Thursday Night Football: Cowboys vs. Buccaneers Odds & Picks
NFL Primetime kicks off with a Thursday Night Football matchup between the defending Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Dallas Cowboys. We’ve got the odds, picks, predictions and more! For more free NFL betting picks check out Andy Means’ best Cowboys vs. Buccaneers player prop bets.
TNF Odds: Cowboys vs. Buccaneers
| Cowboys Odds | +8.5 |
| Buccaneers Odds | -8.5 |
| Over/Under | 51 |
| Date | Thursday, Sept. 9 |
| Time | 8:20 p.m. |
| TV | NBC |
These NFL Odds accurate as of Thursday at Caesars, where you can click here to claim your $5,000 Risk-Free Bet!
On Thursday night, the National Football League will kick off its 2021 season with a marquee matchup between the Dallas Cowboys and the defending Super Bowl Champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Oddsmakers are expecting a comfortable win for Tampa Bay, pricing them as greater than a touchdown favorite on the spread.
Let’s take a deeper look at the matchup to see where bettors can find value at sportsbooks in this contest.
Dallas Cowboys
Mike McCarthy’s first year as the Cowboys Head Coach was underwhelming to say the least. However, after years of winning football with the Green Bay Packers, McCarthy gets a pass for 2020, especially considering the fact that he lost his starting quarterback, Dak Prescott, only four games into the regular season. Now that Prescott is healthy again, and Ezekiel Elliott is allegedly in the best shape of his professional career, there are no excuses for the football team heading into this fall. Yet, Elliott will have to forgive bettors if they are hesitant to believe his comments about being in great shape that he made to the media. In 2020, he only ran for 979 yards and six touchdowns and was arguably not even the best running back on his own roster. Outside of Zack Martin, the offensive line is a shell of its former self. Amari Cooper, CeeDee Lamb, and Michael Gallup are often talked about as one of the highest-upside trios in the league, but that upside has yet to manifest as a collective unit. This is an offense with a tantalizing amount of potential, but it has all been unrealized to this point.
Per The Athletic, a group of five NFL executives voted Dallas the seventh-best roster heading into Week 1. The addition of Dan Quinn as the team’s defensive coordinator should help this group improve upon last season’s numbers, during which they allowed 386.4 yards per game—ranking 23rd in the league. The Cowboys’ secondary was respectable in 2020, allowing only 227.6 passing yards per game, but it is difficult to imagine Trevon Diggs and Anthony Brown doing much to slow down Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, and Antonio Brown for 60 minutes of action on Thursday.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Unquestionably, the most accomplished quarterback in the history of the NFL, Tom Brady returns for his 22nd season, seeking an incomprehensible eighth Super Bowl ring. At 44 years-old, Brady has silenced all of his doubters—to the point that even one of his biggest critics, Max Kellerman seems resigned to the fact that Brady will never fall off the proverbial cliff.
Last year, Brady joined the Buccaneers during a year in which OTA’s and training camp were severely limited due to the global pandemic, and still won a championship. In his second season with his new coaching staff and teammates, it is possible that Brady and company could be even better. The addition of Giovanni Bernanrd to the backfield could add a James White-esque check-down option, which Brady did not have last fall. A full season of Evans, Godwin, Brown, and Scotty Miller is enough to give any defensive coordinator nightmares.
On the defensive side of the ball, there is no clear weakness for this group. In 2020, the biggest weakness for Head Coach Bruce Arians’ defense was that the pass rush was inconsistent in their ability to pressure the pocket. At times, this unit looked elite—compiling the fourth most sacks in the NFL for the season. Other times, they looked entirely mortal, evident by the fact that they allowed opposing quarterbacks to complete nearly 70 percent of their passes. Rookie Joe Tryon-Shoyinka looked great in the preseason and could be an additional impact player for the Buccaneers defense this fall, helping to shore up one of this team’s few weaknesses.
Tampa Bay is arguably the most complete roster the NFL has seen in years. If Arians can keep his team locked-in mentally, this could be the best team in the league by a landslide.
Thursday Night Football Pick
*Note: This pick was made Thursday, September 2, before oddsmakers moved the line to Bucs -8.5.
The spread in this game opened at 6.5, but heavy action on the Buccaneers has moved the price to a likely two-score margin at 7.5. It is worth it to buy the point back down to get Tampa Bay at -6.5 in this one. The Cowboys were one of the worst teams in football last year. Prescott has not played meaningful football in nearly a year, and it is still uncertain if he is truly 100 percent healthy. Expect Dallas to struggle on both sides of the ball in this matchup against a far-superior opponent. Simply put, Dallas is likely out-matched across the board. The Buccaneers should roll in this one. Sound the cannons and lock-in your wagers on the defending Super Bowl Champions.
PICK: Buccaneers -6.5 (-140)
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