The Miami Dolphins and Tampa Bay Buccaneers face off on Saturday in an NFL preseason game at Raymond James Stadium. When these two teams faced off in October of 2021 it was the Buccaneers that secured the 45-17 victory.
The Buccaneers have already been dealt some blows this preseason, so at this point goal number one has to be to keep everyone healthy. The big blow this preseason is losing Ryan Jensen to a leg injury. Tom Brady also isn’t with the team right now because of personal reasons so he won’t be available for this game, although he probably wouldn’t even play if he was available. Behind Brady is Blaine Gabbert, Kyle Trask, and Ryan Griffin and all three players should play plenty in this game. I would expect the Buccaneers to rest most of their starters here, and for some of the younger guys to play a ton here.
On the other side of this matchup is the Miami Dolphins who also expect to rest some of their key players in this game. Starting quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and big offseason addition Tyreek Hill isn’t expected to play in this game. Behind Tagovailoa is Teddy Bridgewater and Skylar Thompson. The Dolphins know what they have with Bridgewater, so it will be interesting to see how much the Dolphins decide to play him. The team brought in Terron Armstead and Connor Williams to help sure up the offensive line. On defense, there are some key battles that will need to be watched this preseason. One of the big questions is who will line up on the other side of Xavien Howard.
The Buccaneers are 1-9-1 against the spread in their last 11 games on Saturday. The over is 4-0 in the Dolphins last four games on Saturday. The under is 5-0 in the Dolphins last five road games.
I don’t expect the Dolphins to play Bridgewater a lot this year, and I really don’t trust any of the other quarterbacks playing in this game. Especially Skylar Thompson is going to struggle to score, and that will lead to this game staying under the total. Back the under to cash.
AUTHOR: Shane Mickle
