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Despite Flaws, Bucs Could Make A Run At This Thing

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By MARTIN FENNELLY | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 30, 2008

Updated: 11/30/2008 12:12 am

TAMPA - It seems it was about 11 minutes ago that we were wrapping up a Rays baseball season that constantly seemed to be about destiny.

Nothing could stop it.

Now come the Bucs.

Now comes the question:

Why not them?

Why not the Bucs get hot and play for the NFC title?

Why not?

The next three weeks, beginning today with the Saints, will tell us a lot.

Three division rivals in three weeks, including a Monday night game at Carolina.

The Bucs would improve to 9-3 with a win today.

They've been 9-3 after 12 games only two other times in their history.

Once was in 1979. The last time was 2002.

They played for the NFC title in 1979.

They won the Super Bowl in 2002.

Get the idea.

It sounds crazy, but these guys just keep on keepin' on.

They're no juggernaut.

They have flaws, lots of flaws.

People can't decide how good this team is.

They don't care.

They keep winning.

And they keep not losing games they shouldn't, like last week in Detroit.

They've done it so well their destiny is in their hands.

Win out and they win the NFC South.

Win out and they grab the No. 2 seed in the NFC playoffs.

The last time they did that?

You got it - the Super season.

"I've been in all sorts of situations," said Bucs center Jeff Faine, who played the playoff guessing game with the Saints. "I've been where six teams had to lose for us to get in, or two teams, or a 1-14 had to win."

He smiled.

"This, we control."

Why not the Bucs?

Why not the Bucs when their defense is wide awake?

Why not the Bucs when the offense makes a few plays?

Yes, the Giants are clearly the class of the NFC. But here are the Bucs, 8-3.

It's the second-best record in the conference.

The Cowboys are a worry. They're heating up.

But tell me the Bucs can't beat the Cardinals, who were just pounded by the Eagles.

The Bucs can beat anyone at home.

Give them a bye week in the playoffs, then a home game, and make it against someone not the Cowboys or Giants, and I say they make this title game happen.

They can win four of their last five.

They might not, but they can.

That's 12-4.

Repeating: 12-4.

They can be the No. 2 seed behind the Giants.

They haven't been picked up on many radars.

It's the way they play. Bucs football isn't always the stuff of dreams. It can be plodding. It can be boring.

But in the end, what's boring about 8-3?

Nobody thought much of this team last season, when it was rising to the top of the NFC South.

Bad division, everybody said.

Well, it's a better division this season, so what about the Bucs now?

It really doesn't matter what people think, only what these guys do.

And today is when the Bucs start deciding exactly what they want out of 2008.

Win four out of five, and it says anything is possible. Even in a season that ends with the Super Bowl at Raymond James Stadium, anything is possible.

They don't have the offense for it.

Or probably even the defense for it.

But here they are, 8-3.

Here they are, right here.

Right now.

We've heard them say it before.

Jeff Faine, the new man, is all aboard.

"Yeah, why not us?" he said.

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