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'MNF' Game One Of Bucs' Biggest Ever In Regular Season

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By JOE HENDERSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 8, 2008

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - More than a few people have said lately that tonight's game for the Bucs against Carolina is the most important regular-season game in franchise history. I won't quite go that far, but it's clearly the biggest this season -- maybe in a long, long time.

Even though a date on "Monday Night Football" isn't quite what it used to be back in the day, it's still a national stage for one of the best games in the league this year. People have been grudgingly slow to take the Bucs seriously, but it's all right there for them to take the NFC South by the throat and move a step closer to a first-round playoff bye.

The notion of having home-field advantage through the playoffs isn't so far-fetched any more, either. The Giants lost on Sunday, and you know they're yakking up there about what the loss of Plaxico Burress means to New York's offense. The Bucs won't get caught up in that, though, because they first have to win tonight.

It won't be easy.

We know the formula by now. The Bucs rank a pedestrian 17th in the NFL for points scored, but they've won four straight and six of seven, so it really doesn't matter how they're getting it done. And they are getting it done.

They absolutely thrashed Carolina 27-3 in Tampa on Oct. 12, intercepting Jake Delhomme three times while holding the Panthers to a paltry 282 total yards. They rendered DeAngelo Williams an insignificant 27-yard afternoon on 11 carries.

Warrick Dunn ran for 115 that day, and Jeff Garcia was at his efficient best, hitting 15 of 20 passes with no interceptions.

That's the way they'll try to do it tonight. They'll be cautious on offense, and they'll try to create turnovers and stop Williams from running on defense. Cadillac Williams could be the X factor for the Bucs. He was still recovering from knee surgery when these teams played the first time, but Jon Gruden has suggested Caddy will get the ball a fair amount tonight.

We'll see.

The Bucs haven't been on this stage in the regular-season too often, at least not with these stakes. In importance, this game still ranks behind the time way, way back when (1979) when they beat Kansas City 3-0 in a monsoon to clinch their first division championship. There aren't many others I'd put ahead of it, though, for a couple of reasons.

Win tonight and they'll go to 10-3, with two wins head-to-head against Carolina. It would take almost a complete collapse not to win the division at that point, which would leave them with an excellent chance to make the Super Bowl a home game for the first time in league history.

Victory tonight also would validate Gruden's assertion that the Bucs need more love from around the country. He has complained about the lack of attention paid to the likes of Barrett Ruud, among others, but a good showing tonight would cure all that. The Bucs would be all over the national gab shows, and they'd be marked as a team that definitely needs to be dealt with.

Of course, lose and it goes the other way. They'd fall a game behind the Panthers with a tough road game just six days from now in Atlanta. Lose tonight and their grandiose plans could transform into a scrum to become a wild card.

It's a national stage against their top division rival in one of the highest-stakes games the Bucs have ever played in the regular season.

Call it 24-21, Bucs.

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