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Often times, it is difficult to tell just how a team that won the Super Bowl the previous season will do in their title defense. You get some teams that completely flop, and you get some teams that remain tough and competitive. In some rare cases, you get teams that are even better the next season.
Tampa Bay, coming off that impressive Super Bowl championship run last season, looks like one of the hottest teams in the league this season. They have one of the most dangerous and explosive offenses in the league, and their defense, while not consistently one of the elite units, looks capable of stepping up when needed. Hell, just ask the Kansas City Chiefs about that fact.
The Buccaneers are 4-1, and for the first time all season, they managed to gain sole possession of first place in the NFC South this past weekend. They won against the Dolphins in convincing fashion, while watching the Panthers drop their second straight. Carolina fell to 3-2 on the season, which means that they are tied with New Orleans for second place in the division.
So while the Bucs are in first place, they have to keep playing at this high level if they want to stay atop the division, and hopefully even put some distance between themselves and Carolina and New Orleans. Personally, I suspect that they likely will be alone atop the division for the duration of the season, because it is difficult to imagine either the Panthers or Saints pulling off a season good enough to top Tampa Bay, but you never know. Things happen, including injuries, or teams simply losing momentum as the season goes along.
However, as of right now, the Bucs look like one of the best teams in the league, and indeed, another Super Bowl run is hardly an unthinkable notion for them. Again, though, they need to keep playing at such a high level as they have been doing to date. This week, they play early, on a Thursday night in Philadelphia. The Eagles are inconsistent. They looked amazing after blowing out the Falcons in Atlanta to open up the season, but then dropped three straight. Then, they helped the Bucs again by beating the Panthers last weekend, even though it took a surprising comeback for them to do it.
You never know what is going to happen, and "on any given Sunday" (Thursday, actually, in this case), and so on. Upsets do happen. Yet going into this game, it is difficult to see any real advantages that the Eagles have over Brady and the Bucs heading into this one, other than home field advantage. So that means that while I understand that there is a chance that the Eagles pull off a stunning home win, there really is no reason to believe that the Bucs will suffer a letdown here in this one.
My pick: Tampa Bay
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