The Carolina Panthers are trying to build off of last week when they won their first game while the Buccaneers are still trying to get on that side of the ledger.  This should be the week that the Panthers really get things going on offense.  The Bucs are allowing 152.6 yards rushing per game and 4.7 yards per carry so DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart should both have good games on Sunday.  If the Bucs are crazy enough to load up the box look for Jake Delhomme to attack them down the field with Steve Smith and Mushin Muhammad.  Panthers’ QBs have been sacked 12 times this season and the Bucs have 9 sacks this season so they will be likely blitzing more often than usual to try to pressure Delhomme into some mistakes.  After all, he has thrown 8 interceptions already this season.

The Buccaneers should come out running the ball against the Panthers.  That would give Josh Johnson a better chance for success and it would give them a chance to control the clock and keep the defense off the field.  The Panthers are allowing 155.5 yards rushing per game and 5.0 yards per carry so this could be the game that Cadillac Williams truly breaks out.  Kellen Winslow has emerged as John Johnson’s favorite receiver so the Panthers’ D will likely give him a lot of attention and dare Johnson to beat the D with his WRs (Michael Clayton and Antonio Bryant) who have been dropping more passes than they have been catching.  Look for Julius Peppers to have his best game of the year forcing Johnson into making some big mistakes.

PREDICTION:  PANTHERS 24, BUCCANEERS 10

Kellen Winslow is without a doubt the best player on the Buccaneers’ offense right now.  He leads them in receptions (26), receiving yards (257) and TD catches (4).  Winslow has the best hands on the team and he can get deep because of his speed.  The Bucs have not been able to take advantage of his speed yet because the QBs have not had the time to get the ball down the field.  Winslow is proving to be worth every cent the Bucs are paying him right now.

The Bucs have signed 27-year old WR Yamon Figurs.  He is on the small side at 5’11″, 185 pounds  but the Bucs need anyone who can catch a football.  He played in 3 games for the Lions this season and he caught 1 pass for 7 yards.  He has now played three years in the NFL and he has caught 3 passes for 86 yards (28.7 avg) with 1 TD grab which shows what kind of home run speed he has.  Figurs is also good insurance in case something happens to KR/PR Clifton Smith.  Figurs has returned 39 punts in 309 yards (7.9 avg) with 1 TD return and 75 kickoffs for 1,746 yards (23.3 avg) with 1 TD return.  To make room on the roster for Figurs the Bucs have released backup linebacker Matt McCoy who made 1 tackle this season.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers (0-5) still have yet to win a game this season and were completely over-matched on Sunday in their loss to the Philadelphia Eagles (3-1).  Eagles’ quarterback Donovan McNabb was making his first start since breaking a rib in week one, and showed no signs of rust.  McNabb threw three touchdowns and 264 yards on 16/21 attempts (76%).  Bucs’ quarterback Josh Johnson did not do a good job taking care of the ball and threw three interceptions.  He threw the ball a ton, as the Bucs were trying to be extra aggressive against a more talented team.  Johnson finished the game with 240 yards on 26/50 attempts and two touchdowns, but had the three interceptions and two fumbles (both recovered).  Johnson did do a good job running the ball when the opportunity presented itself.  He had 40 yards on 5 carries (8.0 avg).

Kellen Winslow was one of the few bright spots for the Buccaneers.  He had two touchdowns and 102 yards on nine receptions (11.3 avg).  The Eagles are just flat out better than the Buccaneers in pretty much every aspect of the game though, and were up 7-0 in less than three minutes into the game.  The Buccaneers Cadillac Williams did nothing for them, rushing for only eight yards on 10 carries (0.8 avg) and getting tackled in the endzone for a safety.  The Bucs need to go back to the drawing board and do whatever they can to get their first win of the year.  They will try for that win this Sunday at home against the Carolina Panthers (1-3).

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers (0-4) are on the road against the Philadelphia Eagles (2-1) this week and are looking to make it four straight wins against the Eagles.  That is not likely though, as the Bucs have yet to get a win this year and the Eagles are getting their starting quarterback Donovan McNabb back from a rib injury.  McNabb wont have to do much against the Bucs though, as the running game will do plenty of damage agains the Bucs’ defense.  The Buccaneers are giving up a 172 rushing yards per game, so the Eagles’ running duo of LeSean McCoy and Brian Westbrook will run all over them as they average 4.4 yards per carry.

