The Raymond James Stadium plays host to an NFC Conference matchup between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (3-5) and the Los Angeles Rams (3-4) on Sunday. A tally of three wins from eight games leaves the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with a divisional ranking of second in the NFC South, while the Los Angeles Rams are third in the NFC West after collecting three victories out of a possible seven. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers need a win and need it fast to keep their playoff hopes alive. Three defeats in a row are always brutal, and the Los Angeles Rams should be wary of an opponent super motivated to end their current poor run.

Form Tampa Bay Buccaneers

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were dealt a tough blow last week when they lost 22-27 to the Baltimore Ravens. The defeat extended their losing streak to three games, leaving their overall record for the past 10 games at 3-7.

Things haven’t improved on the offense front for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at all, having put just 19.0 points on board across the last five matches. In all, the offense has averaged 18.3 points for the season. The defense, on the other hand, hasn’t been as effective in putting the brakes on opposing offenses of late. In the past five outings, 24.8 points have been lost on average. This is more than the home team usually gives up, having allowed a decent 18.9 points per game this season.

Despite being billed as a potential Super Bowl finalist in pre-season, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have had a change of priorities. The hosts won’t seal a postseason berth as things stand. Therefore, the aim is to climb up the rankings in the NFC Conference to secure a playoff seeding before the regular season ends.

Form Los Angeles Rams

The Los Angeles Rams are a poor 3-4 so far in the regular season and their latest match against the San Francisco 49ers ended in a 14-31 defeat, leaving them 4-6 in their past 10 games.

Things haven’t improved on the offense front for the Los Angeles Rams at all, having put just 15.4 points on board across the last five matches. In all, the offense has averaged 16.9 points for the season. On the other side of the ball, the defense has been relatively average in the league recently. The visitors have given up 19.8 points in the previous five outings, which is more or less on par with the 22.4 points they’ve allowed per game over the course of the regular season.

As the reigning Super Bowl champions, only a successful title defense will do for the Los Angeles Rams . A spot in the playoffs come the end of the regular season will be the bare minimum expected for a team which finished one in the NFC West, won the NFC Championship, and lifted the famous Vince Lombardi Trophy.

H2H

The Los Angeles Rams pulled off a 27-30 win in their most recent game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, which took place at the Raymond James Stadium. Los Angeles Rams enjoyed a fantastic reading on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers recently, having claimed three wins in a row against their upcoming opponent. The overall record from their previous 13 games says 9-4 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

In their past 13 head-to-head games, Tampa Bay Buccaneers pulled off 24.23 points on average per game, whereas Los Angeles Rams scored 25.69 points per match.

Standings

Neither of these two teams will make the NFL postseason as things currently stand. They are losing their respective divisional battles, sit below the .500 mark, and have collected just three wins ahead of their Week 9 matchup.

Betting

Moneyline

Take the Los Angeles Rams (2.30) for the underdog win. Yes, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are favored on the moneyline at 1.66, but their struggles at home suggest nothing is set in stone as far as this matchup is concerned. The hosts are 1-4 SU at the Raymond James Stadium after losing four of their past five home games. Instead, we like the look of the Los Angeles Rams continuing their dominance in this series, having won four of their last five matchups against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Spread

The oddsmakers are siding with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1.66) on the spread, but not by much. The hosts open up as -3.0 point favorites over the Los Angeles Rams for Sunday’s matchup. An average 7.2 point winning margin was the difference between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Los Angeles Rams across their last five meetings. The spread itself was only 1.8 points off in these games. For the latest showdown, the oddsmakers have the spread set at 3.

Backing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to cover the spread looks like a red flag here, even on home soil. They’ve failed to cover the spread in their last six outings ahead of Sunday’s matchup. In their past 10 games, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have gone 2-8 ATS overall and 0-5 ATS at home.

Instead, we feel like taking the Los Angeles Rams (1.86) to cover the spread. The visitors may be 2-2 ATS from their four most recent road trips, but they are 5-0 ATS in their last five road games against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Total

The last 13 games between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Los Angeles Rams offered a decent average of 49.92 points on the board.

The average total in the last five encounters between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Los Angeles Rams was a staggering 66 points. As the total for their latest showdown is 42.5, it might be worth siding with the Over (1.66).

Interestedly, the total has gone under in six of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ past nine matchups matchups against teams from the NFC West.

The last three away matches Los Angeles Rams played saw the points total finishing under. Meanwhile, the total has only gone over in one of the last 5 away games for the Los Angeles Rams. They are 4-6 in the last 10 games, whether home or away, when it comes to total points scored.