NFL Streaks, Tips, Notes
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Tampa Bay Buccaneers @ Miami Dolphins
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Miami Dolphins will both begin the NFL preseason with new head coaches, new philosophies, and new identities waiting to be made.
Why Tampa Bay Will Win
The consensus among various outlets – online sports betting legal realms or anywhere else you can think of – is that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are beginning a long rebuilding project. It's going to feel a lot like a college environment this season on the west side of the state of Florida. The Buccaneers have not made the playoffs in four years, having utterly failed to achieve anything of substance under former coach Raheem Morris, who was fired at the end of the 2011 season. Having flirted with one college coach, Oregon Duck boss Chip Kelly, in the early stages of the offseason, the Bucs watched with concern as Kelly experienced an overnight conversion. On the night of the NFC Championship Game, the Bucs and most of America went to bed thinking that Oregon would need to look for a new coach the following morning.
Instead, Kelly woke up on that Monday morning and changed his mind, opting to stay in the college game. Tampa Bay needed to pivot rather quickly, and though the organization switched from an offense-first to a defense-first approach, it still found a collegiate sideline sultan, Greg Schiano of Rutgers. The move was a curious one, to say the very least. Schiano did tremendous work in the state of New Jersey in 2006 and 2007, leading Rutgers to two of its most successful seasons in history. The enthusiasm Schiano brings to an NFL sideline will have Tampa Bay jacked up and ready to play this game. Mere preparation goes a long way in the NFL preseason, so that's why the Bucs could easily take this Sunshine State tilt.
Why Miami Will Win
When Football Betting gurus survey the larger landscape of the AFC East, they will find it hard to avoid the grim conclusion that the Miami Dolphins aren't ready for prime time. Miami has been in search of a top-tier quarterback ever since Dan Marino retired. The Dolphins haven't won a playoff game since the 2000 season, and they've made only one playoff game since the end of the 2001 season. This reality is the product of a pronounced lack of offense on teams that boasted elite defensive players such as pass rusher Jason Taylor and the now-retired Zach Thomas. Miami had half a loaf over the past decade, and now, little has changed.
The Dolphins – in recent years – have burned through quarterbacks and never gained a foothold on offense. Whether it was A.J. Feeley, a weak-armed Chad Pennington, Chad Henne, Pat White, Matt Moore, or anyone else who has donned the Miami helmet, the Dolphins have not come appreciably close to finding the answer under center in recent years. This is the perpetual problem the organization has to figure out.
In an attempt to develop offensive talent, the Dolphins – upon firing Sparano – hired Joe Philbin as their new head coach. Philbin was the offensive coordinator for the Green Bay Packers, running a thermonuclear offense captained by elite quarterback Aaron Rodgers. The Dolphins' brass wanted to give Philbin the keys to the team so that he could unlock the gifts of players currently under contract, but the long-term focus with Philbin is to attract free-agent talent to South Florida so that the Dolphins can rediscover the winning ways that seem so long ago. The regular-season outlook for this franchise is very bleak, but the new energy brought to the locker room by Philbin should generate a high-intensity performance against Tampa Bay, the kind of performance that – however ragged it may be – should lead to a victory.
Who Will Win
It’s easier to trust a man who spent 2011 coaching Aaron Rodgers than a man who spent 2011 coaching Rutgers. Go with Miami in this contest.