As A Matter Of Fact, A 4-0 Start Is Pretty Important Martin Fennelly, The Tampa Tribune, published 3 October 2005 There's no getting around it. Or them. We don't know how they got here. They're a juggernaut, though they jugger not. But there are but four undefeated teams in the NFL -- and the Bucs are one of them. And you thought it was lack of blood to the brain from holding your breath after Cadillac Williams' hamstring twanged. It wasn't. The Bucs are really 4-0. The Patriots are 2-2. No matter that Williams was kept from further record breaking and made just 13 yards on 11 carries before The Canton Express sat down with his hammy. There are other models on the Cadillac Ranch. Try Michael Pittman and Joey Galloway. No matter that it was another day in the Wild World of Brian Griese, who was knocked silly and occasionally threw sillier. He also tossed two touchdowns. He also won. No matter that the defense allowed the winning touchdown in the closing seconds, because it wasn't the winning touchdown after the replay official made the right call. The defense went back out and saved the day. Throw in the weekly game-saving tackle by Kenyatta Walker and you had a 17-13 win against the Detroit Lions. 4-0. It matters. "Any way you win is a win," Pittman said. That's a fact. A 4-0 start is golden in the NFC, where 9-7 -- heck, 8-8 -- can get you in the playoffs. The Bucs could play .500 ball the rest of the way and finish 10-6. Go ahead and poke holes. It's easy. The two Minnesota touchdowns called back in the opener. The Griese fumble that wasn't allowed to be a fumble at Green Bay. The go-ahead Lions score that wasn't a score. Forget it. When you're 4-0, you're 4-0 and that's that. Think there aren't 28 NFL teams that would trade places with the Bucs? Think it's easy going 4-0? Jon Gruden has been in the NFL 15 years. He'd never started a season 4-0. Until Sunday. "They used to throw things at me the year we won the Super Bowl," Gruden said. "We'd win ugly and they'd throw rocks at me on the way out. I don't care. If you can win a game in this league, that's a great accomplishment." Sunday mattered because this team started 0-4 last season. Sunday mattered because it could have been the bear trap. Sunday mattered because the Bucs found a way without Cadillac. They threw rocks at him? Anyway, Ground Chucky ground to a halt. But Pittman beat a linebacker down the right side for a long touchdown catch. And Galloway split the Detroit secondary and hyperspaced to the end zone. You just don't see Bucs receivers fast enough to make small holes into 80-yard scores. Then there's the quarterback. Griese was hit so hard after one early scramble that he hardly knew who was who, which might explain the three interceptions. Then again, it might not. Griese's first pick set up the lone Lions touchdown, and another would have been one if Kenyatta Bednarik, Mr. Two Way, hadn't made yet another tackle. But that's Griese. Tough to the core, rough around the edges. He made great throws. He made horrible throws. Gruden read Griese's scorecard: "He had a couple of birdies, he had an eagle, he had a couple of double bogeys, but he put us in a position to win." The Bucs are the leader in the NFC clubhouse. They're the only 4-0 team in the conference. They have a cushion. Look at the second half of the schedule. It's filled with division foes and three consecutive road games in December, including a lovely jaunt to New England. Think a good start didn't matter? True, this can't last if Cadillac's hamstring remains hamstrung. This team can't have four turnovers and expect to win. Potential winning touchdowns won't get called back every week. But this one was, as it should have been. This game was won, as it should have been. The Lions kept calling the Bucs a playoff team, though Detroit does hail from the dreadful NFC North, where 1-3 is a playoff team. "Thank God for the replay official," Gruden said. He thanked more than God. His guys didn't fall into the trap. Ugly? Lucky? Call them anything you want. This is the NFL. The Bucs are 4-0. And it matters. "He had a couple of birdies, he had an eagle, he had a couple of double bogeys, but he put us in a position to win."