2015 Tampa Bay Buccaneers Predictions: Season Win Totals Odds and Picks

2015 Tampa Bay Buccaneers Predictions: Season Win Totals Odds and Picks

by Robert Ferringo - 8/18/2015

2014 Record: 2-14

2015 Las Vegas Season Win Total: 6.0

Lovie Smith is a great guy and a good coach. He has a proven system and has had a lot of success in the NFL. I want to like the Bucs this season, and I'd like to see Lovie succeed. But it is blatantly obvious that Tampa Bay won't be much better this season, and the reason boils down to two words: Jameis Winston.

Jameis Winston is a loser. And I'm not even making a judgment based on his horrific character. I don't think that Winston will be much of an NFL quarterback, and I think his skill set is some combination of equal parts Kerry Collins, JaMarcus Russell and Byron Leftwich. Can he develop into a mediocre starter in this league? Probably. And his college track record and draft pedigree will buy him a lot of chances. But the Bucs have condemned their franchise by trying to build around a guy that's supersaturated with red flags and bad karma.

It is a shame, because the Bucs have some serious skill position talent. Mike Evans and Vincent Jackson are as good as any one-two wide receiver combination in the NFL. They have a good young tight end, and Doug Martin has shown flashes of brilliance in his young career. Unfortunately, those skill players are shackled with one of the three weakest offensive lines in football and a quarterback that doesn't know which end is up.

Defensively, Smith is still clinging to his prized Cover-2 system. But the Cover-2 is dead. And unless you have a defense loaded with top-end talent, well schooled in this method of play, the Cover-2 is going to be susceptible to getting lit up by accurate quarterbacks. That was certainly the case last year when they gave up 410 points.

The Bucs were outscored by 133 points per game last year. But they actually have a ton of other statistical measures that suggest that they should've been better last year, and they could be primed for a bounce-back season. Poor injury luck, playing without an offensive coordinator, an easier schedule, and an inordinate number of close losses last season (they had eight losses by six points or less) all suggest they could surprise some people this year. But they won't win seven games. I'd play this one 'under'.

WEEK	DATE	OPPONENT	TIME (ET)	Location	Result
Pre	Sat, Aug 15th, 2015	atMinnesota	08:00 PM	TCF Bank Stadium
Pre	Mon, Aug 24th, 2015	Cincinnati	08:00 PM	Raymond James Stadium
Pre	Sat, Aug 29th, 2015	Cleveland	07:00 PM	Raymond James Stadium
Pre	Thu, Sep 3rd, 2015	atMiami	07:00 PM	Sun Life Stadium
1	Sun, Sep 13th, 2015	Tennessee	04:25 PM	Raymond James Stadium
2	Sun, Sep 20th, 2015	atNew_Orleans	01:00 PM	Superdome
3	Sun, Sep 27th, 2015	atHouston	01:00 PM	NRG Stadium
4	Sun, Oct 4th, 2015	Carolina	01:00 PM	Raymond James Stadium
5	Sun, Oct 11th, 2015	Jacksonville	01:00 PM	Raymond James Stadium
6	Bye
7	Sun, Oct 25th, 2015	atWashington	01:00 PM	FedEx Field
8	Sun, Nov 1st, 2015	atAtlanta	01:00 PM	Georgia Dome
9	Sun, Nov 8th, 2015	NY_Giants	04:05 PM	Raymond James Stadium
10	Sun, Nov 15th, 2015	Dallas	01:00 PM	Raymond James Stadium
11	Sun, Nov 22nd, 2015	atPhiladelphia	01:00 PM	Lincoln Financial Field
12	Sun, Nov 29th, 2015	atIndianapolis	01:00 PM	Lucas Oil Stadium
13	Sun, Dec 6th, 2015	Atlanta	01:00 PM	Raymond James Stadium
14	Sun, Dec 13th, 2015	New_Orleans	01:00 PM	Raymond James Stadium
15	Thu, Dec 17th, 2015	atSt._Louis	08:25 PM	Edward Jones Dome
16	Sun, Dec 27th, 2015	Chicago	01:00 PM	Raymond James Stadium
17	Sun, Jan 3rd, 2016	atCarolina	01:00 PM	Bank of America Stadium

All Times EST

Robert Ferringo has been the top football handicapper in the country the past two years, earning nearly $13,000 in total football profit with back-to-back winning seasons. Robert has tallied over $20,000 in football profit the last four years and in 2013 he hit 62.1 percent for the entire NFL season (95-58). Robert has produced an incredible 12 of 16 winning football months. Going back further he has churned out 35 of 51 winning football months, four of five winning overall seasons, seven of eight winning preseasons and he is at nearly 60 percent winners over his last 600 football picks. Also, Robert's proprietary KING College Football Betting System has posted two of three winning seasons and is 101-71 over the last two years (58.7 percent).

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Pick:	CHICAGO BEARS +3
Start:	November 24, 2024 @ 1:00 PM
Expert:	Doc's Sports

Analysis:

Free Play from Doc’s Sports. Take #256 Chicago Bears +3 over Minnesota Vikings (1p.m., Sunday, November 24 FOX) We used the Bears as a free play winner last Sunday and easily covered the spread and should have been an underdog outright winner. Now we will ride them for a second straight week against another NFC North rival, the Minnesota Vikings. The Vikings are 8-2 on the season, yet are only around a field goal favorite. I still do not trust Sam Donald to win consistently over the course of a 17 game regular season. Minnesota is not as good as their 8-2 record would indicate and playing outdoors in Chicago on Sunday will cause issues for them on both sides of the ball. Chicago has been hit or miss this season, but they will be up to play another divisional rival and we expect them to take this down to the wire as well. Do not miss out on Doc’s Sports Weekend Card featuring top plays in college and NFL football. Read More Read Less

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