Rams vs. Bucs injury report, odds, pick, trends: Tampa Bay has been primetime nightmare this season

Monday night's Los Angeles Rams at Tampa Bay Buccaneers matchup could be an NFC playoff preview and both teams are quite healthy entering the final game of Week 12. The biggest injury note would be that Los Angeles is without long-time starting left tackle Andrew Whitworth, but that was known early last week. So, we will focus on a couple of interesting primetime trends for these clubs. The Bucs are 4.5-point favorites on the William Hill Sportsbook NFL odds with a fairly low total of 48.5 between two of the league's top defenses.

The Rams got a huge Week 10 win over Seattle, 23-16, but it was costly as three Rams were hurt and landed on injured reserve: Whitworth, safety Taylor Rapp and kicker Kai Forbath. Whitworth tore his MCL and damaged his PCL but at least didn't tear the ACL so he could be back by the postseason. The 39-year-old was signed to a three-year, $30 million contract extension back in March.

The Rams have been pretty good in protecting Jared Goff so far as he has been sacked just 13 times. Joseph Noteboom, who started two games earlier this year and six in 2019, will take Whitworth's spot.

As for Rapp, he was largely on the bench to start the season but had played every defensive snap since Week 6 and had 44 tackles with a forced fumble and interception. Forbath had kicked in just two games this season for the Rams as that position has been a revolving door of sorts. The team signed former Buccaneer Matt Gay off the Colts practice squad to compete with Austin MacGinnis to replace Forbath. Coach Sean McVay has yet to say which guy will kick Monday and both could be active.

The Bucs, meanwhile, are in great shape health-wise but will not get back left guard Ali Marpet even though he returned to practice last week for the first time since suffering a concussion in Week 8.

Tampa Bay has been terrible in primetime games this season, going 1-2 straight up and 0-3 against the spread. In Week 5 on Thursday, the Bucs were upset 20-19 in Chicago as they committed 11 penalties for 109 yards and Tom Brady forgot what down it was (fourth) in the final seconds.

On Monday in Week 8, the Bucs were 25-23 winners at the Giants but were largely outplayed. Apparent defensive pass interference was flagged on Tampa rookie Antoine Winfield Jr. on the Giants' tying two-point try at the end, which would have given New York another try from the 1. However, referees then picked up the flag.

On Sunday night in Week 9, Brady played one of the worst games of his career in a 38-3 home blowout loss to the Saints. He didn't have a TD pass and was picked off three times. The Bucs set an NFL record with just five rushing attempts. Brady is 14-10-1 ATS overall on Monday nights dating to his Patriots days.

The Rams, meanwhile, are 8-2 ATS in their past 10 primetime games and 2-1 ATS this year. L.A. also has no issues playing on the East Coast overall, winning and covering eight of its past 11.

Who wins every NFL game this week? And which teams cover more than 50 percent of the time? Get picks here from the SportsLine Projection Model, which simulates every NFL game 10,000 times and ranked in the Top 10 on NFLPickWatch three of the past four years on straight-up NFL picks.