The Fight For Florida

The best team in Florida is certainly not the 0-7 Miami Dolphins. Which leaves us with two teams, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (4-3) and the Jacksonville Jaguars (4-2); and while it may not be easy to determine whether one team is better than another without seeing them faceoff, we have the good fortune to not need worry about that.

This weekend the Bucs will host the Jags, yet I ask, is there such thing as homefield advantage when the two team's stadiums are just hours apart? I think not. So what, if anything, will give one team the edge over the other this weekend.

The Bucs have had more overall success than the Jaguars, winning one Superbowl, one conference championship and five division titles whereas Jacksonville has only two division titles to boot. Does this play into this weekend's game at all? Of course not. But, this is my blog and sometimes I feel like gloating.

Perhaps the first place to start when comparing these two teams is the good ol' win/loss column. Tampa Bay has lossed to the Seattle Seahawks, the Indianapolis Colts and the Detroit Lions; they've defeated the New Orleans Saints, the St. Louis Rams, the Carolina Panthers and the Tennesse Titans. Jacksonville's two losses came at the hands of the Tennesse Titans and the Indianapolis Colts; their victories were sustained by defeating the Atlanta Falcons, the Denver Broncos, the Kansas City Chiefs and the Houston Texans. Anything stand out there?

Not only did both these Florida teams suffer defeat at the hands of Peyton Manning and the Colts,they also both saw the Titans, however, only one team walked away with the win.

Tennesse is no joke. Besides the Bucs, the only team to defeat them thus far, you guessed it, the Colts (starting to see a trend here?). Not only does this team hold the bragging rights for having the best run defense in the league, allowing a mere 59.7 yards per game, but they also are ranked fifth in rushing. The Titans are a tough matchup for anyone.

Yet, through the leadership of Jeff Garcia and an outstanding defensive performance, the Bucs were able to top the Titans. Garcia went 20 for 31, had 274 yards and one touchdown. The defense recorded 3 sacks and forced 2 turnovers. The Titans were held to only 96 yards rushing and 221 yards through the air.

However, when the Jags faced the Titans it was Tennesse's run game that gave them the win. The Titans amassed 282 yards on the day whereas the Jaguars only tallied 72. Of course, injuries to MJD and Josh Scobee didn't help the Jaguars chances but I feel that the Bucs must learn from this game.

There is no secret that the Jaguars have an outstanding defense. Overall they are ranked at 13th. The team ranked just before them? The Bucs. And while the Jag's pass D is only ranked at 17th, the pride of the team has to be the rush defense which comes in at 13th but just doesn't do the team enough justice. And it is well known that the strongest part of the Jaguars rushing defense is the middle, right? Perhaps not. If no one runs up the middle, of course it would be considered strong. Say a team exposed this weakness though. Say the Titans did. One must realize that a large percentage of the Titans' impressive 282 yards was ran right down the throat of the Jacksonville Jaguars. Granted, this would be an easier task if the Bucs had a healthy run game, but the fact is they don't. The good news, however, is Graham is coming off a big week and should still be carrying that momentum with him.

Garcia needs to continue to take his time. The Jacksonville D is known to be stingy, and if Garcia panics, which fortunatley is rare, this one could be over. The fact is, the better defence on the day will win this game. This will be no shootout, but if you like hard hitting, this is the game for you.

Prediction time, right? After a scoreless first half, both teams open up a little in the second and bring the game to 7-7. An interception will put the Bucs in perfect field position to pull this one out at the last minute with a Matt Bryant field goal. Bucs take the prize here, 10-7.