Tampa Bay Bucs Odds to Win NFC South 2011

The Tampa Bay Bucs odds to win the NFC South 2011 were a very enticing 5 to 1 at Bookmaker.eu (or just shy of that number at +485).  The payout would be $485 for every $100 bet. 

David Sabino of SportsIllustrated.com makes the case for the Buccaneers potentially winning the NFC South as part of his analysis of the upcoming Fantasy Football season. 

 “Josh Freeman, LeGarrette Blount and Mike Williams may not have the name recognition yet, but they have the potential to be the NFL's next "Big Three." Freeman will be a great backup while Blount and Williams are every-week no-brainer starters.”

Last year this team more than surpassed expectations with a 10-6 finish.  They essentially re-signed the same roster without adding any significant pieces. 

Sadly, Tampa Bay didn’t have much of a home field advantage last season as there weren’t enough fans to cheer them on, resulting in the most on-air blackouts.

Most of the pundits have the Bucs finishing third in the NFC South, primarily because Atlanta and New Orleans are supposed to be better by default.  That doesn’t necessarily mean they will be.

Andy Benoit of the New York Times writes:

This young team will be better than it was a year ago because, if nothing else, of the laws of nature. But improvements may not translate into victories given the harder schedule, shortened off-season (which hurt young players most) and higher expectations.

The Tampa Bay Bucs odd of winning OVER 8 regular season games in 2011 were at near even odds while the UNDER came in at -125. 

- Don Shapiro, Gambling911.com