By Only Players Staff
Updated 9/23/24 5:17am ET
Winless teams went 6-1 both straight up and against the point spread (ATS). Undefeated Tampa Bay lost to 0-2 Denver as a six-point favorite, while admitting afterwards that they did not approach the game with the proper intensity.
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An automated transcript is listed below. Completely accuracy is not guaranteed.
Betting the NFL can feel like the ultimate roller coaster and it’s really expect the unexpected, but that’s not really applicable. It’s you have to teach yourself to forget what you saw last. Now that’s betting in general, but it really applies to the NFL, particularly since the new playoff format in my eyes, because only one team gets a bye in each conference and there’s also an extra playoff team. So you really want to treat it like a marathon, not a sprint. Look at the Eagles last year. What was it, 10-1 start or something like that. Didn’t even win the division. Had to go on the road in their opening game of the playoffs.
And so this weekend, we saw craziness. There were seven teams playing on Sunday that were 0-2. Six won and covered. Some of these were sizable dogs as well. The Broncos, Panthers, Rams, Giants. And I want you to hear some soundbites from the Bucs players who were 2-0, favored by about a touchdown at home. And this tells you all you need to know.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers QB, Baker Mayfield:
“This is a good lesson for our team, overall. You have to prepare like you are playing in a playoff game every week or else this can happen. I mean we got our assess kicked. Physicality wise, execution wise. All over the board for us. It’s a good lesson for our team, for the young guys that haven’t seen it before of what you need to be prepared for, how detailed we need to be.”
Tampa Bay Buccaneers WR, Mike Evans:
“It does hurt, I feel like they wanted it more when we were out there. Talking trash, being physical, and we were just a little flat.”
Tampa Bay Buccaneers CB, Zyon McCollum:
“I feel like from the very first snap of the ball that they were going. Punching us in the face. Firing off the ball. Doing everything that they can to win the game and we were just kind of out there, thinking things were going to go our way. Which you can’t do, you have to have the intensity that it’s the Super Bowl every single game or else you will get humbled very quickly.”
So there you have it. That is the definition of flat spot and one team being hungry. We don’t want to know why because players don’t get to the NFL by just being a punching bag. Once you get hit in the mouth and you’re 0 -2, you’re going to show up and probably you’re going to have a great week of practice because they’re competitive people and they’re elite athletes. And sometimes if you’re a younger type team like the Bucs where you don’t have a ton of experience like maybe the Chiefs do, get everyone’s best shot and win week in and week out, and it’s really impressive considering they have that bullseye on their back.
But you have to learn how to play with success and the Bucs were 2-0 and kind of feeling themselves, right? Where I said this about Detroit all the time. You know, including Sunday, they’ve won and covered nine straight off a loss. They’re excellent, excellent on paper. They have so much talent. And when they’re winning, they kind of don’t probably practice the right way, prepare the right way. Well, off a loss, they’re there Monday morning and they’re going through the right week of practice. And I think that is why they’ve won nine straight. Some teams just haven’t got over the hump and learned how to play with success and I think the Bucs learned a lesson, for sure.
So something to keep in mind with the NFL, like these situations do exist, the flat spot situational handicapping, that’s why there’s so much sharp money on these bad underdogs, these ugly dogs. It doesn’t work every time, like there was sharp money on Carolina the first two weeks of the season. But you know what, they were on them again for week three and they won outright in Vegas, almost wire to wire. But those Bucs soundbites should just be a reminder of what the NFL handicapping experience is.
