The Curse of The Twits All together now – to the tune of “The Addams Family” “Your sister is your mother, Your uncle is your brother, You all **** one another, The Panthers family, Da da da da click click” Well it’s that time again when we take on the Twits with their loveable set of criminal players and cheerleaders, and big bad-ass pick-up truck owning fans – don’t I just love them. Sadly we appear snake-bitten when we face these cretins but I live in hope that I will finally see us beat them again in my lifetime. Thankfully we go into this latest meeting on the back of a gutty victory in Baton Rouge, thanks mainly to our defense and perhaps the smartest false start penalty Kenyatta Walker has ever produced, negating the Saints only serious threat to the End Zone. A few things I think 1) I think I am still wondering how we are winning games with only one creditable threat at Wide Receiver. How Joey Galloway is keeping this up I don’t know but considering his supporting cast, this is without doubt the best season by a Buccaneer wideout in our history. 2) I think Todd France field goal attempts scare the shit out of me. We need Matt Bryant back asap, but only if he’s fit to go. If the game on Sunday hinges on a late Buccaneer field goal then I’ll be listening from underneath the computer table. 3) I think I’m gutted I missed the club meal last week, but would like to thank all the club members and FFL owners who have passed on their good wishes. This knee surgery lark is a real turd sandwich let me tell you. It’s an overrated experience and my empathy for players suffering injuries far worse than mine has been renewed this past week. 4) FFL Note, like The Bucs my Cosmic Clap still cling to a faint hope of a play-off spot, despite any semblance of a decent running or consistent passing game save for Peyton Manning and Joey Galloway. Somehow I’m slutching my way to wins but am not really sure how I’m doing it. 5) I think Josh Bidwell is doing a grand job in the punting department, though I’d like to see more of his kicks downed inside the 10 yard line. Nothing drive me crazy more than punting the ball away from the opponents 35-40 yard line and kicking it through the end zone – we might as well take a shot on 4th down, than achieve a token 15 yard gain in this scenario. 6) I think we need a receiver, any wide receiver to get involved and help Mr Galloway this Sunday. I don’t care who it is, we simply have to have another option in the deep passing game, in order to win in Carolina. 7) I think I noted our Editor’s sentiment that he doesn’t hate any other team in the NFL. For the record apart from The Panthers I also can’t stand the 49ers and their array of leg-whipping linemen from the 1990’s either. It does please me they are currently in the doldrums as it’s about bloody time – they attracted a large quantity of bandwagon jumping fans in the UK through their success, though this lot seem to have strangely disappeared these days. 8) I think slowly but surely Chris Simms is making himself a permanent home in Tampa. He’s getting better and wiser with every game, and more importantly is building his trust level with The Chuckster. Last week's game was weird in many facets, there was no atmosphere, little or no offense and it lasted about two and and a half hours which is a miracle in the NFL these days – that timespan barely covers two quarters of play in the Superbowl. Basically it was a stale dog turd of a game, the type of which we have already lost this year in New York and San Francisco so it was doubly pleasing to get to eight wins and see our defense come to the fore when it was required to do so. As I try to look at this season objectively I am coming to the conclusion that this may be the best coaching job Jon Gruden has produced, given that this is basically a 4 or 5 win team in transition and yet he has already coaxed 8 wins from them and we have been competitive in all the games bar one. My hat is off to Gruden, the players and coaching staff this year who have far exceeded expectations; to have us in with a decent shout of the play-offs, this late in the year with this roster is a major achievement. Can we finally lay the ghost of The Twits this week and pull one out? Much as I hate to admit it we seem over-matched in many areas but this doesn’t preclude us from winning. Basically we have to force turnovers, run the ball successfully and create just enough offense whilst not turning it over ourselves – if we can do this we can shock the NFL one more time, though I appreciate it is an unlikely scenario. Fumbles, interceptions and their country boy hick of a quarterback just about did for us a few weeks ago so we need blanket coverage from Ronde and BK, pressure up front and perhaps most importantly Cadillac to keep it rolling and hold on to the ball. You hear the theory all the time that the big name players love the biggest games, when division titles are on the line – well then, Messrs Brooks, Rice, Mcfarland, Kelly, Barber, William, Galloway, Wade, Walker and Simms now is the time for leaders to show and at the risk of sounding like Churchill, face up to our biggest challenge in the NFC South. We will need our stars to show on Sunday and these are the men in my book who need to step it up. I’d love to boldly predict a Buc win here like the Editor, and after my rousing rah rah speech above I will – we can win if we sincerely believe it ourselves. Jon Gruden can make these players think it can happen and a 20-17 win is possible…………please. If it transpires I will suspend the prescription painkillers I’m currently on and attack the Budweiser immediately come 9.30 Sunday night! Nod of Acknowledgement to: Ronde Barber. With 3 interceptions, one of which a highlight reel special, you can only stand back and admire the special skills of our number 20 Special Nod of Acknowledgement to: Benfica. (Ed - note to Phil, I had nothing to do with this comment) Get in The Real World: The Philadelphia Eagles. What a pathetic effort that was on Monday night, and an insult to your Coach and owner. It appears that as they are no longer in contention this season, a large proportion of the team have decided to mail the season in already. This team owes it’s coach and fans a hell of a lot better effort than that.