NFL Week 2 concludes with a Monday Night Football doubleheader on September 15 — first up are the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Houston Texans. Buccaneers vs Texans is scheduled to kick off at 7 p.m ET from NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas.
I am all over Buccaneers-Texans on MNF with player props for three standout players: Will Anderson Jr., Bucky Irving and Emeka Egbuka.
Let's dive into my Buccaneers vs Texans player prop bets for Monday Night Football.
Buccaneers vs Texans Player Props
- Will Anderson Jr. Over 0.25 Sacks (-129 at Draftkings)
- Bucky Irving Under 61.5 Rushing Yards (-110 at bet365)
- Emeka Egbuka Anytime Touchdown (+190 at FanDuel)
Buccaneers vs Texans Prop Picks, Preview
Will Anderson Jr Over 0.25 Sacks (-129; DraftKings)
The Bucs’ offensive line looked largely solid — they only gave up one sack — in a win over the Falcons.
However, the Texans’ pass rush is far superior and arguably features the best one-two punch in the NFL with Danielle Hunter and Will Anderson Jr. I'm going to back Anderson to have another big day.
The Texans sacked Matthew Stafford three times last week, with Anderson getting one of those. Over the past two seasons, he’s had 18 sacks; last season, he averaged just shy of one sack per game, with 11 in 14 appearances for Houston.
This defensive front is so dynamic that it’s almost certain that one of the edge rushers will get a sack each game — with Anderson getting a sack in his past three games, 4.5 in total, I'm taking him to have over 0.25 sacks.
Pick: Will Anderson Jr Over 0.25 Sacks (-129 at DraftKings)
Bucky Irving Under 61.5 Rushing Yards (-110; bet365)
It didn't take long for Bucky Irving to become a star player on the Buccaneers, but I'm betting against him by taking the under on his rushing yards total (60.5).
The Texans did a reasonably good job of stopping the run against the Rams last week. They held Kyren Williams to just 66 yards; he was seriously fed the ball with 18 carries, averaging 3.7 yards per carry.
To put that into context, Irving has been given 18 or more carries just three times since entering the NFL — he had just 14 carries last week in the win over Atlanta.
The Falcons are good against the run, but it was notable that Irving really struggled with just 37 yards on those carries, an average of 2.6 per carry. That average is bound to see some improvement here but unless he gets a bellcow workload, of which there’s no evidence that he will, then he shouldn’t cover here.
Pick: Bucky Irving Under 61.5 Rushing Yards (-120 at Fanatics)
Emeka Egbuka Anytime Touchdown (+190; FanDuel)
Despite the Texans having a stout defense and Baker Mayfield having a number of mouths to feed in the Buccaneers offense, I'm backing Emeka Egbuka to score a touchdown tonight.
Egbuka caught two touchdown passes on four catches last week. Although that level of scoring isn’t sustainable, it looks to have been the first of plenty for the rookie.
The most impressive part of his performance wasn’t the touchdowns, or the six targets, it was the fact that Egbuka wanted the ball and called the play in the huddle, which led to his 25-yard, go-ahead touchdown.
To have that confidence and then back it up shows his ability and crucially, it means he’s more likely to get fed at important moments in the future.
Pick: Emeka Egbuka Anytime Touchdown (+190 at FanDuel)
