And so it goes, for us fans of “lesser known” teams. Ever since the the schedules were announced earlier this year, the Patriots-Colts game was what had everyone buzzing. The game is so much bigger now, seeing as how both teams are undefeated. ESPN will have constant coverage of this game all week long, breaking down the game, analyzing players, and so forth. This quite simply, is the biggest game of the season, even being dubbed “Super Bowl XLI 1/2.”

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Well, they are according to Peter King of Sports Illustrated.

I don't put much stock in rankings and such, but they are good for starting conversation. King ranks the top 15 teams in the league, and he's got Tampa Bay at 14th, one spot ahead of Carolina. His logic seems to be that the Bucs' soft upcoming schedule will position them to win the division. Hard to disagree with that. They'll have a good shot at it. Whether they pull it off is another matter, I suppose.

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So now it looks like Torrie Cox, who had already missed the first four games due to a suspension, will miss the rest of the season after being put on injured reserve, bringing the total up to 12. And let's not forget the guys who are hurt but still on the roster: Patrick Chukwurah, Michael Clayton, Michael Pittman, and Alex Smith. Oh, and Greg Spires was hurt last week, too, and may actually have an Achille's injury, which may also put him on IR. At this point, the training room at One Buc has to look like a scene from M*A*S*H after they get a bunch of wounded soldiers dumped on them. Except without all the well-timed witicisms.

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The timing was right by Eric Mangini.  It’s always difficult to turn the page at quarterback when it involves a respected veteran in Chad Pennington, who has been a fixture with the Jets for several years.  With the Jets at now 1-7, it’s time to give Kellen Clemens an opportunity to establish himself as the franchise’s quarterback moving forward. 

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The Bucs lost 24-23 to the Jacksonville Jaguars yesterday. In the loss, QB Jeff Garcia threw his first interception of the season, along with two others for good measure. It's hard to get down on Jeff though. Its amazing that he hadn't thrown an interception to this point in the season and you just knew a game like this was in the cards some where down the road. I'm just glad it didnt come against a division opponent. Read the rest of this story »

Jon Gruden is defending the playcall that had Jeff Garcia throw deep to Ike Hilliard for the touchdown on third down with under a minute to play.

"If you get a guy open, I don't think it's low percentage," Gruden said. "We felt we had the right play. I don't regret that call."

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Even though the Jags were down to their third-string quarterback, they were still able to pull off an upset against the Bucs, winning 24-23.

Hello, I’m Jamie Kiefer, a new writer here for Atop the Crow’s Nest. It’s an honor to be working here, and I look foward to sharing everything Bucs wise with you fans.

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HEAD COACH JON GRUDEN

(On injured players)
Greg Spires has a calf injury and he's currently being evaluated. Torrie Cox injured his knee; he also is undergoing some tests at this time. We are concerned about them. We'll update you when we get the results from these tests. Once again, we're very disappointed in the game yesterday. Our guys played very hard.

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Hey, I just calls 'em like I reads 'em.

Philadelphia is home to the least attractive people in the United States, a survey of visitors and residents showed on Friday.

The city of more than 1.5 million people was also found to be among the least stylish, least active, least friendly and least worldly, according to the "America's Favorite Cities" survey by Travel & Leisure magazine and CNN Headline News.

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Jon Gruden, in his weekly Monday press conference, lamented several shortcomings in Sunday's 24-23 loss to Jacksonville.

For one, the Bucs' combined minus-5 turnover ratio the past two games is difficult to overcome, he said.

"The last two weeks our turnover ratio is what's hurt us," Gruden said. "You can go through all the statistics you want. But at the end of the day, it's turnover ratio that decides football games."

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