Buccaneers Open as Heavy Favorites vs. Eagles

From a Vegas standpoint, the Bucs are looking pretty good when it comes to their Wild Card matchup with the Eagles.

The 2021 version of the Buccaneers and Eagles are no strangers to each other. Both teams met back in Week 6 of the regular season and the end result was a 28-22 Buccaneers victory that was much more dominant than the final score suggested.

But that all goes out the window when these two teams meet up on Sunday, right?

According to Vegas: not really. 

Per Betonline.ag, the Bucs opened up as 8-point favorites against the Eagles on Sunday, which is actually higher than the 7-point line the Bucs opened with back in Week 6 when they traveled up to Philadelphia on Thursday night.

The Eagles are 7-3 since starting 2-5 and are riding a much-improved Jalen Hurts, running game, and defense into the postseason, but obviously that's not enough for Vegas to think they will make this game competitive. Part of that could be the fact the  Bucs are 7-1 at home and are averaging 33.3 points per game on offense compared to allowing just 17.1 points per game on defense. 

Key players returning from injury may be factored in, as well. The Buccaneers were without Rob Gronkowski, Carlton Davis III, Sean Murphy-Bunting, Antoine Winfield Jr., and Lavonte David in Week 6. All of those names, minus David, will play this weekend. David has a chance to return, as well, but it's doubtful.

At the same time, however, the Bucs will be without Antonio Brown, Chris Godwin and possibly Jason Pierre-Paul, Shaquil Barrett, Leonard Fournette and the aforementioned David. But apparently, those potential absences weren't enough to sway Vegas' opening line.

As it currently stands, Betonline has the Bucs as 9-point favorites. So, at the time of this publication, the spread has actually gone up since the numbers were released Sunday night. 

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