Vegas Play of the Day: Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Jacksonville Jaguars

By Case Keefer (contact)

Thursday, Aug. 17, 2017 | 12:23 p.m.

We’ve entered the fourth season of the annual South Point-lined Play of the Day competition, effective July 1.

Starting bankrolls have reset to $10,000, with the maximum bet being to win $1,000 and the minimum wager $300. Ray Brewer won back-to-back titles in the 2015-2016 and 2016-17 seasons, after Taylor Bern prevailed in 2014-2015.

Jacksonville Jaguars plus-2.5 vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: $330 to win $300

Here’s a hunch that the Jaguars employ their starters longer than the Buccaneers in their preseason home opener tonight. Jacksonville will want to appease its understandably impatient fan base, and more importantly, needs to make some strides offensively going into the season.

The two series the starting offense played in a 31-24 win over the Patriots as 3-point underdogs last week isn’t going to cut it. The Buccaneers are under incredibly less stress.

There’s a lot of excitement about them going into the season, despite a 23-12 setback to the Bengals in their initial preseason game. It might not all be justified.

Tampa Bay did go 6-2 in the second half of last season, but it caught a lot of breaks during that run.

Tampa Bay and Jacksonville have held joint practices going into this game, meaning they’re familiar with each other’s personnel and playbooks. The games should be close, making every point on the betting line valuable.

Current Standings: Granger (4-5, $11,217), Keefer (5-2-1, $11,095), Grimala (2-1, $10,595), Brewer (5-5, $9,140)

Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.