Rams vs. Buccaneers predictions

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers play the Los Angeles Rams in just over half an hour, so it’s time for some predictions.

Will the Bucs manage to grab their second win of the season? A 2-1 record would maintain their position atop the NFC South, though they may be sharing that with the Atlanta Falcons and Carolina Panthers, depending on how things go.

The Bucs probably have a better team than the Rams. They beat the Falcons in week one, though they did lose very harshly against a week two Cardinals team. The Rams, though, got blown out by the San Francisco 49ers and barely beat the Seattle Seahawks, scoring a grand total of nine points in those two weeks.

Averaging 4.5 points per game won’t get you many wins, and while the Bucs defense isn’t great, it’s also not that bad. That is: not so bad that it can’t at least stop the Rams from having an effective day, what with the dearth of talent and a run-heavy scheme there.

Injuries might harm the Bucs, though. They have multiple starters out, most notably Doug Martin and Robert Ayers, and cut Austin Seferian-Jenkins yesterday. That’ll hurt both sides of the ball, though Jameis Winston should be good enough to at least partially compensate for Martin’s absence.

Ultimately, I think the Bucs win a low-scoring game. 14-10 seems like a reasonable prediction. Go Bucs!