The NFL playoffs have featured a Tom Brady-led team in every season since 2009.
One betting analyst believes that lengthy streak will come to an end in a few months.
For the first time in recent memory, Brady’s bunch is far from a lock to reach the postseason. Tampa Bay currently is in the playoff picture as the NFC South leader, but that status probably has more to do with the weaknesses across the rest of the division than the Bucs themselves. Brady and company (4-5) enter Week 10 as the only first-place team in the league with a sub-.500 record.
Tampa Bay controls its own destiny, but Doug Kezirian doesn’t have confidence in the Bucs being able to take care of business. The ESPN analyst also sees another team led by a future Hall of Fame QB missing out on the playoffs.
“We want to believe in these legends and their teams — the Bucs and Packers led the NFL in preseason chances to make the playoffs via ESPN’s FPI — but the evidence that they could both come up short is growing,” Kezirian wrote. “The Bucs have a chance because of a weak division (71.1% to make the postseason), and we just saw yet another impressive Brady comeback last Sunday, but I will take the NFC South field over Tampa Bay. And the Packers seem to be in too deep of a hole at 3-6, struggling in multiple areas of the game.”
The Bucs have a chance to gain considerable momentum Sunday when they meet a fellow division leader. A win in Germany over the 6-3 Seattle Seahawks surely would inject a new level of confidence in the Bucs.
