Bucs' defense Litmus Test One of the oldest adages in football states that great defense beats great offence. Well with the Chiefs due in town this Sunday we will certainly be able to find out whether our D still stacks up, because make no mistake the Chiefs are a class act when they have the ball and will be trying to drag us into a fast break game. Five things I think 1. For referring to Raiders (and soon to be Bucs) wideout as Joey Porter rather than Jerry last week, I award myself Lee’s initial “Gobshite Johnson” Oscar for verbal garbage. Meshawn himself is expected to wrestle control of this award in the near future, the next time he opens his mush and once again crawls up Bill Parcells backside. It will be the only thing he wins this season. 2. I’ve just finished Joey Johnson and Chris Harry’s excellent “Tales from the Buccaneer Sideline.” Really enjoyed it – all the tales of the Bucs journey from worst, to first, to worst, to still worser, to Super Bowl and then 2003’s total balls-up is here. It’s cheesey I know but if you buy just one book on the Bucs this should be it. Read it people. 3. If we lose on Sunday we will be totally out of the play-off race at mid-seasons point for the first time in 8 years. There was a time I never thought I’d write that statement. 4. I think every time the Tampa press write an article about Torrie Cox as the return man most likely to break our Kick-Off goose egg, it lessens the likelihood that this will be the season we finally manage it. 5. I think I’m not surprised to hear Joey Galloway is still injured and not likely to return in the near future. That doesn’t sound at all like the player who suited up for Dallas and Seattle does it….err Yes! This guy lost one whole season to a knee injury, held out for 9 games of another and has made a speciality out of the dropped pass. If he catches 20 balls this season I will be stunned. They’ve racked up about 3,000 yards and over 100 points in the last three weeks and stopping Priest Holmes, Trent Green and co will represent our biggest test so far. Though we have shown a worrying penchant for giving up the big play, we have generally been sound on defense again and if we get a couple of good early stops in the first quarter we may well be in business against a team very much fighting for it’s life like ourselves. I don’t really hold out any lingering delusions of making the play-offs but do think that now we actually have a NFL Offense, as opposed to the Mickey Mouse Unit that took the field prior to week 5, on our day we can match up against most teams in the NFL. On Sunday we will find out if the Defensive Unit can still hack it, or if they too like the team as a whole are on the wane. Major plus points for us are that The Chuckster and Monte have had an extra week to prepare, and you can bet your bottom dollar that they have been pouring over the tape from the Colts/Chiefs Tag football game of last Sunday. As good as The Chiefs are on offense, their defense is hardly the steel curtain and there is definite scope for us here to put some points on the board. It’s a winnable game, at home, that can restore some pride and confidence for us and I think we are up to it. Bucs to win 21-17 with Michael Pittman having a big day both as a runner and receiver – I’m off now for my medication.