Free Picks: Carolina Panthers vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tom Brady had arguably the worst game of his long, distinguished career last week, and the rest of his Tampa Bay Buccaneers teammates didn’t play much better. They will now head to Carolina to take on the Teddy Bridgewater-led Panthers as Brady and the boys try to get their season back on track after being so thoroughly embarrassed by the division-rival New Orleans Saints twice in one season.

Tom Brady does not play that poorly very often. On primetime Sunday Night Football in Week 9, the man that some call the NFL’s ‘GOAT,’ took the field and stunk it up like a regular billy goat with 209 yards, no touchdowns, and three picks. You’ve got to go back nine years to find the last time Brady tossed more than two picks, and even on that day he threw four touchdowns to match his four interceptions, so this one against the Saints is surely worse.

Is this the beginning of the end for old man Brady? Fat chance. That question has been asked many a time over the past few years, and all Brady has continued to do is play at a world class week in and week out.. until last week of course. But history tells us that Brady and the Bucs will bounce back and then some against the Panthers.

Since 2010, in games after Brady has thrown 2+ interceptions (it was only more than two twice), his teams have gone a whopping 15-1, with the one loss coming in 2011 to the Steelers. That bodes very well for anyone looking to put a wager down on the Buccaneers -4.5 point spread on sports betting site 888sport. Doubtless that number would have been much higher had the Bucs not embarrassed themselves on national TV last week, but we’re not complaining since it has resulted in a pretty tasty-looking spread for the 6-3 Bucs (who would be 6-1 and looking a lot more menacing if it wasn’t for Drew Brees and the Saints).

What’s more is that Brady’s bunch hasn’t just played well after he throws multiple picks, he has led his offense to some truly dominating performances, putting up 28+ points in 11 of the 16 games as his units amassed an impressive 30.5 points per contest, a number that jumps to 35.1 if you only go back to 2014. That means that betting the over on the Buccaneers 27.5 total points at -103 odds on 888sport is looking quite attractive as well.

Teddy has been great this season for Carolina and the Panthers have been surprisingly impressive as a whole under new head coach Matt Rhule, but unfortunately for them, they’re coming across Tommy on a get-right game, and no one plays better in that situation than him.

• Tampa Bay has gone 7-0 ATS in their last 7 after accumulating less than 250 yards in the previous week.
• Carolina is giving up 28 points per game against teams above .500.
• Prior to Week 9 Tampa Bay was averaging 30.1 points per game.
• Road team has covered the spread in 9 of the last 13 meetings between these teams.