Buccaneers vs. Falcons: Preview, score prediction for Week 12

Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. Atlanta Falcons

The Atlanta Falcons and Tampa Bay Buccaneers meet up in a crucial NFC South battle on Sunday Afternoon in Mercedes-Benz Stadium. As the Dirty Birds are starting to get on a roll, getting a win over their former coaches, Mike Smith and Dirk Koetter, would be icing on the cake for a team trending towards making the NFC Playoffs.

If the Falcons can get some early touchdowns in Week 12, they could potentially cruise to their first division win of the 2017 regular season.

That said, take a look at two takeaways for each team in Week 12:

Falcons Keys to Victory:

Feed Julio Jones: This is the perfect weekend for Julio Jones to finally get his second, maybe third receiving touchdowns of the season. With the Falcons offense starting to click on all cylinders, the Bucs will have no choice but to keep their focus on Tevin Coleman. It’s been announced that Devonta Freeman will not play this weekend, but Coleman will do just fine in his absence.

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If Matt Ryan can get Tampa Bay’s secondary to bite on the play-action passing game early in the first-half, Julio Jones is going to have a humongous day through the air.

First and Foremost, Shut Down Bucs Rushing Attack: One of the biggest reasons why the Falcons defense has been so successful in rushing the passer over the last two weeks, is because they’ve also done a great job plugging up the running lanes. That’s forced opposing offenses into numerous second-and-long and third-and-long situations, which has given Adrian Clayborn, Grady Jarrett and Vic Beasley ample opportunities to pin their ears back and fly towards the quarterback. Needless to say, the Bucs will be dead in the water without a consistent running game on Sunday.

Buccaneers Keys to Victory:

Force Falcons Turnovers: To my surprise, the Bucs were able to earn a huge road win over the Miami Dolphins last weekend in South Beach. While Tampa Bay definitely played well in Week 11, they were able to force five total Dolphins turnovers. Needless to say, that was a huge factor in the Bucs’ 10-point victory.

With that said, if Tampa Bay wants to come out of Atlanta with their third-straight win, they must force, at least, three Falcons turnovers.

Get Doug Martin Going Early & Often: In the games that the Falcons have struggled to win, it’s been the opposing offenses getting the run game going and sustaining long touchdown drives. Sure, Ryan Fitzpatrick could get hot on Sunday, but I believe it’s Doug Martin who could potentially be the game-changer for the Bucs.

Odds

Point Spread: Atlanta -9.5
Moneyline: Tampa Bay +350, Atlanta -450
Over/Under: 48.5

Next: Best games to watch in NFL Week 12

Prediction

Regardless of whether Jameis Winston was playing or not, I believe the Falcons would get the win over the Bucs anyways. Atlanta was once (4-4) a few weeks ago, with numerous people counting them out of the NFC Playoffs. Fast forward two weeks, the Dirty Birds have won two-straight and have four tiebreaker victories over the Cowboys, Seahawks, Packers and Lions.

Needless to say, getting to (7-4) means a ton for a team who’s looking to avenge their Super Bowl 51 loss to New England.

Pick: Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 14, Atlanta Falcons: 31

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