Seattle Seahawks (6-3) at Tampa Bay Buccaneers (4-5)
Sunday, November 13, 9:30 AM ET (NFL Network, game played in Germany)
For those interested in waking up early on Sunday morning, you might get yourself an absolute treat in terms of NFL matchups. Look, this season has been a horror show for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The fact that Rob Gronkowski decided to retire this offseason really put a damper on this team’s plans of contending out of the gates, but there have been other losses contributing to the Bucs’ offensive woes as well.
Center Ryan Jensen was lost for the season, the Bucs have had a wide variety of injuries at receiver, and Tom Brady has just not been himself. Not until late Sunday afternoon against the reigning Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams, that is. Brady overcame some bad drops from his receivers and engineered a vintage game-winning drive to give the Bucs some momentum and also a first-place label (even at 4-5).
The Seattle Seahawks, meanwhile, just continue to look like one of the best all-around teams in the NFC. Geno Smith did throw a pick-six to Zaven Collins of the Cardinals on Sunday, but the fact that the Seahawks won comfortably despite that just proves that Seattle is firing on all cylinders. Rookie running back Kenneth Walker is unstoppable at the moment.
Despite how good Seattle has been this season, I’m torn on this game for NFL picks purposes. The Bucs are at home, and I want to buy into the team we saw close out against the Rams. Everything about the sample size this season is telling me to pick the Seahawks, even on the road, but I just can’t resist the temptation to pick Brady with a little momentum behind him.
Prediction: Buccaneers win 30-27