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The Bucs had a good week. They pummeled the Minnesota Vikings, on a national stage, in Minnesota. That will get some lips moving and it certainly helped them in the national power rankings. The Bucs are now ranked 20th on aggregate, whereas they were ranked just 26th last week. We saw numerous ten-spot jumps, with one weird outlier: Pete Prisco still thinks the Bucs are the 28th best team in the NFL. Ah well, we'll see if the Bucs can convince him this weekend, when they face the Oakland Raiders.
SB Nation - 24th (up from 26th):
Here is this week's official team to keep an eye on. The Bucs dismantled a not insignificant Minnesota team on the road this week, winning two of the last three games.
The Bucs have scored at least 28 points in their past three games after failing to exceed 26 in any game last season.
Fox Sports (Brian Billick) - 16th (up from 22nd):
The Bucs have now scored 28-or-more points in three consecutive games. The 36 points they scored on the Vikings on Thursday night helped them snap a 9-game road losing streak.
CBS Sports (Pete Prisco) - 28th (no change):
You have to like where this team is heading under first-year coach Greg Schiano. They are getting better. There are some nice pieces to build around.
Pro Football Talk - 15th (up from 26th):
Josh Freeman, because he's making the 2009 quarterback class look much better.
Pro Football Weekly - 21st (up from 25th):
Doug Martin averaging 155.7 total yards in last three games.
NFL.com - 16th (up from 26th):
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers almost moved to No. 14 in these Power Rankings, but a 12-spot jump would've been a bit too much and they lost to No. 15 Dallas in Week 3. On another note, the closest comparison I can make to Doug Martin is: Tiki Barber, with a dash of Ray Rice. The diminutive back made mincemeat of pretty much all 11 Vikings defensive starters last Thursday night. If Josh Freeman and Mike Williams can replicate some of the plays they made together against Minnesota, this will be one very difficult offense to stop going forward.