MNF Thoughts: Panthers-Bucs

Here is All You Need To Know about this game. The Panthers ran the ball 35 times for 301 yards, with an 8.6 yards per carry average. The Bucs came into this one having given up just one touchdown on the ground all year; now, they have *five*. Both of the Panthers running backs broke 100 yards, both looked great, and both benefited from some godawful tackling from what is supposed to be a good Bucs' defense.

With the win, the Panthers move to 10-3, within hailing distance of the #1 seed in the NFC, and the Lemur crew jumped on the home team with all of their usual decorum. I'm surprised they haven't declared them the best team in football yet. I'm still convinced that they aren't as good as their record, just because I think they can be well and truly schemed against with the not very good Jake Delhomme as the triggerman, but 10-3 is 10-3. They're good.

For the Bucs... well, they really shouldn't lose when they get a 200 yard 2 TD game from a wideout (tonight, that was Antonio Bryant, who made a downright ridiculous catch for the second touchdown), and score 23 points on the road. 23 points on the road is downright explosive for a team without any good RBs (I pine for Earnest Graham, not that he's probably any good either), but when you can't stop the run at all, it's not going to be pretty.

The Bucs can still, amazingly, win this division. Carolina has the much harder schedule coming down the stretch, and even Atlanta and New Orleans are still live. And for all of the gaudy records here, I'm still not shaking with fear at the idea that any of these teams are going to go deep in the playoffs. Maybe I just need to watch them all some more. Or see any of them look as good on the road as they do at home...