
A trip to the NFC Championship game is on the line as Tom Brady and the Buccaneers host Mathew Stafford and the Rams. Read below to find out how to best bet the spread, point total, and props like anytime touchdown scorer. Before you place any bets, make sure to have a look at our live football odds page that allows you to see the most up to date odds and how they compare against all of the biggest sportsbooks.
It only took 13 years and a blockbuster of an offseason trade from the Lions to Rams, but Mathew Stafford finally got his first playoff victory when the Rams trampled the Cardinals last week 34-11. Now he gets to face the most prolific postseason quaterback of all time in Tom Brady who will be looking to get to his 15th league championship game. The Bucs are coming in after their own drudging of a bird team, a 31-15 win against the Eagles.
We all expect this one to be much more competitive as the top bookmakers all have the Buccaneers at three point favorites. However, the Rams are 2-0 against Tampa Bay since Brady came to town. Most recently Los Angeles dominated in a Week 3 Monday night matchup 34-24, and the game wasn’t even as close as the score might have you think.
Will the Rams be able to repeat and beat Brady twice in one season? I think they can and the main reason is the Rams defensive line against the Bucs offensive line. LA has sacked opposing QBs 103 times over the last two seasons. They’ve gotten most of those sacks without blitzing as Aaron Donald and the recently acquired Von Miller have no problem winning their one on one matchups. On the other side of the ball, the Bucs line is hurting and saw Tristan Wirfs, center Ryan Jensen, and back up tack Josh Wells all miss some time this past Sunday. Wirfs and Jensen are both likely to play against the Rams, but I don’t think they’ll hold up well in their diminished state.
Compounding problems is that Tom Brady is still getting used to a new cast of players around him since losing Leonard Fournette, Ronald Jones, Chris Godwin, and Antonio Brown. All of this has me confident to take the Rams not just to cover the spread, but the win outright.
Both of these teams are known for high powered offenses as the Rams average 27.1 points per game and the Bucs average 30.1. Although I’ve mainly highlighted the Bucs injuries to this point the Rams are thin at safety and even had to bring veteran Eric Weddle out of a two year long retirement to help. Brady will undoubtedly take advantage of that in a way that the Cardinals were unable to.
Look for a high-powered, entertaining game on Sunday and take the over from one of the top bookmakers when these two teams meet.
Many had left OBJ for dead after his disappointing seasons in Cleveland, but the receiver has reinvented himself since his appearance in Los Angeles. He now has six touchdowns in his last eight games and is a go-to target for Stafford in the endzone, especially since Cooper Kupp often draws double coverage.
Even if Brady is to lose this game we all know he won’t go down without a fight. The run game has been hampered and Brady has been forced to shoulder much of the load. That hasn’t been a problem for him as he’s gone over 300 yards passing in half of his games this season. If you think this game will hit the over, it squares that the Bucs will be able to score at least two TDs in the first half of this game as well.
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