The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have all the talent in the world on the offensive side of the ball. Jameis Winston can’t complain about a lack of support as the front office has clearly tried to give him everything he could possibly want. Now it’s time for Winston to produce results. The Bucs will get their first chance to show off their new weapons on Friday night when they take on another team that figures to have an explosive offense this season, the Cincinnati Bengals.
This matchup in Week 1 of the preseason will take place on Friday, August 11, 2017,
at 7:30 p.m. ET at Paul Brown Stadium.
Week 1 NFL Preseason Opening Odds at BookMaker.eu
Tampa Bay Buccaneers +2
Cincinnati Bengals -2
Over/Under 37.5
Odds Analysis
Dirk Koetter went 2-2 in his first preseason as an NFL head coach. The formula was simple last preseason, when the Bucs scored 20 or more points they won and when they didn’t they lost. That led to Tampa Bay’s games going over the total in its wins and the under cashing when it lost.
Long-time Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis is 29-28 in the preseason and went 1-3 last year. Putting Cincinnati into teasers would have been a profitable endeavor though. The Bengals’ largest margin of defeat last season was 6.5 points, so even though they went 1-3 ATS as well, all four games would have been covers with an extra seven points.
Key Players
Unlike many coaches, Koetter is not afraid to have Winston see a decent amount of action in the team’s first preseason game. Last year, Winston played the first four series in the first preseason game against the Eagles and Koetter wasn’t afraid to have him zing it all over the field.
With so many new pieces, Winston should be on the field for quite a bit in this game. Tampa Bay signed DeSean Jackson to give Winston a reliable deep threat and it wouldn’t be a shock to see these two try to connect on a ‘Go’ route.
The Buccaneers also brought in the best tight end in the draft in OJ Howard. Winston looked to Cameron Brate a lot last season and being able to run a two tight end set with Brate and Howard should mean a lot of mismatches for the Bucs offense.
Additionally, the Bucs are excited to see what third-round pick Chris Godwin can do. Godwin has been impressive thus far in training camp and he could have a big year in the slot for this team. Look for Godwin and Howard to see a lot of the field here.
Key Matchup
Cincinnati could have the best trio of receivers in the NFL if everything pans out. The Bengals are hoping for a big season out of second-year wide receiver Tyler Boyd and will have AJ Green healthy again. Green was having a career season before he suffered an injury in 2016 and will again be Dalton’s go-to guy.
The Bengals supplemented both of these talents by selecting speedster John Ross in the first round of this year’s draft. Ross established himself as a guaranteed first-round pick after breaking the 40-yard dash record at the NFL Combine and will at the very least be a deep threat for Andy Dalton.
Ross and Boyd should both see a good amount of snaps in this game as they are still melding with this offense.
Free ATS Pick
Both back-up quarterbacks have plenty of NFL experience and could have nice outings with the talent they will have available to them. AJ McCarron will want to do all he can in preseason with restricted free agency looming after this year, while Ryan Fitzpatrick is breaking in with another team. That makes the over a good play.
Week 1 NFL Preseason Odds: Bengals 27, Buccaneers 24
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