A Withdrawal The Tampa Bay Buccaneers CANNOT beat all those teams we expect them to beat. Unless we have no punts blocked. Unless we don’t fumble in the red-zone. Unless we don’t miss a field goal in a dome. That’s right, with a career game LT would be (possibly) proud of, Earnest Graham still doesn’t get a win to go with an almost 200 yard game, but he does draw the ire of our own Lee Bromfield with his over-zealous celebration at making a first down when we were losing. What happened last Sunday? I don’t even think God knows – Gruden sure as hell didn’t – what could go wrong, did go wrong. If we’d still plucked out a win one of two statements would be true: the lions are shit OR we are Superbowl contenders. Which made you roll your eyes the most? Exactly. If the three big-time mistakes hadn’t happened, we’d have potentially gained a net 13 points, easily enough to win the game, and be cruising at 5-2 with the playoffs (midseason time folks!) a feasible goal. Instead, at 4-3 we’re a game behind Carolina, the Saints are looking like they’re starting to get their arses in gear, and Atlanta, well, Atlanta. Chris Redman at QB anybody? The Bucs had a bad week, but individual players shone, namely the aforementioned Earnest Graham, Ike Hilliard, and even Michael Bennett had a decent performance considering he only had a handful of touches – scoring on your first play was a yard away from his grasp. The positives are outweighing the negatives – the mistakes that occurred aren’t on a weekly basis, although the difficulty we’re having in winning away could potentially become a story as the year goes on. This week? Jacksonville come to play. After a Colts beatdown on Monday Night Football after they’d gone 3-0 they could tear us apart in retaliation. That said, we’ve faced better teams this year, and I guarantee Garrard or Garcia (My money’s on the former) will throw a pick for the first time this season. If we keep MoJo and Taylor in check, I think we’ve a secondary capable of holding the Jags’ receivers in check all day too. As for our offense, it looks like we do have a running game (although Detroit’s run-D is diabolical), and with Hilliard joining Galloway as WR a threat, it shouldn’t matter if Maurice Stovall can get in on the action now #80 is injured. Again. Our O-Line continues to develop as a unit, and Donald Penn continues to impress – not bad for someone rated in the early 60’s on Madden! Bucs to win 21-10. NFL Watch - Wembley special So as not to bore you with YET ANOTHER columnist whinging about the Pats, and how that until they beat the Colts they aren’t the best team in the league, it’s kinda handy that there’s a little game happening in London this Sunday. The 5-2 New York Giants ‘@’ the 0-7 Miami Dolphins, Wembley Stadium, London, England. As everyone (literally) has stated, this is the first regular season game to be held outside of the Americas (I’ve no idea why I’m writing this. If you don’t know that already you’re an idiot, so by default I’m one for writing it) and on paper it’s not the doozy we were hoping for. Miami truly are diabolical, and the one consolation is that they aren’t playing St. Louis this season – the game would be an advert on how not to play football, and would quite possibly be enough to put Americans, let alone Brits off the game for life. I digress. Miami: Brown, Green: Injured. Chambers: Traded. Ginn Jr: Wasted Pick. Brady Quinn: Happy to be on a winning team (as in they’ve won games), but sad in that he’s cost me a crate of beer (Unless Derek Anderson pulls a sickie). New York: Manning: Surprising. Burress: Inspiring. Coughlin: Still an idiot. Running Game: ? New York will throw the ball all day long, much like the Pats did last week (Damn that selfish Thomas), but with less style, and Miami will just cry. Or query where they are actually playing (Mr Crowder), and go look at an atlas for a chuckle at the shape of Italy (Again, Mr Crowder). Or come out fighting and… Nah. Crying it is. Thankfully, unless you’re a Giants fan you won’t really care about the outcome, or even necessarily the standard: you’re watching history in the making ladies and gentlemen, and like it or not, (We like it, those in the Americas don’t) the NFL will prove successful in the UK this weekend and over time will see more and more games played over here. Still, with the talk of the FA Premier League playing games in the US beginning, at least all’s fair in love and war right? Tell you what, let’s swap… New York 31 Miami 20 (Because they don’t want to come across as being Tampa Bay 80’s style bad) and another game next year – Enjoy. Richard Lowe, October 2007