Carolina's season pretty much came to an end last week in New York with that loss to the Jets. The Panthers season was disappointing from the start as it got out of the gates 0-3 before trying to put a run together but it was really too late by then even though the season was just getting started. The play of quarterback Jake Delhomme was a real problem early on and he settled down some prior to last week but against the Jets he was a turnover machine once again.

Some of that may had to do with a broken finger that will keep him out this week. Matt Moore will be making his first start since 2007 while DeAngelo Williams is questionable and his absence would hurt the offense even more. This team has pretty much tossed it in for the season after coming in with such high expectations. The Buccaneers are having a worse season at 1-10 but this team is not giving up and still playing extremely hard. Tampa Bat nearly picked up its second win of the season last week in Atlanta and three of the last four weeks have been very competitive games with one of those resulting in a win.

Since Josh Freeman was put in at quarterback, new life has come into the offense. He has a 76.5 passer rating which is not bad for a rookie following his best game of the season last week against the Falcons where he posted a 118.5 rating. Carolina does have a better defense than Atlanta does but the Buccaneers have the edge of seeing Carolina for the3 second time. Tampa Bay played very well against the Atlanta rushing attack last week and it can carry that over into this one as it is no secret that the Panthers are going to run the ball no matter who is in the backfield. Since head coach Raheem Morris took over the defensive play calling, the Buccaneers have brought back the Cover 2 defense as their base scheme and last week they brought a lot of pressure with a variety of blitzes and stunts up front.

On the other side, the Buccaneers need to establish a running game as well and should be able to against the Panthers who are allowing 131.5 ypg on the ground which is 26th in the NFL. Tampa Bay falls into a simple but effective situation. Play on road teams in the second half of the season after one or more consecutive wins against the spread while possessing a winning percentage on the season of .250 or less. This situation is 29-5 ATS (85.3 percent) over the last five seasons with the average point differential coming in at lass that a field goal. Carolina is 8-18 ATS under head coach John Fox in games following two or more consecutive losses while the Buccaneers come in a solid 5-1 ATS in their last six games as a road underdog between 3.5 and 10 points. 3* Tampa Bay Buccaneers