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Power rankings time! What does the NFL think of the Bucs this week? Well, they seem to think that the Bucs are not good -- but somehow still better than they were last week.
Danny Kelly throws the Bucs in at number 26 -- no change from last week. Bleeding Green Nation actually sees them jump up a spot to number 27. The same is true for Pete Prisco. And Shutdown Corner goes even further, giving them a two-spot bump to number 26.
Intriguingly, what I saw as a frustrating game filled with mistakes, was actually a sign of progress in the eyes of every other NFL writer. The Bucs were so bad in previous weeks, despite beating the Pittsburgh Steelers, that losing to a 1-3 team on the road is now improvement.
Of course, that's not the improvement anyone was hoping for. What we wanted to see was a win. A reason to keep the playoff hopes alive. And I guess technically, those hopes are still alive. But going from the fifth-worst to the sixth-worst team in the NFL is not what I envision when I think of "progress".