The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have the longest home losing streak in the NFL at the moment, something that Jameis Winston is going to work hard to erase from the memory banks as quickly as possible. He's going to be matched up against Cam Newton in a very interesting fantasy football battle here at BookMaker Sportsbook this Sunday when the Carolina Panthers come to the New Sombrero.
Winston has one major problem right now which better end up getting fixed in a hurry. His wide receivers are just dropping far too many passes. If you go back and look at the stats from last week's game in Houston, you won't see what you like if you're looking forward to betting on the former No. 1 pick. He went just 17-of-36 for 261 yards with a touchdown and a pick, totaling 13.47 fantasy points by BookMaker standards. With some help from his wide outs though, he would have easily had another six or seven completions and gone over 300 yards to give him a much more respectable day.
This Carolina secondary is a nightmare to try to matchup with. Josh Norman is a fantastic corner, and getting the ball to Mike Evans might end up being tough. Vincent Jackson could be in for a bigger day, but that might not ultimately translate into more fantasy points for Winston.
Meanwhile, this could be another good day for Super Cam. In six games against the Buccaneers, Newton has thrown for 1,414 yards and 10 TDs against just four picks, and he has another 281 rushing yards and six TDs. All of that has totaled an average of 28.2 fantasy points per game.
The matchup is really particularly good for Newton. The Buccaneers have a great defensive line, and even though they did let Alfred Blue run for over 130 yards last week, it took him 31 carries to get there. That leads us to believe that the Panthers are going to be a little more likely to open it up just a bit in this game.
Newton doesn't have fantastic wide receivers, but the Tampa Bay secondary isn't all that great. Ted Ginn Jr. could have a good game in this one, as could Devin Funchess, even though the latter hasn't really done anything in this, his rookie season.
Let's not forget that the one mobile quarterback which played against this Buccaneers defense this year, Marcus Mariota, threw four touchdown passes in his first career game. Mariota put up 32.23 fantasy points. Even though it isn't every day that a quarterback is going to throw just 16 passes for four touchdowns, it also isn't every day that we see a quarterback only essentially play two quarters like Mariota more or less did against Tampa Bay in Week 1.
The real issue here at hand is going to be how many fantasy points Newton is going to be laying in this game. Interestingly enough though, it's the fact that Carolina is going to be a relatively public play that has us intrigued about taking Newton, even laying seven or eight points against the rookie.
Lovie Smith is going to try to take as much pressure off of his rookie quarterback as possible, and that means running the ball with Doug Martin as much as he can. If the Panthers do happen to get themselves into a legit contest here, Newton is going to be asked to do more. We prefer the prospects of Newton against Winston, but we won't be laying double digits in points if that's what the line turns out to be featured at.
The NFL odds for this Sunday contest were first released by BookMaker, and the Carolina Panthers were positioned as 3.5-point favorites with a total of 40. Now you can wager in-game while the action unfolds with BookMaker's live betting option.
BookMaker offers play-by-play betting odds for live sporting events every day! The user-friendly wagering interface on your smartphone provides an easy way to place bets on the go. Mobile betting lines are updated by the minute, so click here to start gambling on thrilling live action at BookMaker Sportsbook! The matchup between the Carolina Panthers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers will take place Sunday, October 4, 2015, at 1:00 p.m. ET at Raymond James Stadium. The game will be televised on FOX.
