Tampa Times II: Working Towards Full Strength
| 5
|
by Nejoshi
Tampa Bay Buccaneers Beat #2
During their open date last week, the first-place Tampa Bay Buccaneers (5-4) finally had the opportunity to get healthy. Injuries have ravaged Jon Gruden’s team all season, but the time off finally gave Tampa Bay to works towards being at full strength for the second half stretch run. “I think it was a really timely bye this year,” said TE Alex Smith, “A lot of times, it’s early in the season, but we were able to use it to get a lot of our players back. We have seven games lef
Even with the two weeks away from action, Tampa Bay’s injury report is still chalked full of names. Smith joined nine of his teammates on the injury report, all of whom were held out of Wednesday’s practice. It’s uncertain how many of these players will be able to play in Week 11 as Jon Gruden was very coy about what he said regarding his team’s injuries. “We are optimistic that some guys will have a chance to play this Sunday that haven’t played in the past. But at the same time, I don’t see it right now.” At least there’s three full days until game time.
Tampa Bay is clinging to a one game lead in the division over the Saints and Panthers, with a trip to the Georgia Dome ahead this week. The Buccaneers are actually in great shape in the division race, having a win in hand against their two closest competitors. They are also undefeated in NFC South play, while every other team has at least two losses in divisional play. Those head-to-head and divisional tiebreakers may come in handy down the road. It’s also very helpful that the Saints have been Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and the Panthers are stuck with a quarterback carousel of David Carr and Vinny Testaverde. Ouch.
The Falcons may be 3-6, but Bobby Petrino’s team has won their last two games, and is flourishing as the role of spoiler. Atlanta gave the Bucs a huge lift last week by taking out the Panthers on the road, one of two surprising results that left Tampa Bay at the top of the division. The other was shocking as St. Louis finally broke into the win column by rolling past the Saints in New Orleans.
Tampa Bay’s sixth ranked total defense will look to carry the load like it has the whole season on Sunday, matching up with the NFL’s 30th scoring offense. Explosive and dynamic are two words that are not used to describe this team; the Buccaneers have scored over 30 points only once, and for the season the unit is only averaging 18.2 points a game. The defense has responded to the challenge well, and will be able to feast on a number of weak offenses down the stretch.
The defense should be up to the challenge once again in Week 11, and allow Tampa Bay to prevail and stay ahead in the race for the NFC South title.
