Chinese Restaurant

Prediction Beast
Three picks and two Earnest Graham touchdowns later Tampa Bay is 2-1. Ill have to point out that I did predict late game desperation from St. Louis that would lead to multiple picks. I also predicted big games from Graham and Micheal Pittman, combined they had 131 rush yards to add to Cadillac's 46. Ill give credit where it is due. St. Louis played Tampa tough. At one point it was 10-3, in the fourth. A tired Ram defense couldn't stop Tampa's rush attack as they pounded the ball on the ground for the last 10 minutes of the game. Oh I predicted that too. It was no doubt a good game, close up until the end, and kept me on the edge of my seat.

Graham the Man
Tampa Bay's rush game was certainly praiseworthy last Sunday. Cadillac fumbled twice and managed 42 rush yards through the first three quarters, nothing spectacular. Enter Earnest Graham, 4th quarter. He put up 75 yards on the ground on 8 attempts and scored twice. Pittman added another 50 or so yards in the fourth. The fact that Tampa has these guys sitting on the bench throughout the game to come in fresh in the late quarters has got to be scary to defenses around the league. Earnest Graham is in his fourth season as an NFL player and put up 75 yards in one quarter on Sunday, eight yards shy of his career high for a season! This guy looked great in the preseason as he led the Bucs in rush yards. I hope Tampa will continue to take advantage of Graham and Pittman as a late game tandem because they definitely showed potential Sunday against the Rams.

Honorable Mentions
Other notable mentions from the St. Louis game are Jeff Garcia and Barret Ruud. Garcia continued his effectiveness against the Rams Sunday. Garcia hasn't thrown an interception in three games so far this season. Although he only has two touchdown passes, he is fifth in the league with a passer rating of 105.6. Garcia should be commended for his elusiveness as well. He's only been sacked four times this year and has eluded the sack more times than that. Barrett Ruud continued to stand out on defense last week. He led the team in tackles with nine and had the first interception of his career. Ruud leads the NFL in tackles and I heard a certain NFL analyst use his name and the words "defensive player of the year nominee" in the same sentence. I believe it is far too early to predict something like that. It's not like analysts are known for making ridiculous predictions, always trying to top the ridiculous prediction which preceded their own. *cough* Salisbury likes to expose himself to random people *cough*

Implications
I guess I should talk about this weeks match up now. Tampa Bay at Carolina, it goes down Sunday at 4:05 p.m. This will be one of Tampa Bay's most important games of the season. There are many implications. The first being the winner takes sole possession of first place. The second being that Tampa has already beat the Saints, who were chosen by certain analysts as a Super Bowl team, and are now 0-3. If they beat the Panthers this week they will have beat both teams that are major threats to their chances of a divisional title. Every week there is something to prove. This week Tampa proves that they are a viable threat to win the NFC South. I don't consider the Atlanta Falcons in this equation, not as long as they have the golden boy, Joey Harrington, leading their team. A win puts them in sole possession of first place and gives them a 2-0 divisonal record. The divisonal record is key later on in the season in case of tie breakers and what not. Also a win puts Tampa more than half way to Salisbury's ever so insightful five wins on the season prediction. A Sunday win will put the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in a commanding position in the NFC South.

Statistically Speaking
Tampa Rush D VS. Deshaun Foster and Deangelo Williams
The Bucs D moved up to 11th in the NFL this week. Tampa Bay's 2007 21st ranked 2006 17th ranked rush D will take on Carolina's 2007 6th ranked ground attack, which was ranked 24th last year. Carolina still has some proving to do on the ground. The Carolina tandem of Deshaun Foster and Deangelo Williams put up 169 yards on the ground last week against a 25th ranked ATL Falcon D. In week 1 they put up 172 yards against the Rams, the 28th ranked rush D. However in week two they faced Houston's 6th ranked rush D they only managed 53 yards. Tthe Panthers rush attack is ranked 6th, but their big numbers came against the 25th and 28th ranked rush defenses. When faced with Houston's 6th ranked rush D the numbers went down by two thirds. Tampa Bay's D certainly has the ability to shut down their rush game and it is important, however I am more worried about Carolina's pass attack.

Tampa Pass D VS. ? and Steve Smith
It is unknown at this point who will start for Carolina. Big cat, or should I say big puss, Jake Delhomme hasn't practiced for Carolina this week so backup David Carr will likely start. The quarterback doesn't matter though as it's Steve Smith who is the Buccaneer Killer. Over the past two seasons Smith has 25 receptions and 474 receiving yards against the Bucs. It is key for Tampa's 9th ranked pass D to shut down Steve Smith if they have hopes of shutting down Carolina's 21st ranked pass attack. Even further, Steve Smith makes up 41% of Carolina's pass attack. Of 682 reception yards for Panthers receivers this year, Steve Smith has 281 of them.

The CaddilaPittmaGraham Tandem VS. Carolina rush D
Tampa's 13th ranked rush offense, the CaddilaPittmaGraham Tandem takes on Carolina's 13th ranked rush defense. Carolina held Steven Jackson and the Rams to 58 yards in week one. In week two they gave up 130 yards to Ahman Green and Ron Dayne of the Texans. In week three they only gave up 82 yards to the Falcons who have been a top five rushing attack since Michael Vick came on board, but he's gone now. Steven Jackson was 5th in rushing last year and is a proven back. Carolina's D altogether is no joke and Tampa will need their trio to put up big numbers against them in week 4.

Jeff Garcia VS. Carolina pass D
Jeff Garcia and Tampa's 23rd ranked pass attack will need some numbers against Carolina's 21st ranked pass D. Carolina has allowed big numbers through the air this year and Tampa Bay will need to take advantage. Garcia should stay conservative but will need at least one passing score this week. If Carolina's pass D is their weak point then Tampa must expose it. Im expecting and predicting a pass touchdown from Garcia this week.

Recipe for success
Jeff Garcia should be efficient again through the air but must put a few in the end zone. The Tampa Bay Trio should supplement Garcia's conservative pass attack by pounding away at Carolina's defense, tiring them out and opening the door to the end zone for Garcia. The biggest key on defense is stopping Steve Smith. Follow the recipe and like a Chinese restaurant we will be cooking up dead cat this Sunday.

Final Score Tampa Bay 27 Carolina 16