1-1 Baby!

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are in first place, their tied I know, and it's a beautiful thing. After knocking off the NFC South Champions in week 2 analysts will take us serious. Fans will start paying attention. Band-wagoners will storm down their respective dirt roads sporting Buccaneer T's and flags, and drink their coffee from Buccaneer mugs.

Jeff Garcia went 10 for 16 passing with 243 yards and two touchdowns against the Saints Sunday. He hit Galloway four times for 135 yards and with both TD passes. Just as predicted Saints CB Jason David struggled as he was burned by Galloway early for a TD. Caddy earned his 61 yards as he had 24 attempts and only averaged 2.5 yards a carry. He ran hard, with bruised ribs, and poked the ball into the end zone twice from the one yard line. The defense gave the home crowd a show on Sunday. They took a shut out into half time, the first time for the Bucs in three years. MLB Barrett Ruud had 10 tackles and two forced fumbles and was named NFC Defensive Player of the Week. The fact that the TB D was able to shut out the NFL's No. 1 offense from a year ago for a half says something about this D. If they can keep up Sunday's pace for the entire year they will be exciting to watch.

Trends: Tampa hosts the St. Louis Rams this Sunday at 1:00 p.m. Statistically Tampa Bay and St Louis match up well. Tampa Bay and St Louis are 23rd and 18th respectively in total offense, 15th and 9th respectively in the pass game, and 25th and 28th respectively in the rushing game. Two weeks of statistics don't mean two much but trends can begin to show. 2006 statistics show St. Louis as 4th in the NFL in passing while they where 17th in rushing, so St. Louis is beginning to show a trend this year, as they did last year, as a primarily pass oriented team. Tampa Bay's D is 20th in pass defense this year, and last year was 19th. However their secondary is very similar to 2005's secondary in which they were 6th against the pass. St. Louis is 4th against the pass so far this year and 25th against the rush. Last year they where 8th against the pass and 31st against the rush.

Matchups: Tampa Bay pits their 2007 25th ranked, 2006 28th ranked rush offense against the Rams' 2007 25th ranked , 2006 31st ranked rush defense. Tampa's 2007 15th ranked, 2006 26th ranked pass offense will face a proven St Louis pass defense. St. Louis' pass defense is ranked 4th this year and was 8th all of last year. St Louis' 2007 9th ranked, 2006 4th ranked pass offense will face off against Tampa Bay's 2007 20th ranked, 2006 19th ranked, 2005 6th ranked (their roster reflects the 2005 secondary) pass defense. St Louis' 2007 28th ranked, 2006 17th ranked rush offense will take on Tampa Bay's 2007 20th ranked, 2006 17th ranked rush defense.

Digestion: It seems the No. 1 priority for Tampa should be stopping the pass. St Louis is known to be a passing team and the statistics show it. If Tampa's D-Line can put substantial pressure on Marc Bulger and eliminate the need of blitzing from the secondary, then Tampa's secondary should be able to handle star wide receiver Tory Holt. Tampa put good pressure on Brees last week and should be able to pressure Bulger this week. No. 2 priority should be getting the running game going. Cadillac Williams will have to have a better yards per carry this week than last week. Look for Tampa to switch up the pace, throwing bigger bodied backs Micheal Pittman and Earnest Graham into the mix against St. Louis' soft rush defense. Garcia again will be expected to just make the throws and no mistakes as he did last week. All he has to do is be efficient. I expect a pounding rush game and a consistent pass game against the Rams Sunday.

A shutdown secondary, pressure on Bulger from the D-line, and a successful Buccaneer rush game that includes Cadillac, Pittman, and Graham make up the recipe for success for the Buccaneers this Sunday against the Rams.

If Tampa can get an early lead, pound the ball, and run the clock they may be able to put St. Louis into desperation mode. We may see alot of picks in this one, especially if Tampa is keeping the pressure on Bulger.

Final Score: Tampa Bay 27 St. Louis 10