After such a hot start, many Tampa Bay Buccaneers fans felt that it was all a show when the team suffered their first loss against the Pittsburgh Steelers. That game was not pretty, and people said that the first two wins had to be chalked up to playing weak opponents, the Browns and the Panthers, in the first two weeks. The Bucs went into their bye week with this sentiment in the minds of many fans, and came back out of it to prove all those fans wrong as they beat the Cincinnati Bengals — and they did it in Paul Brown Stadium.
It was a great win for the Bucs, and goes a long way toward making their chances in the division seem legitimate again. Quarterback Josh Freeman was not astounding, but played very well and made only one mistake, throwing an interception. He countered that by passing for a touchdown and nearly three hundred yards. Earnest Graham ripped off a huge, 61-yard dash on one of his three carries, ending up with sixty-five yards and a touchdown on the day. The biggest differences that could be seen, however, were that the Bucs only had three penalties for twenty-five yards and they won the turnover battle. Playing like that, they could beat anyone.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have established themselves again as relevant, and they will need to keep this going if they are going to reach the playoffs. If they keep winning in the turnover column and getting help from players like Graham, they could do just that.
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