Patriots hope their leaky defence can Buc the trend

Mobile QBs giving Brady’s bunch fits

New England doesn’t have much time to work on patching up that leaky defence.

And next up are Jameis Winston, Mike Evans and perhaps the returning-fromsuspension Doug Martin for the Buccaneers.

Only Indianapolis has yielded more than the 128 points the Patriots have given up. Mobile quarterbacks (Alex Smith, Cam Newton, Deshaun Watson) have given them fits.

The Patriots have scored 129 points, so the offence is in good form. Is there fingerpointing among the New England players heading into Thursday night’s game?

“Well I’ve been on teams where we didn’t score many points and we just relied on the defence to do everything,” Tom Brady says.

“This team has never been about, ‘Hey, what are you guys doing wrong?’ We just focus on what we need to do. It’s score more points than the other team. It doesn’t matter if it’s three points or 30 points or 50 points. Whatever they score, we need to score more and if they score three, then we need to score four. That’s how you win. That’s all we care about. That’s all we’ve ever really cared about.”

The Patriots are threepoint favourites over Tampa Bay. These teams hardly ever play each other with the Patriots leading the series 6-2 and not having lost to the Bucs since 2000 before Brady was a starter. They haven’t visited Tampa Bay since 1997.

A loss drops New England to 2-3. Can’t see that. Patriots, 36-30 Arizona (plus 6) at Philadelphia

Something about the Eagles excites us. Can’t say the same for the Cardinals. Best Bet: Eagles, 28-20 Tennessee (minus 2.5) at Miami

The Dolphins finally get to play at home, curing some ills. Upset Special: Dolphins, 20-16 Kansas City (minus 1) at Houston

The Chiefsbut will won’twin this go one. unbeaten, Chiefs, 21-18 Green Bay (plus 2) at Dallas Great early season matchup in great all-time series. Cowboys, 33-30 Carolina (plus 3) at Detroit games The that Lions go only down winto wire. close Lions, 27-26 Buffalo (plus 3) at Cincinnati We more probablyin Buffalo should thanbelieve we do. Bengals, 19-17 Seattle (plus 1) at Los Angeles Rams

We probably should believe more in the Rams than we do. Seahawks, 22-21 Jacksonville (plus 8.5) at Pittsburgh unpredictable Schizophrenicto pick. Jags too Steelers, 27-16 San Francisco (plus 1.5) at Indianapolis

his Frank former Gore team? gets Don’t back think at so. 49ers, 17-16 Baltimore (plus 5) at Oakland

going Even with withoutthe Derek Raiders Carr, to wake up. Raiders, 16-13 New York Jets (pick-em) at Cleveland Jets 2-0 at home, 0-2 on road. Make it 0-3. Browns, 17-13 Los Angeles Chargers

(plus 3) at New York Giants Did someone say nil-nil draw? Giants, 24-23 Minnesota (OFF) at Chicago Would’ve been our Best Bet had there been a line. Vikings, 23-10 2017 RECORD Last week: Against the spread (9-6). Straight up (97) Season Totals: Against the spread (27-33-1). Straight up: (38-25) Best Bet: 2-2 against the spread, 2-2 straight up. Upset special: 4-0 against the spread, 4-0 straight up