Mike Smith spoke to the media before Wednesday’s practice

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are in the middle of preparing for their week one matchup against the New Orleans Saints. The team will have three final practices before heading to the Mercedes Benz Superdome. Last year Youth Mike Evans Jersey , the defense struggled mightily in their lone trip to New Orleans. They weren’t the only team that struggled to contain the Saints offense last year and they still have Drew Brees, who historically has had great success against the Buccaneers. Defensive coordinator Mike Smith spoke to the media today before practice and gave praise to the signal caller. “Definitely a first ballot Hall of Fame quarterback, he knows how to run the offense with Sean Payton,” Smith said. “He moves the ball around and gets it in different guys hands. You watch the tape and you still see a great player.”The Buccaneers defense is set to look much different than the one they trotted out in week 17 last season against the Saints. You potentially have five new starters across the board, including former pro-bowl defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul. Pierre Paul is excited to get his first official game going as a Buccaneer, and Mike Smith has been impressed with Pierre Paul throughout camp.“Jason has a real drive to be a great football player and a drive to understand what we are doing on defense and that’s been most impressive,” Smith said. “The guy doesn’t want to come off the field. When he is healthy he plays 90% of the snaps and that is unheard of in the NFL.”It’ll take more than JPP to turn around Tampa Bay’s defense. Another key player in which the Buccaneers need to produce is Vernon Hargreaves. Hargreaves, is coming off a tough year, but he seems to have grown up a lot during the off season. Maybe the team drafting two corners woke him up, but Smith is noticing a big change is Vernon this year. “Vernon is very comfortable starting the season off playing both inside and outside. He is going to be counted on to be a leader and I think he really worked hard during the off season in terms of changing his body,” Smith said. “He works hard in the classroom and I think he has a very good understanding. We are expecting him to have a much better season than he had last year,and I know he is as well.”Tampa Bay did split the two meetings with New Orleans last season, but their defensive performance in New Orleans was pretty disgraceful. The defense did perform much better in week 17, and Mike Smith gave some insight on why in today’s press conference.. “The difference in the two games was that we had a stretch in the game in New Orleans where for about 15 or 20 plays was just horrid football defensively White Ryan Smith Jersey ,” Smith said. “We really did some nice things here at home, everytime you play the Saints it’s going to be a different game and have a different dynamic. It’s always fun to prepare to play against a Sean Payton coached team.”Week one match ups are always fun, but the Buccaneers seem to have a little bit more energy to them this year then in years past. We will find out Sunday if that is the case.Buccaneers will be underdogs for the third time in four games come Sunday What do the oddsmakers over in Vegas think about the Buccaneers and Bears matchup this weekend in Soldier Field? So far this season, the Buccaneers have opened as underdogs every week. By the time kickoff came on Monday night, Tampa Bay was favored by three points. Once again, Tampa Bay will be underdogs this week, the Buccaneers are currently +3. In no way am I a professional gambler and in no way am I telling you to put your money with what I predict. This is really just for fun and something we here at Bucs Nation thought the readers would enjoy after sports gambling was legalized. For those that don’t know sports gambling, I will quickly go over the three main bets that are often placed. Also, the lines could always change and the website you use, could be different from mine. Betting with the spread: Currently, the Buccaneers are +3 . This means that if you were to take the Buccaneers with the spread, they could lose by 2 points and you’d win. If they lose by 3 points, it means you push, so the bet offsets. On the opposite side Youth Justin Evans Jersey , if you took the Bears at -3 , they’d have to win by 4 for you to win the bet. Same as before, if you pick the Bears -3 and they win by 3, you push. Spread bets always have the same odds, which are -110. This means that you need to risk $110 to win $100. It’s surprising to see Chicago favored. I know it is in Chicago, but Tampa Bay, in my opinion, has the more talented roster and has looked better than Chicago this season, against much tougher opponents.Money line bets: As of late friday night, the Bears are -155. The Buccaneers are +135. In money line bets, all the team you bet on has to do is win. In terms of what the -155 means for the Bears, you’d have to risk $155 dollars just to win $100 because they are the favorite to win this game. The Buccaneers at +135, means that a $100 dollar bet would win you $135 dollars. Again, a bit surprising to see Tampa Bay at +135. Maybe it’s solely based on the way Khalil Mack has been playing.Over/Under bets: Again http://www.authenticstampabaybuccaneers.com/cheap-beau-allen-jersey , no matter what way you pick, the odds in this case are -110. Vegas sports books currently have the over under at 46陆 total points scored . If you take the over, the Bucs and Bears must combined to score 47 points in order for you to win. Obviously, the under is 46 or under. So, now we get to the part where I try and beat Vegas. Last week, I picked Tampa Bay straight up (+115) (lost) and I also took the over 53 陆 (won). My current record on the season is 4-2. I will continue to keep a tracker all season of how I am doing, but a little side note, this is the best start I have ever had to the season in terms of trying to beat Vegas for Buccaneer games.A few things to consider: Tampa Bay, is 5-1 at the spread in its last six games. Personally, I love the spread this week. Tampa is 2-0 this season when they are underdogs at kickoff. Also, the total has gone over in 4 of the last 5 games Tampa Bay has played on the road. After reading that, you probably feel like the over is a pretty safe bet鈥?Not so fast, the under has hit in 5 of the last 6 games Chicago has played. Vegas really doesn’t make this easy. The final point, the Bears are 20-5 straight up (money line) in their last 25 games played at home against Tampa Bay.My picks: Buccaneers at +135 and the under 46 陆. These are my favorite picks of the year so far. Like I said earlier http://www.authenticstampabaybuccaneers.com/cheap-jason-pierre-paul-jersey , Tampa Bay has the better roster and they have the better quarterback, whether it’s Winston or Fitzpatrick, which is the main reason I am so confident in them winning this game. One player can ruin this prediction and that’s Khalil Mack, but in the past, Demar Dotson has held his own against some of the league’s best pass rushers. He always shows up for the big test and I believe he will do so this weekend. In regards to the over/under, Chicago doesn’t have the best offense in the world and I think the Buccaneers defense can build off of their second half performance on Monday night. On the offensive side of the ball, I expect the offense to have a good week, but not a great week, like they have the first three games (outside of the first half monday). It should be a fun one, but i’m very confident in these picks.