Week 7 tough point spread: Tampa Bay at Detroit, Chiefs vs. Raiders

For this week's edition of the NFL tough point spread we preview the games Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. Detroit Lions and Kansas City Chiefs vs. Oakland Raiders.

Week 7 tough point spread: Tampa Bay at Detroit, Chiefs vs. Raiders The two football games from Week 7 we will look into will be the hardest to predict this football weekend. First we go North where the Detroit Lions (3-2) will welcome the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (4-2). Both teams have been sneaking under the radar and the matchup between the two this Sunday is giving the bettors quite an opportunity. Let's look at the betting numbers first, Bookmaker has made the Detroit Lions favorite to win with odds -145 and the visiting Bucs are underdog with odds +125. The point spread on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. Detroit Lions is favoring the Lions -2.5 points with total of 44.5 points for the game.

Last time the Buccaneers met the Lions in Detroit they won the game 17-13, but this season the Lions are giving more trouble to their opponents. The Lions will rely primarily on quarterback Jon Kitna, who has shown the will to guide the team to victory, willing to rather risk an injury than give up a yard to the opponent, and with his 1333 passing yards has brought up the Lions offense to fifth in the league in passing. Detroit, however, is having problems accommodating the running backs Kevin Jones and Tatum Bell. Jones was out for the first two games this season, recovering from a foot injury, and during the bye week slowly worked his way back to the team and coach Rod Marinelli said on Wednesday that Kevin Jones will be the starter against the Buccaneers. Tatum Bell has not been happy with the way things are shaping up and according to reports asked Detroit to trade him before the deadline. At this point it doesn't look like this minor tension in the team would affect the Sunday game with Tampa Bay. Detroit will have to take a better look at the defense - worse in the NFC with 31 points allowed on average and 378.6 yards per game.

The Lions will face an old friend - the Buccaneers quarterback Jeff Garcia, who has managed to avoid an interception so far this season. Running backs Michael Bennett and Zack Crockett will assist Garcia in Detroit. Bennett came from the Chiefs in exchange for a 2008 draft pick and Crockett was signed after he got cut by the Raiders. The Buccaneers, unlike their fellows in Miami, are looking forward to this season, beefing up the offense to take the leading division spot from the Panthers. It's quite possible that the Buccaneers could put a dent in the bookie's pocket by winning this game. Tampa Bay is 4-1 against the spread in its last 5 games, but 0-5 ATS in its last 5 games when playing Detroit. The lions are 4-1 against the spread in their last 5 games when playing at home against Tampa Bay.

Let move to the Week 7 football game between the Kansas City Chiefs (3-3) and the Oakland Raiders (3-2). This matchup got the sportsbooks in a pickle and Bookmaker is playing it safe by posting odds on the Raiders -135 and the Chiefs are listed at +115. The point spread for the Kansas City Chiefs vs. the Oakland Raiders game is favoring the Raiders -2.5 points and the total is listed at 37.5 points. This is yet another game which has the opportunity to go against the odds makers. Offensively, both teams are not far from each other, but the Chiefs defense is clearly the better one with 17.2 points allowed on average, compared to the Raiders with 25.6 points. The Chiefs are improving, winning three of their last four games, beating the Bengals 20-27 last week. Safeties Jarrad Page and Greg Wesley had a limited Wednesday practice, but other than that, the team is healthy. Larry Johnson will be rushing against the struggling Raiders defense, which allowed 206 rushing yards last week, when Oakland lost to San Diego 14-28. And finally - Raiders quarterback Daunte Culpepper was sacked six times last week and on Sunday will face the Chiefs defense, which second in sacks this season.

This is definitely a game, which the Kansas City Chiefs have what it takes to win. Kansas City is 4-2 against the spread in its last 6 games when playing Oakland and 5-1 ATS in its last 6 games when playing on the road against Oakland. The last time the Raiders welcomed the Chiefs, Oakland lost 20-9. The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Oakland's last 5 games when playing at home against Kansas City.

Published on 10/18/2007