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Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs Atlanta Falcons: A NFC South matchup

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Atlanta Falcons will face each other at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Thursday night.

Are the Bucs for real this season?

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are on top of the NFC South with a 3-1 record. They started the season with back-to-back wins over the Washington Commanders and the Detroit Lions before losing to the Denver Broncos. Last week, the Buccaneers won 33-16 against the Philadelphia Eagles. Baker Mayfield threw for 347 yards and two touchdowns, while Mike Evans became the Buccaneers’ career scoring leader in the game against the Eagles. Mayfield completed 30 of 47 passes without an interception and the offense scored a touchdown on its opening possession for the first time in 21 games.

The Falcons are off to a solid start

The Atlanta Falcons are second in the NFC South with a 2-2 record. They started the season with an unexpected home loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers but bounced back with a 22-21 win on the road against the Philadelphia Eagles. A loss to the Kansas City Chiefs followed in Week 3, and the Falcons won another tight one, 26-24 against the New Orleans Saints in the last one. Younghoe Koo was the key man for Atlanta kicking a career-best 58-yard field goal with two seconds remaining to turn the game around.

Betting Trends

The Falcons are 3-6 SU in their last 9 games overall, 2-4 SU in their last 6 games in Week 5 and 1-5 SU in their last 6 games played on Thursday. They are 1-5 ATS in their last 6 games overall, 2-8 ATS in their last 10 home games and 1-4 ATS in their last 5 games against teams from the NFC. Atlanta has played over the total point line in 12 of their last 18 games against Tampa Bay and 7 of their last 8 home games against them, while have stayed under in 4 of their last 5 games played in October. The Buccaneers are 9-3 SU in their last 12 games overall, 6-2 SU in their last 8 games against Atlanta and 10-4 SU in their last 14 games against teams from the NFC South. They are 8-3 ATS in their last 11 games overall, 9-2 ATS in their last 11 games on the road and 5-1 ATS in their last 6 games against teams from the NFC. Tampa Bay has played under the total point line in 6 of their last 9 games overall and 7 of their last 8 games played in October.

Prediction and Conclusion

Both teams were not predicted to have a winning season, but from what we saw in the first four weeks of the season, they are actually playing really well. The Falcons won two close once to have a.500 record, while the Bucs are excellent with only one loss. The Buccaneers won 29-25 last season in Atlanta, but the Falcons are slight favorites given the odds. It will definitely be a tight game, and we expect a low-scoring game that will end under 44 games in total.