A Wet Sunday in London, An Empty One in Tampa After all the anticipation of the first regular season game on this side of the pond, the moment finally arrived last Sunday and the weather decided to get typically British on us didn’t it? The Giants and The Dolphins slugged it out in what became a turgid contest truth be told but at least it was a genuine battle and not one of the phony wars of the pre-season. Aside from wondering why it took the Dolphins nearly three quarters before they decided to try to complete a pass longer than 5 yards, the main things that stuck were the performances of the two running backs Brandon Jacobs, and Jesse Chatman who showed up well. That apart much of the rest was forgettable fare unless you enjoy your punts, missed field goals or incomplete passes. In what was my first experience of the new stadium I found the surrounding area still somewhat of a toilet bowl, and though the sightlines and seats are 200% better in the new facility you do still have to remortgage your house or sell one of your internal organs on ebay if you fancy something to eat or drink. Head on the Block Time Last week 9-4 (season 69-47 ) Getting better, just like Danni Minogue after plastic surgery, its starting to look rosier though so much for the lock of the week – that was to tipping what Leslie Ash is to the aforementioned field of plastic surgery. This week's slate looks harder to pick than a broken nose, but we’ll have at go with ….. Boy I Love Losing Superbowers Marinelli’s Cheese San Diego Super Chargers Aints Buckos (Lock of the week) Oilers Dog Fighters J E T S Jets Jets Jets The Fudge Peyton and his mates Raydurs The $67m Romo’s I’m sorry I missed out on meeting many more Buc fans, but on my party’s arrival at around 1.30, persistent rain left us with one option – a bar, and we stayed safely under cover until it was time to retreat inside the stadium itself. Choosing to drive back after the game late at night at least meant a nice open road and an escape from the horrendous musical taste of the Editor (think The Wedding Singer soundtrack only 20 times worse), though my mood was to dip still further on receipt of a call from Mr Stewart, informing me the Bucs had coughed up another one they had in their grasp. At that point the language inside the trusty Vauxhall Corsa turned blue and fire came out of my nostrils, and that had nothing to do with the curry house we’d been in earlier either. A few things I think 1. I think the people that start that “happy clappy” wave should be lined up and hit with a cricket bat. They can also be joined by the degenerate with the whistle who seemed to want to blast away every time Miami had the ball. It’s a pity I wasn’t sat near the culprit as he’d have been wearing the damn thing by half-time. 2. I see Gaines Adams has been pushed into the starting role this weekend. It’s about time we saw potential turned into something more tangible, otherwise the Booker Reese and Eric Curry comparisons will gather further momentum. 3. How on earth Joey Galloway continues to sneak downfield and snaffle the long ball is beyond me, given he’s the only Buc player on the roster capable of doing so. He’s slick, he’s crafty and there isn’t a coverage in the NFL he hasn’t seen, but how much longer we can keep relying on the Joey home run hit each week, I don’t know. 4. I think if we are dreaming of the play-offs, and let’s face it you need to be a dreamer to be a Bucs fan, then we need to win-out in our next three games – at home against Arizona and Washington, and on the road against Atlanta. In summation if these are games we can’t claim we don’t really belong in any play-off discussion do we? 5. Garcia to an open Hilliard inside the final minute last Sunday? Gotta make that throw Jeff, that’s a bread and butter pass play in the NFL and represented the Football equivalent of a penalty miss as it was a surefire six points. There’s missed opportunities, and there’s plays that slap you across the face with a wet fish and that one falls into the latter category. 6. Colts vs Pats this week and I long for a Colts win more than you can imagine. 7. I think I miss the dulcid tones of Gene Deckerhoff, and like the Bucs themselves, I’m going back to basics and Gene’s radio call this Sunday which in itself is one of life’s guilty little pleasures. 8. I think I’m reminded by the Editor that this column represents my ton up, so before I duly raise my bat and salute the Pirate Ship in the North End Zone (after taking it to the Wembley wavers of course) I’d like to thank anybody who strays onto this column, and actually reads it. My 100 celebration will be marked by a Bucs win in Sunday – I’ve guaranteed it after all. I’d be a fraud if I waxed lyrical about the finer details of our latest defeat, having neither seen nor listened to any of it, and my knowledge has only been gleaned thanks to the highlights package and better reporters than I from the Tampa printed press. In short the turnovers killed us again – three int’s by the QB, one killing the final drive and the other returned for seven points – that’s the game right there in a nutshell. If we don’t turn the ball over we are a competitive team, but if we do we aren’t good enough or sufficient in quality to overcome such mistakes. Nuff said. This weekend, and prior to our bye week, we are effectively in the “Must win” situation and in true Joe Namath style I’m guaranteeing victory – we will win, we have to; we must have this game to keep our season alive and because of this and the veteran leaders we have, we will get back to basics and grind out the victory to get us back on some sort of track for the second half of the year. It might not be pretty, and they’ll be a hell of a lot of high percentage stuff on offense but Gruden will trust his veteran QB. Garcia by his own standards has gone turnover crazy these past 2 weeks and it will stop right now. Am I the only person who’s seems to have noticed Michael Bennett is averaging around 10 yards per touch of the ball so far? May I be so bold as to suggest it might be worth getting the ball to him a bit more regularly than three or four times a game? Its not rocket science is it. Bucs to win 23-17 and to restore some of my sanity as we head into the two-week holidays, or 10-month one if your Torrie Cox who is our latest addition to Injured Reserve. Whilst he’s otherwise engaged, lets hope he stays off the razz. Nod of Acknowledgement to - Brett Favre The old gunslinger keeps coming up with the plays, turning what should be a 4-12 team into a play-off contender. We will miss the guy when he finally does hang em up. Get in the Real World Award - The Bucs 4-2 seems a hell of a long time ago these days. Cutting out our turnovers and making some of our own on D is the cure. Sports News Story I No Longer Give a Toss About – Travis Henry’s legal woes Does anybody really have any sympathy for this serial offender, who also has an army of poor kids out of wedlock that an NBA Power Forward would be proud to call his own – 9 and counting. Travis you exhausted the sympathy vote back in 2004, time to face the music.