Panthers vs Buccaneers Prediction, Odds & Best Bet for Week 17 (Tampa Bay Clinches NFC South in Low-Scoring Battle)

Panthers vs Buccaneers Prediction, Odds & Best Bet for Week 17 (Tampa Bay Clinches NFC South in Low-Scoring Battle)

Updated:

Panthers vs Buccaneers Week 17 Game Info

2022 NFL Regular Season Game
Carolina Panthers (6-9, 1-5 Away) vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (7-8, 4-4 Home)
Date: Sunday, Jan. 1, 2023
Time: 1 p.m. ET
Venue: Raymond James Stadium — Tampa, FL
Coverage: FOX

Week 17 of the 2022 NFL season features an exciting slate of matchups, including an NFC South collision between the Carolina Panthers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The Panthers' offense came out to play in Week 16, producing a 37-23 victory over the Detroit Lions at home. Meanwhile, the Buccaneers battled from behind to secure a 19-16 overtime win against the Arizona Cardinals as running back Leonard Fournette racked up 162 scrimmage yards on 29 touches.

Can Carolina win for the fourth time in its last five outings? Or will Tampa Bay lock up the division with another win at home?

Panthers vs Buccaneers Odds & Spread

All NFL betting lines, odds and prop bets are from FanDuel Sportsbook.
Moneyline: CAR (+136) | TB: (-162)
Spread: CAR: +3 (-110) | TB: -3 (-110)
Total: 39.5 —Over: (-110) | Under: (-110)

The Buccaneers enter this contest as slight home favorites on the moneyline and spread on FanDuel Sportsbook's odds. This NFC South matchup also features an over/under of 39.5, which is slightly lower than average compared to other Week 17 totals. 

Panthers vs Buccaneers Prediction & Pick

The Buccaneers have plenty of motivation to win this game. For starters, they lost 21-3 to Carolina earlier this season. On top of that, a victory here would clinch the NFC South title for Tampa Bay, giving Tom Brady a shot at one more playoff run before he considers retirement (again).

It helps that the Panthers are putrid on the road, losing five of their first six away games. They also haven't won at Raymond James Stadium in over three years and I don't see that changing considering how Carolina owns a minus-7.5 road scoring margin (fourth-worst) this season.

Brady has also gone 4-1 against the Panthers since joining the Bucs, recording 1,406 passing yards with an 8:1 TD/INT ratio in those starts. He might not be at the top of his game any longer, but I still believe that TB12 has it in him to beat Carolina at least one more time.

Final Score Prediction: Buccaneers: 21 | Panthers: 17

Panthers vs Buccaneers Betting Trends

- Carolina is 1-9 straight up in its last 10 road games.
- Tampa Bay is 1-7-1 against the spread (ATS) in its last nine home games.
- The total has hit the over in five of Carolina's last eight games.
- The total has hit the under in nine of Tampa Bay's last 10 games against the NFC.

Panthers vs Buccaneers Best Bet

With 39.5 points being one of the lower totals of the week, I'm looking at the under in this game. First of all, the under is 11-4 in Tampa Bay's last 15 games. On top of that, the two sides have struggled with offensive consistency this year, combining for just 24 points when they faced off earlier this season.

The Panthers are also averaging just 19.6 points in their last five road games while the Buccaneers' offense has been disappointing more often than not all season. Given all that, expect a relatively low final score.

Bet: Under 39.5 Points (-110)

Devon Platana is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Devon Platana also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username PepeSilvia0. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.

Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.