Bucs/Giants - 1PM Sunday

The NFL has announced the playoff schedule, and the Bucs will host the Giants on Sunday at 1PM. Let's hope we get our starters back healthy, and that the Giants don't. This will be a tough game, but if the Bucs can hold off the pass rush, and force Manning to beat them through the air, then they'll likely win the game.

Oh, I almost forgot, the Bucs lost that meaningless game to the Panthers. We had our chances to win it, but just couldn't quite make enough plays. Luke continues to look good in spots, but will still make that big mistake here and there. At least we know we can still score with him in there, unlike someone else I can think of. The only thing about this game that really ticked me off was the call to punt the ball away when we had a short 4th and less than 1 and our defense had been having trouble all day getting the Panthers off the field. Gruden elected to punt, and the Panthers scored on the next drive. Needless to say, I was a little pissed at the call. They needed to go for it, and try to get another 20 yards or so for a good field goal try to take a lead. Instead, they found themselves down by 8 and unable to score the needed TD to try and tie the game.

They did manage to drive 98 yards for a TD, the longest in franchise history, with McCown's huge scramble being a big part of it. Luke also came out of that game with a 108.6 rating (2 TD's and the one pick), while completing 75% of his passes (21 of 28). So it's not like he's playing really bad out there...hardly. The reality is that the back-ups on defense aren't quite as good as the back-ups on offense. The off-season FA period and draft should be able to fill those last few holes.

For now, we look forward to Sunday's game against the Giants.