The Tampa Bay Buccaneers (7-8) play the Carolina Panthers (6-9) at Raymond James Stadium on 1st January at 13:00. Going into this NFC South matchup, the Carolina Panthers sit second in the division with six wins from 15 matches, leaving them one game behind the first-placed Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Carolina Panthers arrive at the Raymond James Stadium as big outsiders to stop the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The home side should be able to book this one as a win, considering how highly the oddsmakers favor them.

Form Tampa Bay Buccaneers

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers improved their regular season record to 7-8 last week by beating the Arizona Cardinals 16-19. They’ve gone 4-6 in their past ten matches and 3-2 in the last five at home.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ offense has a long way to go before we can consider it a top-tier unit, having managed just 17.7 points per game this season. Defensively, the hosts have the seventh-best unit of all 32 teams, allowing just 20.3 points on average and 22.0 points on their own ground.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are touted as a potential Super Bowl challenger for this season. While it’s still early days, things are going according to plan so far. The hosts hold the fourth seed in the NFC Conference, leaving them set for a spot in the January playoffs. Until then, the aim will be to strengthen their position by either maintaining or improving their current seeding.

Form Carolina Panthers

The Carolina Panthers overcame long odds to beat the Detroit Lions 37-23 last week to improve their past 10-game record to 5-5. They are also 1-4 in their last five on the road.

The Carolina Panthers continue to put up decent numbers in offense, scoring 21.8 points in their last five matches. Considering their season average is 20.9 points, this suggests the offensive unit remains as reliable as ever. A middle-of-the-pack defense is what the Carolina Panthers have to offer ahead of their latest road trip, with 22.5 points allowed across 15 matches so far.

2021 was a year to forget for the Carolina Panthers. The visitors failed to reach the playoffs, having finished fourth in the NFC South at 5-12, and are expected to miss the NFL postseason again, having gone 6-9 so far in the current campaign.

H2H

The previous matchup between these two franchises ended in a 21-3 win for the Carolina Panthers at the Bank of America Stadium in October 2022. Victory has gone the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ way six times in their past ten meetings with the Carolina Panthers. The hosts are favorites to add another win to this haul, with the oddsmakers laying a home win at -160. This implies a 62% winning chance for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

In their last ten head-to-head games, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers managed 27 points on average per game, while the Carolina Panthers put 21.6 points on board.

Standings

Carolina Panthers at Tampa Bay Buccaneers odds

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are favored at -160 moneyline odds while the Carolina Panthers are +140 underdogs on the Moneyline in this matchup. Tampa Bay Buccaneers are as high as -3.0 on the point spread at -105 odds.

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Moneyline (ML): Carolina Panthers +140 | Tampa Bay Buccaneers -160

Moneyline

Betting on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to win (1.63) on the moneyline is your safest bet – take it!

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have had a lot of success against the Carolina Panthers in recent years, winning six of the last ten matchups in this series. On the other side, the Carolina Panthers are the clear +140 underdogs. Considering they’ve lost three of their last four road trips to NFC South teams, this might not be a surprise.

Both teams need to win this NFC South showdown, and while the Carolina Panthers won the last matchup 21-3 in October 2022, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are the clear favorites this time around and look too good to pass up on the moneyline.

Spread

Take the Tampa Bay Buccaneers -3.0 (1.95) as they are the best bet.

Oddsmakers favor the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to win Sunday’s game, but not by much. The hosts open up as 3-point favorites over the Carolina Panthers. The last five rounds between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Carolina Panthers have been rather one-sided, with an average winning margin of up to 21.0 points.

Going against the spread with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers hasn’t been a smart move of late, with the team failing to cover in five of the previous six games. The hosts are also 1-7-1 ATS in the past nine games at home and 1-8-1 ATS overall from their previous ten games.

The Carolina Panthers, on the other hand, have covered the spread in five of their last six games. In their past 10 matches, the Carolina Panthers went 7-3 ATS and also ended up 3-5 ATS from their eight most recent road trips.

Total

Total over 39.0 (1.91) is your best bet for this game.

There was an average of 48.6 points scored in the previous ten clashes between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Carolina Panthers.

The average total from the last five encounters between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Carolina Panthers was 47.4 points, 8.4 points more than the 39.0-point total the oddsmakers have set for Sunday’s matchup at the Raymond James Stadium.

In the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ past five NFC South matchups at the Raymond James Stadium, the score averaged 41.8 points and went 2-3 against the total. Interestedly, the total has gone under in seven of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ past ten matchups against teams from the NFC South.

In the Carolina Panthers’ most recent NFC South matchups on the road, the score ended up 2-2 against the total and averaged 47.3 points. Over was a winning bet three times in the past five road games for the Carolina Panthers, who are 5-5 against the total in their last ten home and away games combined.