Race to four underway

All that talk about the "Race to Ten" was useless.  Or so it seems.  Raheem Morris talked earlier this week about his so called Race to Ten and declared it over.  Now, some of you might be thinkiing "Wait, if we finish 3-1 here we get to 10 wins, how can it be over?"  Well, Rah's race was to be the first to get to 10 wins, a feat that wasn't accomplished with the Falcons and Patriots beating us to the double digit total. 

While the race to ten may be over, we can start a new race to four.  Why four you ask?  I figure it's gonna take winning out to guarantee us a spot in the playoffs.  3-1 may be enough to get it done but we'll need help from some other teams while 4-0 should all but guarantee that we get there. 

With the 3rd quarter of the season gone, we can now look back and see how we fared in each quarter.

Quarter 1:  3-1.  Bucs won two road games, a home game and took a beating from the Steelers.  Overall, a solid quarter that set the team up for more difficult times.

Quarter 2:  2-2.  Between getting roughed up against New Orleans and the lost yard in Atlanta this could have been a disasterous stretch, but with wins against the upstart Rams and dismal 'Zona, the Bucs stayed on course.

Quarter 3:  2-2.  This looked very promising, starting out 2-0, including a West Coast win.  But the tough part of the schedule stayed true and we lost two tough ones. 

Quarter 4: ?    2-2 won't get it done.  The good news is the team has a lot to play for so we shouldn't see a lack of effort.  Win winnable games at Washington and then home against the Lions and Seahawks, we have a good chance to be alive heading into Week 17 against the Saints in New Orleans.  But before we get ahead of ourselves, lets focus on taking care of business. 

Believe it or not, Washington is only 2 games behind us despite their craptacular season.  This game will play out one of two ways.  A rejuvenated Skins team will play tough at home or they'll roll over from all the turmoil.  The good news?  McNabb gets to face his personal nemesis in Ronde Barber. 

The road to four starts in a few days and depending on how the Giants, Packers and Saints fare we may be able to call it the road to three.  Regardless of outcome, barring a total collapse, this has been a season to be proud of as a Bucs fan.  Lets finish it off with a strong fourth quarter.