The Buccaneers quarterback situation has not been very good.  Byron Leftwich is now the third string QB for the Bucs, and Josh Johnson will continue to be the starter.  The 23-year-old Johnson threw 106 yards on 13 of 22 passes and had one touchdown and one interception in the first start of his career last week.  He will have his hands full in only his second start, as the Eagles defense will attack the inexperienced QB.  Their defense is only giving up 156 passing yards per game, so it looks like the Bucs offense is in big trouble.  They will need a huge game from Cadillac Williams if they want a chance in this one, as the running back is averaging 5.0 yards per carry and has been a threat as a receiver too.  The Eagles are just way too much for the Bucs to handles though, and they should not have any problem winning this game.

FINAL SCORE PREDICTION:  Tampa Bay Buccaneers 10, Philadelphia Eagles 34

The Buccaneers have signed 29-year old placekicker Shane Andrus to replace Mike Nugent.  He is 29-years old and he has never played in a NFL game.  He played his college ball at Murray State.  This is just another example of how cheap the Bucs are as they should have brought in a experienced kicker.

The Buccaneers have released placekicker Mike Nugent.  This is no surprise as he only made 2 of 6 FGs (33.3%) this season for the Bucs.  He did make all six of his extra points as he scored 12 points for the Bucs this season.  This might be the end of Nugent’s career and the Bucs are in the market for a new kicker.  They need to find someone that’s dependable because they aren’t going to score a lot of points this season so they can’t afford to leave any on the field.

The Bucs were winning this game 10-0 at the half and things were looking good.  But in the third quarter the Redskins scored 16 points and the Bucs just couldn’t recover.  Josh Johnson was o.k. in his first NFL start as he completed 13 of 22 passes for 106 yards with 1 TD pass and 1 INT.  He also carried the ball 7 times for 41 yards (5.9 ypc) in this game.  Cadillac Williams had a solid game with 77 yards rushing on 16 carries (4.8 ypc) and he also caught 4 passes for 22 yards (5.5 avg).  WR Antonio Bryant led the way in the passing game for the Bucs as he caught 4 passes for 44 yards (11.0 avg) with a TD.  The Bucs finished up with 229 total yards in this game (129 rushing, 100 passing). 

The defense played their best game of the year for the Bucs, without a doubt.  Barrett Ruud led the way for the Bucs in this game with 9 tackles.  CB Aqib Talib had his best game of his young NFL career as he had 4 tackles, defensed 3 passes and he had 3 interceptions (61 return yards).  The Redskins finished up with 277 total yards in this game (125 rushing, 152 passing).  The Bucs are now 0-4 on the season.

The Tampa Bay Bucs have changed the QB but the team still stinks.  To protect Josh Johnson in his first NFL start look for the Bucs to try to run the ball early and often against the Redskins.  Cadillac Williams and Earnest Graham will likely split the carries against the Redskins’ D that is allowing 127.7 yards rushing per game and 4.4 yards per carry.  To be effective running the ball against the Redskins the O-Line must do a good job of blocking DT Albert Haynesworth and MLB London Fletcher.  The Bucs will likely use a lot of play action and rollouts to help buy Johnson some time to throw the ball.  Look for a lot of passes to the TEs in this game as Kellen Winslow and Jerramy Stevens have combined to catch 23 passes for 205 yards (8.9 avg) with 3 TDs. 

The Redskins have only scored 40 points this season despite averaging 341.3 yards passing per game.  The Redskins should attack the Bucs in the deep passing game as they continue to have issues in the secondary.  This is the game that Jason Campbell will break out and he will get the ball to Santana Moss and Antwaan Randle El deep.  Opposing QBs have a rating of 113.6 against the Bucs this season and they have already allowed 7 TD passes this season.  The Bucs also allow 187.3 yards rushing per game and 5.2 yards per carry so the Redskins will test them on the ground.  Clinton Portis is a little gimpy and he is 50/50 to play in this game but Ladell Betts is more than capable of handling a heavy workload if Portis can’t go.

PREDICTION:  REDSKINS 30, BUCCANEERS 13

Due to the awful defense the Bucs have kickoff returner Clifton Smith is getting a lot of work.  He has returned 10 kickoffs for 268 yards (26.8 avg) so far this season.  Smith is a gamebreaker who right now is one of the most important players on the team.   He has also returned 7 punts for 73 yards (10.4 avg) this season for the Bucs.  The Bucs don’t use him much on offense as they don’t want to burn him out.  He has carried the ball 1 time for 4 yards this year and he has also caught 2 passes for 4 yards.  So overall Smith has touched the ball 20 times this season for 349 yards (17.5 yards every time he touches the football).