Getty Darrell Henderson of the Los Angeles Rams tries to break free from a diving tackle attempt by Lavonte David during the Rams' road victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on November 23, 2020.
We already know this week’s top heavyweight battle in the NFL: It involves a potential NFC Championship game preview down at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Los Angeles Rams.
The Sunday, September 26 game is already “America’s Game of the Week” by Fox Sports. Two teams with Super Bowl aspirations will already, without a doubt, draw in millions of viewers on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. PT. According to StubHub, only two tickets at the lowest price were left as of 1:50 p.m. PT on Tuesday, September 21.
While Tom Brady is 5-2 against the Rams (lost as a Buc last year), Sunday will mark this first for Brady below.
When the Buccaneers play at the Rams on Sunday, it will mark the first NFL game that Tom Brady has played in Los Angeles.
Of course, Brady’s last encounter with the Rams came in the 2019 Super Bowl – his last Vince Lombardi Trophy winning game as a New England Patriot.
And already with the game just five days away, the early predictions have come rolling into online print. And it begs the question: Who thinks the Rams will top the defending Super Bowl champs and hand the Bucs’ their first loss of 2021?
Who is the Favorite to Win?
Per Tipico, the favorite in this game is…the Rams, as a slight 1.5 point favorite.
USA Today’s Sports Betting Odds page is another that sides with the Rams, making them a +1 favorite. Meanwhile, MGM has the Rams listed as the early favorite.
Staying in Sin City, Caesar’s Sportsbook released these odds at 11:18 a.m. PT on Tuesday via their Twitter account:
There are only seven undefeated NFL teams left, and two of them square off in Week 3!
Buccaneers (-1) at Rams features the tightest spread on the slate, and is tied for the highest total (55.5).
Check out all available NFL Week 3 odds at #CaesarsSportsbook
While there are national betting sites that favor the Rams, there’s one that has taken the side of the Bucs: Draft Kings, who list the Rams as a -1 underdog as of Sunday, September 19.
Draft Kings isn’t alone. Sportsnaut is another who projects the Bucs to hand the Rams their first loss of the season.
What’s Being Written on who Wins?
Now we get into who is writing what about the early predictions on how this game will play out.
Back to Draft Kings, so far they’re one who believes more in the 2021 Super Bowl winners. Chinmay Vaidya of Draft Kings wrote this:
“The Buccaneers and Rams met last season, with Los Angeles grabbing a 27-24 victory on Monday Night Football. Tom Brady is coming off a five-touchdown performance in a win against the Atlanta Falcons, but will face a much tougher task against a feisty Rams defense.
“The Rams were shaky in a Week 2 victory over the Colts, but still have one of the best defenses in the league. Brady is on fire though, and should be able to find openings in LA’s secondary. Matthew Stafford had an off day against Indianapolis after lighting up the Bears in Week 1. Expect Tampa Bay’s opportunistic defense to get after him. Take the value on the defending Super Bowl champions here.”
Sportsnaut’s Matt Fitzgerald wrote about the site’s Rams/Bucs prediction on Sunday following both team’s victories over the Indianapolis Colts and Atlanta Falcons, respectively. Here’s what Fitzgerald typed:
“Before the Cam Akers injury, we projected this would be the first loss on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers schedule. With the Rams’ explosive back sidelined for the season, that takes away an important element to this offense and swings this matchup back in the Bucs’ favor, especially with the way Tom Brady is playing right now.”
Sports World News, however, believes in the Rams more. They site the Matthew Stafford/Cooper Kupp connection to carve up a Bucs pass defense that’s allowed an average of 342 yards in both wins as the reason behind picking L.A.
Lastly, Pro Football Network’s Ben Rolfe calls for the Rams to move to 3-0 overall, with Rolfe writing “Thanks to Aaron Donald, the Rams are better equipped than anyone to follow that recipe. Throw in a suspect Tampa Bay secondary, and the Rams should be able to come away with the victory.”