The Bucs took their unbeaten home streak to six with a 23-20 victory against the Saints on Sunday but there’s still some uncertainty revolving around the team. It was a great showing of the defense, again, against the league’s best offense that featured some great play from the secondary. Ronde Barber apparently took the early season criticism personally that his game was falling off and has been on a mission to prove himself since. Barber didn’t get a pick this week but he tipped one into Cato June’s hands and still shows the ball skills that have made him one of the NFL’s best since he arrived. Teams continue to throw in his direction because the secondary is so good, not because he’s bad. With Buchanon, Phillips, Talib, Barber, Jackson and Piscitelli back there to combine for, in my opinion, the NFL’s best secondary, there’s not a whole lot of options for opposing offenses. They picked off Drew Brees 3 times Sunday and held the Saints to 20 points despite allowing 332 net yards. I was most impressed with the run play though, holding Thomas, McAllister and Bush to 37 yards total. The questions that still linger revolve around the offense (see my Gruden post) and that’s what going to determine how far this team can go. Garcia isn’t turning the ball over, but he’s not making too many big plays either. Graham is out and Galloway has apparently been phased out of the offense also. Dunn is playing well along with Antonio Bryant and the offensive line is rounding into a very tough group. Cadillac is slowly coming back but I still don’t think we can count on him too much. We have to remember that he wasn’t exactly lighting things up before his injury, so what should we be expecting from him now? I do think Gruden is doing a good job of managing the offense with the hand he’s been dealt, but I don’t see this offense taking this team very far in the playoffs. Monday night we should see what we can expect as I would consider the Carolina game the Bucs first playoff game this year. It’s the battle for the division and it’s on the road against a tough Panther team. The main thing I keep wondering about is what happened to Joey Galloway? He says he’s healthy, yet he’s missing from the offense. I have to believe that he’s still hurt or the injuries have finally taken their toll on him as there should be no reason a healthy Joey G be absent from the offense in this way. Is Gruden holding him back for the playoffs? Is he done? What else could it be? I can only imagine how good this offense would be with Bryant and Galloway on the outside and I would think Gruden would like that too. I think Gruden’s an A-hole, but he’s not stupid. I’m really looking forward to this one on Monday as it could all but clinch the South for us.
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