If I learned anything from Swingers it's that LA has the best parties (that and always double down on eleven). Which is why it makes perfect sense for THE OFFICIAL TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS BYE WEEK PARTY to be in the City of Angels. To make things even better everyone's favorite Buccaneer Donald Penn is hosting the soirée, which guarantees Dwight Freeney and Dewayne White can get right in.(and a big tip o' the ol' hat to Gordy McBlum for tha story)
On a slightly different note, the Saints bandwagon has been filling up at an increasingly alarming rate. Don Banks prediction that not only will the Saints win the NFC South but that they will make the Super Bowl is a perfect example of this. I like Banks and think he is typically spot on but this is the perfect example of over rating a team based on: A) preseason expectations and, B) their last game. People are overlooking the Saints two losses in the division compared to zero losses for the Bucs in the NFC South. It's unlikely the Bucs early December game at New Orleans will decide the division even if the Saints win. Instead it will likely come down to the Bucs last game against Carolina in Tampa Bay.
More importantly, the Saints offense has been exploited by defenses designed to stop the pass. Stats based on passing defense rankings do an excellent job of bearing this out:
Indy - #3 - L
TB - #2 - L
Tenn - #12 - L
Carolina - #16 - L
Seattle - #25 - W
ATL - #15 - W
SF - #14 - W
Jax - #26 - W
With the exception of the Carolina game, which was a narrow win for the Panthers, the Saints have been defeated by quality pass defenses. It's no secret that with Deuce McAllister out the Saints have to throw the ball most of the time, for all the hype Reggie Bush is still nothing more than a poor man's Brian Westbrook aka a receiver disguised as a back. The Saints, much like our Bucs, are fortunate they have a soft schedule down the home stretch with only two teams posing a challenge, the Bucs and Bears. The Tampa Two defense has proven to be the Saints kryptonite. Still I have a tough time buying the Saints as a Super Bowl team much less NFC South champions.
2 comments:
Awesome find.
I would have totally agreed with you about the quality of the Saints even before N'awlins pulled a Grade A-quality gagging today against the formerly winless Rams (a team I would normally hate to see win, but given both teams' respective threat status at this point, I'll deal with it). And as I said to a friend earlier today, we'll be sure to give the Falcons the reward they deserve for taking care of the equally weak Panthers this week by beating them senseless. :-)
If we can hold the line and the running game together (and getting Pittman back ahead of schedule can only help matters) there's absolutely no reason why we can't win the division with ease and get a #3 or #4 seed (it's obvious at this point that Dallas & Green Bay are the class of the NFC). And that's even without the two wins we should have had against Detroit & Jacksonville.
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