With the 2015-16 NFL Regular Season winding down and moving into Week 15, then on this Thursday night the 17th of December 2015 we have the NFC South 6-7 Tampa Bay Buccaneers playing at the NFC West 5-8 Rams of St. Louis with the game being played at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis, Missouri with the kick-off scheduled for 8:25 PM ET and seen on NFL TV.
This past Sunday the Rams finally got back in the win column after 5 straight losses with their win over the Lions of Detroit 21-14. The scoring was led by RB T. Gurley who rushed for some 140 yards and 2 touchdowns.
The fans that Bet on NFL football and are seeking the Vegas odds, you should know that the odds on the game are a PK with the Over/under at 41 and no early Money Lines available.
For the fans of the 6-7 Buccaneers of Tampa Bay, your team had a win over the Falcons in Week 13 at 23-19, but lost the momentum in Week 14 game with the Saints of which they lost 24-17 who were outdone by QB D Brees of the Saints who completed 31 of his 41 passing attempts for some 313 yards and 2 touchdowns without an interception.
However, the Bus and QB J. Winston were able to keep the game close as he completed 18 of his 32 passing attempts for some 184 yards and had a 4th quarter TD to WR A. Humphries that left the deficit at -7 points, but the Saints allowed no more points in the game, thus the Buc’s had the 4 game win streak busted.
The Bucs hope to get a NFC Wild Card spot took a major hit with this loss to the Saints, and now they seek to make a comeback this Thursday night as they play the Rams. In their road games this season the Buc’s are with 3 wins and 3 losses straight up.
Tampa Bay’s running game presently ranked 4th in the NFL as the averaged 142 yards each game could be a key to victory in this upcoming game. That since D. Martin leads the team with 1,215 yards rushing in 2015 scoring 5 touchdowns to date, while he has gained over 100 yards now in 4 games this season.
While the Buccaneers are best known for their passing game since they have only passed for an average of 223 yards each game, but their QB J. Winston still has some good receiving targets, one being M. Evans who in his last 3 games had 13 catches for 165 yards.
If you’re a Rams of St. Louis (5-8) fan you know when RB T. Hurley has it together the Rams are difficult to overcome. In the previous 2 weeks he had a total of 18 carries for 60 yards, but got it going and broke his slump as in that last game he had 16 carries for 142 and 2 touchdowns in the game, and that led to the Rams 1st win in 6 games.
This Thursday night the Rams are seeking to make it 2 consecutive wins as they play at home against the Buccaneers of Tampa Bay a team that has lost 2 of their last 3 games. The Rams in their ultimate 10 games with the Buccaneers are with 5 wins and 5 losses. For the Rams to do that, they need for QB C. Keenum to step up his performance after missing the last 2 games to an injury, being a concussion.
What fans are wondering is whether Rams Coach Fisher will keep QB Keenum starting or will he revert back to QB N. Foles as the starter in this game. Whoever starts will have RB Gurley for support who can lead the team against the Buc’s strong defense that has only allowed opponents in 13 games to only 95 yards each game. The RB Gurley alone may not provide enough points to win, so the Rams offense will need to revert some to the passing game since they have to receivers that have combined for 870 reception yard and 5 touchdowns to date in K. Britt and T. Austin.
The online sportsbook prediction for this game is that the Rams of St. Louis have another strong game by RB Gurley that allows them to beat the Buccaneers for 20-17 for their 2nd straight win and take the Buccaneers out of the Wildcard picture for the NFC.