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    Chiefs vs. Bucs odds, spread, pick: Tampa Bay's Bruce Arians will not take offensive play-calling from Byron Leftwich

    Tampa Bay head coach Bruce Arians has no plans to take offensive play-calling away from coordinator Byron Leftwich despite the Bucs' latest loss Monday.
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    The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were upset at home Monday night by the Los Angeles Rams, 27-24, as the Bucs' primetime woes this year continued. They are now 1-3 in those games and 0-4 against the spread, and Tom Brady has really struggled in them with five picks – he had two bad ones against the Rams and completed a season-low 54.2 percent of his passes. However, offensive-minded head coach Bruce Arians said after Monday's loss that coordinator Byron Leftwich will continue to call plays on that side of the ball. Tampa opened as a 3-point home underdog on the William Hill Sportsbook NFL odds for Sunday vs. the Super Bowl-favored Kansas City Chiefs.

    Despite only allowing 37 rushing yards vs. the Rams, the Bucs were outgained 413-251 in total offense on Monday. "I thought [Leftwich] called a good ballgame," Arians told reporters. "We just have to execute better. When guys are open, we have to hit them and we can't misread coverage. We have to protect a little bit better when we do have guys deep and let [Tom Brady] hit that guy instead of having that pressure that cost us an interception. As a collective, everybody has got to play better."

    Leftwich, a former NFL quarterback, is a candidate to be interviewed for head coaching openings around the league this offseason. Perhaps Arians pushes Leftwich to run the ball a bit more. The Bucs had just 18 carries for 42 yards on Monday and a few weeks ago in a home blowout loss to the Saints set an NFL record with only five rushing attempts.

    The good news for Brady & Co. is that there are no primetime games left on their regular-season schedule, although one of Tampa's games could be flexed into that window. Super Bowl 55 will be held at Tampa's Raymond James Stadium and that technically doesn't kick off in primetime, either (usually 6:30 p.m. ET).

    With Monday's loss, the Bucs (7-4) sit sixth in the NFC playoff field and would visit the NFC North-leading Packers (7-3) on Wild-Card Weekend as things stand, but there's obviously a long way to go. Tampa Bay realistically has little shot of catching NFC South-leading New Orleans (8-2) considering the Saints hold the head-to-head tiebreaker thanks to the season sweep.

    So Brady probably won't have a home playoff game at all … until possibly the Super Bowl. William Hill lists Tampa as a +1100 fourth-favorite to win it. No team has played in a Super Bowl in its own stadium. 

    So which teams should you back in Week 12 of the 2020 NFL season? And which Super Bowl contender goes down HARD? ... Join SportsLine right now to see who wins and covers every single NFL game this week, plus get the exact final score, all from the acclaimed model that has returned over $7,800 on its top-rated NFL picks!

    SportsLine Staff

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