Rams vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Betting odds, lines and picks against the spread

The Rams failed to take advantage of their bye week. Both Los Angeles teams will be a long way from home this week, as the Rams face the Buccaneers in Tampa, Fla., and the Chargers face the Falcons in Atlanta. LA’s AFC team is favored, while LA’s NFC team is not, but both games have tight spreads hovering around a field goal, so it will come down to execution and attention to detail.

Just what those two fan bases wanted to hear. Let’s look at the Week 10 games and see what the matchups look like.

Rams at Tampa Bay Buccaneers (-3, 42.5)

Remember the fanfare that this matchup got in Week 4 last season? Instead of being a battle of Super Bowl contenders, it is now a battle of really disappointing teams. The Rams have fallen from grace and hit every tree branch on the way down, but they aren’t alone. The Buccaneers look like a shell of what they were in the two previous seasons with Tom Brady at the helm.

This will be the Rams’ first game outside of California since Week 3 against the Cardinals and just their second outdoor game of the season. Maybe getting away from all the noise and the distractions of home will help, but the real story of this season is how their offensive production fits in the overhead bin and doesn’t need to be in the cargo hold. Coming out of the bye, the Rams mustered a season-low 223 yards and looked uncompetitive against their biggest rival.

To make matters worse, Cooper Kupp is hobbled with an ankle injury suffered while inexplicably playing in the final two minutes of the lopsided loss to the 49ers. For a team that has picked up just 4.8 yards per play, bubble-wrapping the only consistent offensive performer in a blowout seems like a good idea, but it didn’t seem to cross Sean McVay’s mind. Kupp has 28 more catches and 28 more targets than any other pass-catcher for the Rams.

At least misery has company in this game, as the Buccaneers have scored just 18.3 points per game this season. Their offensive line play has been substandard (sound familiar?) and Brady, despite owning a 9:1 TD to INT ratio, does not appear to be enjoying himself much this season. The Buccaneers have not rushed for more than 75 yards in a game since Week 1 (also sound familiar?), so they’ve become one-dimensional on offense.

Because neither team can run the ball, this game feels like Brady vs. Stafford. The side-by-side comparison isn’t exactly great either way, but Stafford has seven more interceptions and has taken 11 more sacks, even though Brady and the Buccaneers have played one additional game. Negative plays and turnovers in a game with a low-scoring expectation would be a lot to overcome and the Rams are not in a position to overcome much of anything right now.

Pick: Buccaneers -3

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.