T.M. Selection: Los Angeles Chargers - Moneyline

1) I like the Los Angeles Chargers to win this game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday, December 15th. The line is in the -3 range and for my money the better value is therefore with the money line in the -142 to -150 range.

2) The Bucs have won 3 straight games so the consensus is that they are back on track. I am not convinced that they can go on the road and beat a high-quality team here. Prior to the 3 TB wins, they lost 4 straight games! Also, the 3 recent wins for Tampa Bay are against teams that are all last placed teams in their divisions and have a combined record of 7-32 this season. Now the Bucs are on the road facing an 8-5 Chargers team with one of the best defenses in the league!

3) The Chargers, like the Bucs, certainly also have some wins over weaker teams too but they also have tight losses to strong teams and they just lost by 2 points to a 12-1 Kansas City team. LA is 3-0 this season in their next game after losing a game by a margin of a TD or less. The Chargers should respond strong here. Looks like WR McConkey is back for LA this week and note that QB Herbert has only 1 INT on the season while also throwing for 14 TDs and his yardage numbers are bigger the last 9 weeks than the first 4 as he is averaging 243 yards passing last 9 games! LA offense will take advantage of a bad Bucs pass defense and the Chargers defense also is elite enough to slow this Buccaneers team down.

T.M. Prediction: 27-17 LA Chargers.

Line: -142