Week 7: Tampa Bay at Detroit

The Bucs are tied for first place in the NFC South, but they are only the second-biggest football story in the Tampa Bay area right now. College football Cinderella South Florida is ranked No. 2 in the polls and might get a chance to play for the national championship. “Unbelievable,” said Tampa Bay coach Jon Gruden of South Florida – he has become a big fan. “I can’t wait until the next game.”

His own team goes to Detroit this week, where Gruden believes the Lions are much better. “They are a hard team to play in that dome,” Gruden said. “They have a great homefield advantage there.”

The Lions are coming off a bye week. Tampa Bay pulled out a nail-biter over Tennessee when quarterback Jeff Garcia completed four straight passes in the final two minutes to set up Matt Bryant’s 43-yard game-winning field goal. Garcia still hasn’t thrown an interception all season – an amazing streak this late in the year.

But the Bucs are having trouble running the ball. They had 17 in a loss to Indy two weeks ago and only 30 last week against Tennessee. Tampa Bay acquired Michael Bennett from Kansas City just before the NFL trade deadline this week to try and give Earnest Graham some help. Gruden, though, has a gleam in his eye again this year – with a smart quarterback having a Pro Bowl year, he knows he’s got a good chance in every game.

Detroit, given a chance to heal up, should be fresh and ready. But that doesn’t mean Detroit’s cornerbacks will get any faster – the Lions’ secondary remains one of the worst in the league. Detroit is allowing 31 points per game, and it doesn’t have the means nor the philosophy to slow the game down by running the ball more. Lions offensive coordinator Mike Martz wants to throw all the time with QB Jon Kitna and friends, so there are going to be a lot of possessions in every Lions game.

Detroit fans are bracing themselves for a big traffic jam. A huge marathon in Detroit, which may draw another 50,000 people uptown, will start the morning of the game. That’s not a bad analogy for this game, really – it will be a marathon, too, with all sorts of running up and down the field. We think Tampa Bay, winners of six of its last seven against the Lions, will ultimately hit the finish tape first.

Tampa Bay by 6