Now that’s what I call winning ugly Talk about dodging a bullet! Rod Woodson called the Bucs “bland” on Total Access last week (a bit rich, coming from him), but the Washington game was far from dull. It had all been going far too well this year, then our worst fears were realised when Jeff Garcia was banged-up in the first five minutes and suddenly it’s back to the bad old days of last year, with Bruce under centre and no danger of a first down. Fifteen yards of offense in the second period – that’s just pitiful! I can’t remember ever before seeing such contrastingly one-sided halves of football: the Bucs’ first period domination was entirely the result of forced turnovers, rather than any offensive creativity, whilst the second half was all Washington thanks to our complete ineptitude with the ball. Had Garcia stayed on the field, the Bucs would surely have had much more than the four field goals to show for their superiority and they would have been out of sight at the half. Another magnificent effort by the defense (who in the last couple of weeks have enjoyed more takeaways than a fat bloke who lives next door to a Chinese restaurant) got us out of the mire. There were also some key contributions from special teams: Josh Bidwell pinned Washington back deep inside their own territory on several occasions with monster punts and Maurice Stovall was like a man possessed in nailing the kick returner. Despite the defensive heroics, we were fortunate that Jason Campbell made two poor throws at the death - I fully expected the Redskins to march down the field and find Keenan McCardell for the winning touchdown, just to rub salt into the wounds. The remainder of the Buccaneers’ season now hinges on the fitness of Jeff Garcia and losing him on Sunday brought a harsh reality check – with him we are steady and competitive, but without him we’re pretty dreadful. It’s hardly a ringing endorsement of the back-up QB’s when Jon Gruden admits publicly that we can’t get it done without Garcia: “We need him to win. We clearly need Jeff Garcia”. Get your coats Gradkowski and McCown. In another example of a Head Coach being ungracious at the end of a game, I was disappointed to see Joe Gibbs storm past Jon Gruden with barely a handshake. Gibbs must have been immensely frustrated that his team failed to win, but he’s been around the block enough times to know better and should show a little more class. A normally conservative Coach, he’s got to take some of the blame for defeat himself, as his decision to run on fourth down cost his team a guaranteed three points – had they taken the field goal, they would have needed only another three-pointer from the final drive to take it to overtime. Next up is a trip to New Orleans, for a game which could all but clinch the Division. I was among the lucky group of travelling Bucs UK members who could hardly believe their eyes when Tampa took a 28 point lead in the home game against the Saints in September. Somehow, I think this Sunday may be different and it’s unfortunate that the hopeless Panthers seem to have played New Orleans back into some sort of form at just the wrong time. Five of our last six games have been decided by a touchdown or less and, as long as Garcia is fit, I’m taking the Bucs to win again in another close one. Under the radar With all the emphasis on the Patriots’ unbeaten record, it’s almost gone unnoticed that two NFC teams, Green Bay and Dallas, have pretty impressive 10-1 records themselves (and the Cowboys’ only defeat came in a shoot-out against the Pats). I’m not sure whether either team is the real deal, but we might have a better idea when they meet at Texas Stadium on Thursday, in what could be an absolute belter. My money is on Dallas and I’d like to see them to get another crack at New England in February. Take me to your leader What a storm Paul Stewart created when he wrote his piece about Nick Halling last week! It was pretty strong stuff from Paul, but I was amazed at the responses it evoked on the nfluk.com discussion forum. A number of people, including such notables as Mike Carlson and Neil Reynolds, jumped to the defence of Halling and took Paul to task. Arguments ranged from the balanced and articulate (there were a few) to the abusive and inane (plenty of those). Paul was described as our “leader”, but my absolute favourite post about him was “He's insufferable and created a personality cult on his website that reminds me of North Korea. Posters are not meant to be active elsewhere and must prove their loyalty to Paul Stewart because of 'all he does' for them”. I’m intrigued by the Bucs UK being perceived as some sort of cult, but I’m afraid that you’ll have to count me out when any thoughts turn to a mass-suicide pact. Nick Halling is not really my cup of tea and he has become something of a caricature of late - a bit more Alan Partridge than John Madden. However, I do feel that there’s a more general malaise in the studio format of Sky’s Sunday coverage, which has become pretty tired and stale and is badly in need of a re-think. The programme hasn’t really evolved and Halling and Kevin Cadle seem jaded. As for the guest analysts, the most interesting thing that former players Ian Allen and Cecil Martin bring to the programme is their hairstyles. The Thanksgiving Day coverage typified what’s wrong with the current format: for some reason best known to the programme’s Producer, Sky once again rolled out Dolphins’ cheerleader Lacie Randall for a prolonged studio appearance – now, admittedly, she looks great for a woman in her mid-fifties, but we learned nothing more insightful than she’s a good old Southern gal and has a bit of a crush on Wes Welker. Her interviews with a bunch of geeks (Nick Halling’s words, and one thing he certainly did get right) in a London Sports Bar were just pointless and embarrassing. There’s no denying that Sky’s commitment to NFL coverage has been tremendous over the years. We’re currently enjoying more live games than ever, as well as the Total Access programme and the usual weekly highlights round-up (although this has, disappointingly, been reduced to a half-hour segment) – that’s pretty impressive coverage of what is still a ‘minority’ sport in the UK. However, it feels as though they are going through the motions in the studio at times on a Sunday and Sky ought to consider a change to their format and bring in some new faces to freshen things up. Ultimately, though, Cadle, Halling and Co. are just there to fill in the ‘dead’ time between plays and perhaps we shouldn’t expect anything too profound from them. That said, it’s almost a relief to watch the alternate, red-button game, when those nice people at Sky just give us a large helping of cheerleader action during the breaks in play. Ah, Lacie Randall, great pom-poms!