Yes, it was against the winless Lions, but a road win is a road win. Even with a 17-0 first quarter deficit, I was confident that the Bucs would win the game (if they didn't win it, I was _confident_ the Lions would find a way to lose it). But the Bucs put it away in style - leading at the half! after being down 17 after one.

I'm extremely happy with 8-3. The Bucs aren't a dominant team by any stretch, but each of our losses was close (four points or less) And good defense and ball-control can go far in the playoffs. I'd feel better about this team if our return men would stop fumbling. We need to do a better job in the Red Zone of putting up 7. And we need the Cadillac to regain his first year form.

We'll know a lot more about the Bucs after the next three games. Coming up this week it's payback time against the Saints followed by two tough road tests in Carolina and Atlanta. The season ends with home games against SD and Oakland. It'll be interesting b/c I doubt the last two will have any meaning for the Bolts and the Raiders.

It's not too much of a stretch to see the Bucs winning the NFC South and thus getting the number 2 seed in the NFC. If they don't sustain any more major injuries, they could do some damage come playoff time.