great article on the bucs' website

[PhillyB]

http://www.buccaneers.com/news/newsd...px?newsid=6815



[quote=bucs website]Playoff Watch 2008: Week 14 Update

Dec 02, 2008 - As the son of a football coach who had several heartland stops in Indiana and Ohio, Jon Gruden had several opportunities to attend the Indianapolis 500.

One thing Gruden noticed on his repeated trips to the Speedway: The car in the pole position didn't win nearly as often as one might expect.

Every driver in the Indy 500 wants the pole position, to be sure, but once that is accomplished there is still the small matter of those 500 miles to be covered. The pole is an advantage, but the race still has to be run, and the best team performance will take the checkered flag.


In the same vein, Gruden's Tampa Bay Buccaneers certainly appreciate the position they are in with four weeks to go in the 2008 season. You'd have to give the pole position to the 11-1 New York Giants, but the Buccaneers "control their own destiny," as the common NFL parlance goes, in regard to winning the NFC South and earning a first-round bye in the playoffs.

“Well we are in a position [but] that doesn’t mean anything really other than you are in a position," said Gruden. "It is what it is. We've got an opportunity and we’re thankful for that. We've got some injured players and we’re going to have some guys that have to step up. We have four games left and we've got to play great. We have to find a way to win.”



If the Buccaneers win all four of those games, then they will repeat as South champs and take, at worst, the second seed in the NFC field and that very helpful first-round bye. That is true no matter what the many other conference playoff contenders do with their four games (obviously, the Bucs' sweep means the Panthers and Falcons will each absorb at least that one loss against Tampa Bay).

Of course, the Panthers control their own destiny, too. Even though the Buccaneers hold the current tiebreaker with Carolina, there would be no tie if the Panthers win their last four games, as they would be 13-3 and the Bucs would be, at best, 12-4. No other NFC team can get to 13 wins.

After next Monday night's game in Charlotte, only one of those two teams will still have that control. The Bucs and Panthers square off in prime time on December 8 in what is inarguably one of the most important games remaining on the NFL schedule.

Can the Buccaneers prevail in that critical showdown, even away from home and under the harsh lights of national attention? What works in their favor, according to Gruden, is the team's veteran leadership.

"I have always felt that when you get into big games, to make sure you have your big-time players with you, and you have a chance," he said. "Seriously, Ronde Barber, Derrick Brooks, their game elevates, they are just different. They are different during the week of practice. Not that they are lackluster early in the season, but when it gets to be crunch time, critical situations, boy those guys are great. We have some young guys, I think, that are witnessing it, learning from it, and feeling it and hopefully that is contagious. It is exciting, the way those guys play in crunch time situations.”

In one sense, the game is slightly more critical for the Panthers, though Buccaneer players and coaches are sure not to see it that way. If Tampa Bay wins, it will have, in essence, a two-game edge on Carolina (thanks to the head-to-head sweep) with three to go. If the Panthers win, they'll have a one-game edge in the standings but the Bucs will still compare favorably in the conference-record tiebreaker and the Panthers face a very tough stretch to finish their season. After the Bucs game, Carolina must play Denver at home and then finish with road games against the Giants and Saints.

Of course, lurking just behind those two teams are the Atlanta Falcons, surely the NFL's most pleasant surprise in 2008 (with apologies to Miami, Baltimore and Arizona). Atlanta is 8-4 and currently in possession of the last playoff spot. With a win at New Orleans next Sunday, they would be in position to reel in whichever team loses the Bucs-Panthers Monday night showdown.

Obviously, with three teams currently in the top six in the conference standings, and the very dangerous Saints still in at 6-6, the South is going to have much to say about how the NFC race as a whole shapes up. There are still 12 teams in contention, and two of the three South teams are going to end up battling for Wild Card spots.

Here is how the NFC stands heading into Thanksgiving weekend. Though these are the conference standings, they reflect division leaders, which is why some teams are ahead of others with superior records.

Team W-L Conf. Rec. Div. Rec. Remaining Opponents Opp. Win Pct.^

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

N.Y. Giants * 11-1 8-0 4-0 phi, @dal, car, @min .635
Tampa Bay *^ 9-3 8-2 3-1 @car, @atl, sd, oak .500
Minnesota *& 7-5 5-3 3-2 @det, @az, atl, nyg .542
Arizona * 7-5 5-4 4-0 stl, min, @ne, sea .375
Carolina 9-3 6-3 2-2 tb, den, @nyg, @no .688
Atlanta + 8-4 5-3 2-2 @no, tb, @min, stl .500
-----------------
Dallas 8-4 6-4 2-2 @pit, nyg, bal, @phi .719
Washington 7-5 6-4 2-3 @bal, @cin, phi, @sf .417
Philadelphia 6-5-1 5-4 0-3 @nyg, cle, @was, dal .625
Chicago # 6-6 5-5 3-2 jax, no, gb, @hou .417
New Orleans 6-6 3-5 1-3 atl, @chi, @det, car .479
Green Bay 5-7 4-6 3-1 hou, @jax, @chi, det .313


<click the link you lazyasses!>

[KING KLONG]

good article yes, but...isn't it against the rules to copy and paste an entire article?

[Kyle82]

The Panthers have never been able to just stay 'comfortable' heading to the playoffs.....it's always been a Cardiac Cat Moment....such as we'll see again on Monday Night and the following week.


GO PANTHERS!!

[PhillyB]

Originally Posted by KING KLONG

good article yes, but...isn't it against the rules to copy and paste an entire article?

i'm a lazyass and i hate clicking on links, so every other lazyass on the board will thank me.

[hank pimple butt]

great article! i hate to say it but the bucs official website is way cooler than the panthers

[astiles]

Originally Posted by PhillyB

i'm a lazyass and i hate clicking on links, so every other lazyass on the board will thank me.

Agreed. Thanks PhillyB for a great read with no links

[venom]

damn, well looks like we have the hardest remaining schedule asides from dallas