Henry Roldán
The NFL will celebrate its Christmas’ Sunday Night Football with the Buccaneers vs Cardinals matchup.
Tampa Bay remains the leader of the NFC South despite losing for the second consecutive week after being beaten 34-23 by the Bengals. Meanwhile, Arizona was defeated for the fourth game in a row, this time 15-24 by the Broncos. Today, at JefeBet, we bring you the preview of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs Arizona Cardinals.
Predictions and Betting Preview for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs Arizona Cardinals NFL Week 16 Game on December 25, 2022
- Where: State Farm Stadium, Glendale, Arizona.
- When: Sunday, December 25, 2022, 8:20 PM E.T.
Odds provided by BetMGM.
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Betting on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Incredibly, the Buccaneers are still in first place in the NFC South, the weakest division in the league, despite having dropped three of their last four games and being two games under.500. With three weeks left in the regular season, the other three divisional teams are only one game behind them.
Because of this, their trip to Arizona to play the already eliminated Cardinals without Kyler Murray could be the key for their current problems. For that to happen, their offense, which is lead by Tom Brady, will need to finally shake off the slumber that has engulfed them this season and has left them as the league’s fifth-lowest scorer. They rank last in total ground yards, average yards per carry, and rushing touchdowns with only four. These are just a few examples.
With this performance, the Buccaneers are still the division leaders and are still in the playoffs thanks to their defense, which despite two recent very poor games, may be among the league’s top 10. They are now tied for sixth in terms of lowest average yards per play (5.1), and fourth in terms of fewest first downs allowed (254) heading into the game on Sunday. With 40 catches, they are sixth in the league, but they need to improve in the red zone, where they give up touchdowns on 60% of trips.
Betting on Arizona Cardinals
The Cardinals’ campaign has been a complete disaster and after qualifying for the postseason last campaign, this year they share the bottom of the NFC West with the Rams.
Additionally, Kyler Murray will miss the remainder of the current campaign and possibly the majority of the following one, which is not good for a team that had other plans in mind given the preseason trades. The Cardinals’ offense was below par even with Murray playing, and in three of their previous four games, they failed to score more than 15 points.
On the defensive end, not much changed, and the opposition only scored fewer than 20 points three times. In fact, with a total of 372, they are the side that has conceded the most points throughout the entire season. With 25 passing TDs allowed, they are tied for second in the league, while with 17 TDs scored on the ground, they are fifth. Additionally, despite not being among the best in terms of overall yards allowed, opponents score 69.2% of the time when they enter the red zone against them, which is the highest rate in the NFL.
JefeBet Prediction
The Buccaneers’ season has not been good at all, but they still have a better team than these Cardinals, who without Kyler Murray seem to have an even less clear direction.
Arizona’s offense doesn’t have the pieces to hurt Tampa Bay’s good defense, which with its offensive shortcomings should still be able to overcome a team that is 1-6 at home and has conceded the most points in the league.
Prediction: Buccaneers to win (TB 26 – ARI 16).
