Opening Total: 38
Current Total: 37.5
Money Line: Bucs -150 / Rams +130
It may seem hard to believe that either the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (3-2) or St. Louis Rams (3-3) will likely have four wins after they meet on Sunday (unless they tie of course). Last year, Tampa Bay (-3 on the current NFL lines) and St. Louis combined for four wins the entire season, but both teams obviously find themselves in a much better position now heading into a key NFC battle.
The Rams have been an especially surprising story this year with rookie quarterback Sam Bradford leading the way. Bradford has been forced to adjust to losing a top receiver twice already this season and got a nice boost last week from undrafted rookie Denario Alexander, who caught four passes for 72 yards and scored a touchdown in a 20-17 upset of San Diego.
Outside of a 44-6 loss at Detroit two weeks ago, the St. Louis defense has also played well, limiting opponents to 17 points or less five times in six games. The Rams held the Chargers to a season-low 287 yards last week and sacked quarterback Philip Rivers seven times for 41 yards. However, they are still looking for their first road win of the season and will be facing a Tampa team trying to avoid its third straight loss at home after falling to New Orleans and Pittsburgh.
The Buccaneers are coming off a 31-6 loss to the Saints last week in which they continued to struggle both running the ball and stopping the run. Running back Cadillac Williams rushed 10 times for 18 yards, and he is averaging only 2.5 yards per carry this year. Tampa Bay ranks 27th in the NFL in rushing with 91.2 yards per game on the ground and must find a way to help balance out the offense for second-year quarterback Josh Freeman.
Defensively, the Bucs are surrendering 157 rushing yards per game, which ranks second-to-last in the league. They have allowed opposing running backs to run for 140 or more yards each of the last three weeks, including 158 on 15 carries from New Orleans undrafted rookie Chris Ivory.
St. Louis running back Steven Jackson could be next in line to accomplish that feat, and he needs just 33 yards to pass Hall of Famer Eric Dickerson as the leading rusher in team history. Jackson has broken the century mark in rushing yards each of the last two weeks and ranks fifth in the NFL with 507 yards overall.
If the running games take center stage in this matchup, bettors could see another low-scoring game. The UNDER is 7-2 in the last nine games overall for the Rams and 8-0 in the last eight games against NFC opponents for Tampa Bay. The UNDER has also cashed in three of the last four regular-season meetings between the teams.
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