We were on the Bucs to beat the Vikings at +210 last Thursday and now the public is in love with Josh Freeman again. However, this is a tough game and I see a bit of a hang over for a young team. For one this team is flying across the country to play this game against a Raiders team that is starting to click. Carson Palmer should be able to have a huge game against the Bucs secondary that has been decimated by injuries and trades. Their secondary was not good to begin with so this really puts them in a tough situation. The Bucs run defense won't help them in this game because the Raiders are very much used to being stopped when they try to run the ball and it has resulted in a lot of passes and good chemistry between Palmer and his receivers.
On the flip side don't sleep on Oakland's front 7 ability to stop the run as they are only allowing 2.1 ypc and are 10th overall when you combine home and away stats. TB showed some real weaknesses against the run allowing 6.7 ypc, so don't think that Oakland will completely abandon the run. Look for McFadden to build off his first 100 yard rushing day. I also like the Raiders ability to hold the Bucs up on third downs as they are holding opponents 33% conversions on third downs while the Bucs are only converting 31% of their third downs and Oakland and Carson Palmer have done a decent job at home and are only getting better converting 41% of their third downs and those are key stats in a game that is supposed to be very close.
