Yardbarker Horiz

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Who Buccaneer Fans Should Cheer For: Week 8

First and foremost, of course, it's the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.  If you are looking for other games which are starting to matter, there are plenty!

First, teams in our conference with a similar record need to lose.  The Buccaneers are one of four teams with only two losses in the NFC (no NFC team has fewer losses).  Of those four, the Atlanta Falcons and the New York Giants are not playing.  That leaves a future Buccaneer opponent, the Seattle Seahawks, as the only other top NFC team playing.  Seattle plays at the same time the Buccaneers play Sunday in Oakland.  I cannot, ever, ever encourage someone to pull for the team in Oakland, so how about we just all pull for a Seattle/Oakland tie on this one, OK?  Seriously, I absolutely can not tell people to pull for that team and still feel good about myself.  Moving on . . . 

Secondly, the teams in our division need to lose.  With the Falcons on a bye, that leaves the Panthers and New Orleans in action.  The Panthers are still a threat as the season is still young, so cheer on the team the Buccaneers just sent home with a loss.  Go Saint Louis Rams!  New Orleans plays the late game Sunday night as the Steelers head to New Orleans.  Another loss by the Saints gives the Buccaneers some breathing room in the division, so cheer on the Pittsburgh Steelers!

Finally, the Bears, Packers, Redskins, and Eagles are all 4-3 and cramping the Tampa Bay playoff run mojo.  The Bears and Eagles have the week off, so nothing we can do about them this week.  Green Bay plays an early game Sunday in New York, so root for the New York Jets!  And finally, Washington is playing in Detroit, so Buccaneers fans in the old NFC Norris neighborhood can help out by pulling for the Detroit Lions before watching the Buccaneers game later in the afternoon.

To summarize: in early games this Sunday, cheer for the Saint Louis Rams, New York Jets, and Detroit Lions; in late games this Sunday, we want a victory for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and a tie by the Seattle Seahawks (yes, a tie . . . I just can't!!); and in the Sunday Night game pull for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

If all this happens, the Buccaneers will be tied with Atlanta and the New York Giants for the best record in the NFC, setting up a big showdown the following weekend when Tampa Bay invades Atlanta.  Also, the Buccaneers will have a game and a half lead over the New Orleans Saints in the division (good thing all around), the Green Bay Packers and Washington Redskins slide away from the wildcard picture a bit, and the Carolina Panthers will be all but buried for this season.

Sounds good to me!

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