New Orleans Saints vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers – NFL Week 9, 2020

Week 9 Sunday Night Football brings the marquee matchup between the New Orleans Saints and Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida.

These two NFC South foes will meet each other for the second time in 2020. Back in the opening week, the Saints outlasted the Bucs 34-23 as 4-point home favorites to record their fourth straight victory over Tampa Bay.

The Bucs will seek revenge, promising a great battle between a couple of legitimate Super Bowl contenders, so here’s my best Saints vs. Buccaneers betting pick.

Both Saints and Buccaneers are 5-2 after the first eight rounds, sitting atop of the NFC South. The Saints have a slight advantage, as they went 2-0 in the divisional play, while the Bucs are 1-1 against the NFC South.

The bookies listed Tampa as a 4.5-point fave with a total of 53.5 points. The Bucs have played very well since that opening loss to New Orleans. Furthermore, the Saints have some problems with injuries, and their best wideout is still doubtful to play against the Bucs.

Although Michael Thomas has been sidelined since Week 2, the Saints have done a good job thus far. They are riding a four-game winning streak following a 26-23 overtime victory at the Chicago Bears this past Sunday. It was the Saints’ third straight win by exactly three points.

Alvin Kamara had another good game in Week 8. He tallied 163 yards from scrimmage against the Bears’ stout defense. Drew Brees threw for 280 yards and a couple of scores, but the Saints converted only one of their four red-zone attempts.

New Orleans is scoring 29.4 points per game (7^th in the NFL) on 385.9 total yards (10^th). Considering Michael Thomas’ absence, the Saints’ offense is looking good.

There are some problems on the defensive end, as the Saints are allowing 28.1 points per contest (23^rd) on 328.4 total yards (8^th). They yielded 20 touchdowns on 24 red-zone attempts which makes the Saints’ defense the worst in the NFL in that category.

The Buccaneers are on a three-game win streak after a narrow 25-23 victory at the New York Giants this past Monday. Tampa had a lot of problems to beat the Giants and failed to cover a 13-point spread.

New York had a chance to tie the clash and force overtime, but the Buccaneers managed to defend the two-point conversion with 28 seconds left on the clock.

The Bucs struggled mightily in the first half and scored just a couple of field goals. They finished the game with only 81 rushing yards, while Tom Brady tossed for 279 yards and two scores.

Tampa is scoring 30.9 points per contest (4^th) on 368.4 total yards (14^th) while yielding 20.6 points in a return (7^th) on just 299.5 total yards (3^rd).

Antonio Brown will probably make his debut for the Buccaneers on Sunday. Chris Godwin (finger) is still recovering from his injury and is listed as questionable.

The Buccaneers’ defense has been one of the best in the league thus far and I expect it to make a difference in this one. Also, the Bucs’ offense is the third-best in the NFL when it comes to the red-zone conversion, so the Saints’ D will have a mountain to climb at Raymond James Stadium.

Tampa is 0-4 SU and ATS in its last four encounters with New Orleans. This is a great opportunity for the Bucs to finally snap their skid, so I’m backing the hosts to win and cover a 2.5-point spread.