What To Expect From The Bucs Today After A Wild Week

Mark LoMoglio. Shutterstock Images.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers obviously had a wild week in the headlines with the ugly departure of Antonio Brown and all the shrapnel that has followed. But something not talked about enough is that the Bucs outscored the Jets 18-0 after Brown took his jersey off and pranced off the field in New Jersey last Sunday. That bolds well for today in Tampa against a Panthers team the Bucs beat 32-6 just two weeks ago. 

Going into the game there are three important milestones/incentive based lines to pay attention to:

- Mike Evans needs 54 yards to extend his streak of consecutive seasons of 1,000+ yards receiving to start a career to eight. That record is very important to him and the team will make an effort to get him the ball early and often. They did this last year in the final regular season game against Atlanta which is why it was my Lock of the Year prop bet. His O/U is 70.5 receiving yards today, but considering BA said via text they are not resting anyone, I would be surprised if he finished with the UNDER.

- Gronk has a few incentives that he could earn today. With 7 catches today he'll earn another $500k and with 85 yards receiving he'll unlock an additional $500k. So $1M of incentives are in play for Gronk today that could almost be classified as 'likely to be earned'.

- Tom Brady is also 488 yards away from becoming the NFL's single season record holder for passing yardage, but I can't see a way he does that today given what's happened to the receiving corps (Godwin injury, AB meltdown). 

Here's my favorite Bucs bet today with a good return:

Don't sleep on Le'Veon Bell scoring either! Leonard Fournette is out, Ke'Shawn Vaughn got nicked up last week and even though he will play today, Bell is an elite pass blocking back. So he was in a lot around the goalline last week, don't be surprised if he punches it in the paint today, especially if it's a blowout. Good luck to everyone betting today and Go Bucs!