NFL Football Lines – Jake Delhomme Faces Familiar Foe In Tampa Bay

When the Tampa Bay Buccaneers made it clear they were accepting the jagged little pill of rebuilding their team from the ground up, they meant every word. Despite going just 3-13 SU and 6-10 ATS last season, Tampa has committed themselves to a youth movement that will incur a painful amount of growing pains against the NFL football lines this year. At the very least, they have a plan.

Which is more than you can say about the Cleveland Browns. When Mike Holmgren took over as general manager he made the questionable decisions of letting Derek Anderson and Brady Quinn go, but kept Eric Mangini for what we can all expect to be a short, one year leash.

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Then he went and signed Jake Delhomme, now 35 years old, after he piled up 30 interceptions in his past 27 games.  Even worse, Delhomme will make nearly $20 million this year because he’s still owed a truck load of cash from the Carolina Panthers.

I don’t get it either.

The rest of the Browns are pretty young. Jerome Harrison (27) is the lead running back this season, with Mohamed Massoquoi (23), Brian Robiskie (22) and Joshua Cribbs (27) holding the fort at receiver. Maybe the team didn’t think they’d land one of the top-4 quarterbacks in the NFL draft. Even still the guy they did draft (Colt McCoy) is far from ready for the NFL.

In Week 1 of NFL football lines betting, Delhomme will face a team he routinely haunted in the NFC South Delhomme played the Tampa Bay Buccaneers just once last year, going 9-for-17 with 65 passing yards, 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions.

Cleveland Browns (0-0) vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (0-0)
Sunday, September 12th — Raymond James Stadium — 1:00pm EST
NFL Football Lines: Tampa Bay -3.0 (37.5)

Still, a big reason the Browns won’t be as effective against Tampa Bay is because their defense is atrocious. Cleveland gave up 244.7 passing yards and 144.6 rushing yards per game, while giving up 23.4 points per game. The defense and running game won’t be able to bail Delhomme out like it did in Carolina.

While Tampa Bay isn’t expected to be a contender for at least two more years, there’s a lot to be optimistic about. Joshua Freeman enters his second year as a starter after averaging 185.5 passing yards and 1 touchdown per game last year in 10 starts. He also threw 18 interceptions, but that’s what you can expect out of a rookie.

Despite all the doubts people will have about Freeman, one thing you can expect from him is a few big games. He crested the 200-yard ceiling five times last year and had multiple touchdowns in 3-of-10 games last season. Now that he has more serviceable receiving weapons with rookies Mike Williams and Arrelious Benn, along with Kellen Winslow at tight-end and veteran Reggie Brown, Freeman is in for a steadier season against the NFL football betting lines.

This is the part where you question Tampa’s defense, which was one of the most suspect in the league in 2009. Even then, I love what they’ve done through the draft. Gerald McCoy will be an instant boost to an otherwise Swiss cheese front-four, while Geno Hayes and Barrett Ruud return to improve the worst rush-defense in the league.

It’s easy to be overly optimistic about any young team in the league, but if you look at the differences in potential across the board between these two teams, the Bucs win hands down. This season I foresee a 5-11 SU season for them based on my projections but I wouldn’t be shocked to see them do a bit better. I believe in Freeman that much.

What sucks about Cleveland signing Jake Delhomme (besides his salary) is that I think he has a little too much to prove. His pride is out to show the rest of the world that he’s not washed up even though the rest of the us are 99.9% sure he is. The Browns were a fun betting team last year, going 10-6 ATS last season and those days are dead.

With Jake Delhomme spearheading their 2010 NFL betting season, the Browns are an absolute no-no when betting the football lines. If Cleveland thought it couldn’t get any worse than the past five years, then they haven’t endured a Jake Delhomme season yet. I haven’t trusted this guy for nearly six years. I’m not about to start now just because he’s wearing a different uniform, especially when he’s a road dog on the NFL football lines.

Furious NFL Free Pick – Tampa Bay -3.0 (UNDER)

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