Tampa Bay Buccaneers @ Baltimore Ravens NFL Week 12 Free Pick

Tampa Bay Buccaneers @ Baltimore Ravens NFL Week 12 Free Pick: The Ravens play a lot of close games, and the Buccaneers are a tough group to beat up. Tampa can run it a little, throw it a little, and they really do play physical on both sides of the ball. Baltimore’s close game pedigree and struggles against the run game this year make the Buccaneers a nice value bet getting nine big points on the road.

Can the Ravens beat the Buccaneers by double digits? You bet, they certainly have it in them, especially with Ray Rice running well and a little more toughness on defense – but these Ravens aren’t consistent enough to bet them against a tough team when they are giving this many points. They still hurt themselves and they can often be very dependent on their opponents’ mistakes. Baltimore can capitalize on opponents’ mistakes with the best of them, and that’s something the Buccaneers just don’t do much of, that’s why they keep winning.

I know that Tampa hasn’t stunned many of the good teams in the NFL – in fact, they haven’t beaten a single one of them. San Francisco, Carolina, Arizona, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Carolina again, and Cleveland. Honestly, I think Cleveland’s the best team of that bunch and they only have 3 wins. The next best team might be St. Louis, and the Rams are 4-6 despite being in quite probably the worst division in sports. So schedule might have a lot to do with that 7-3 record.

But a team still learns how to win, how to compete, to play with confidence – and obviously the Bucs are doing that. Just like Baltimore, the Bucs lost to Atlanta by less than a touchdown. And they played better than the Ravens did against the Falcons.

Baltimore has played plenty of close games against average teams – and I think Tampa is above average and they love to play close as well. It’s a good value for the road team.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers (+9) @ Baltimore Ravens