WEEKLY WHINE

Are the Bucs for real?

We've made our way to Week 8 in the National Football League, so maybe we'll take a look at who's hot and who's not. Not, obviously, would be the Chicago Bears and Indianapolis Colts, both winless. The Colts are coming off of a playoff year when they started 4-0, but they're now 0-6 as they host Buffalo in this week's Monday action. They were hoping to make a move in the AFC East this year, just not in this direction. As for the Bears, the QB situation has remained somewhat shaky with Rick Mirer supposedly being the new guy in town, but not living up to his big dollar contract.

So who's hot? By record, the clear candidate is the Denver Broncos, who have taken this opportunity to dominate their division. They've gotten big time action from Terrell Davis, the key complement to John Elway and his receiver friends. Also on the way up: the New York Giants, who have won three straight after an equally long losing streak and exposed a hole in the Cowboys. Heating up: the race for the NFC Central, where the Packers, Vikings, and Buccaneers are all tied at 5-2 as each has a bye this week - Minnesota faces Tampa Bay in Week 9.

This week is an important crossroads for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who, after opening the year with five straight wins, have stumbled in two divisional losses. Barry Sanders had yet another big game against the Bucs, whom he always seems to take to school. Why is that? The quick answer: He's Barry Sanders. But is that a sign of a pressing problem for Tony Dungy and crew? The defensive line has recorded the most sacks of any front three/four, but can they fight the run? Let's take a look at the numbers.

As I see it from the stats, the Bucs are giving up considerably more passing yards than rushing, but their opponents are getting sizable chunks of turf for every run. The defense seems to be able to tighten on critical situations, but the number that hurts is when their enemies have gone for it on fourth down - they've converted six of nine. It looks like the Buccaneers can stop the run and sack the quarterback, but if a guy like Brett Favre can pass it away before they nab him, it spells trouble.

So as I look to answer the question I posed in the beginning, we check out the upcoming schedule for Tampa Bay. After they play host to the Vikings, they have five of seven on the road, but their two home games in that span are against the Super Bowl participants of a year ago. The road trips put them against Indianapolis, Atlanta, and Chicago [oh that's real hard], plus both New Yorkers. Bottom line: Bucs will get into the playoffs just because they started really keen and have it soft the rest of the way.