Kansas City Chiefs at Tampa Bay Buccaneers 10/2/22 - NFL Picks & Predictions

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers host the Kansas City Chiefs on Oct. 2 as they meet for the first time since the Buccaneers won the Super Bowl, 31-9, on their home field in February 2021. The Chiefs won the last regular season matchup, 27-24, at Tampa Bay in November 2020.

Kansas City is 2-1 overall and 1-1 on the road this season. The Chiefs lost at Indianapolis in Week 3, 20-17, as 4.5-point favorites. They also failed to be the spread in a Week 2, beating the Chargers, 27-24, as 4-point home favorites. Kansas City easily covered -6 in its season-opening 44-21 victory at Arizona.

Tampa Bay is 2-1 overall and 0-1 at home. The Buccaneers were 2.5-point favorites in each of their first two games this season, winning 19-3 at Dallas in the opener and 20-10 at New Orleans in Week 2. They failed to cover as one-point favorites in a 14-12 loss at home against Green Bay in Week 3.

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The Chiefs offensive yardage has gone down each week, but the run game was especially bad in Week 3 with just 58 yards. Clyde Edwards-Helaire started off the year well running seven times for 42 yards in Week 1 and eight for 74 yards in Week 2. Against the Colts in Week 3, however, he ended up with zero net yards on seven carries despite scoring a rushing touchdown. Rookie Isiah Pacheco got off to a hot start with 12 rushes for 62 yards but has had just five runs for 15 yards the last two games.

Tampa Bay’s defense has been outstanding through three weeks having given up just 25 points total, but the offense has stumbled out of the game with just 53 points overall. The Buccaneers finally surpassed 200 yards passing in Week 3, throwing 42 times for 251 yards. While the passing game got going, the run game disappeared against Indianapolis accounting for just 34 yards.