NFL Preseason – Tampa Bay at Tennessee
Morris replaces the fired Jon Gruden who had led the Bucs to a lot of success in the past. Tennessee is a 3.5 point football betting favorite with a total of 34.5.
The spotlight for the Buccaneers in the preseason is on the quarterback position in what could turn into a three-way battle between Luke McCown, free agent acquisition Byron Leftwich, and rookie Josh Freeman. McCown is expected to get the start on Saturday and be followed by Leftwich and Freeman and possibly Josh Johnson. The game is a very important one to McCown. "Every day I come out here and prepare to be the starter, prepare to do everything that I can to help this team win as the starter," he said. "It all starts with the first play, essentially, on Saturday night." The pressure is really on McCown to win the job. “I don’t know any other time in which Luke McCown was put in the situation to start.” Head coach Raheem Morris said, “Every other time he has come in as a backup. He has come in as the second guy. Right now, he is competing for the starting job. This is his time. It is right now, right in front of him.”
The Bucs made a number of changes in the off-season including picking up running back Derrick Ward who had a very nice season for the Giants last year and former Cleveland Browns tight end Kellen Winslow. The Bucs also have a new offensive coordinator in Jeff Jagodzinski and a new defensive coordinator in Jim Bates. Can you tell that the Bucs have a lot of things to work out in the football betting preseason? Tampa Bay will be without starting wide receivers Antonio Bryant and Michael Clayton for this game.
Tennessee is coming off a 21-18 win last week over Buffalo in the Hall of Fame game in football betting. Quarterback Kerry Collins looked good but backup Vince Young was poor again and he is being pressed by Patrick Ramsey. The Titans have to make a decision on what Young’s future is and he may get a start in one of the football betting preseason games although it probably won’t be on Saturday. The Titans are looking to get first round pick Kenny Britt into the lineup against the Bucs after he missed last week with a hamstring injury.
Tampa Bay has owned the Titans in the online NFL betting preseason, winning six of the seven all-time meetings including 20-17 in 2005.
