The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have found themselves in a very bad situation. They've lost RB "Cadillac" Williams to a season ending knee injury and Michael Pittman will be out six to eight weeks with an ankle injury. Now third string RB and fourth year pro Earnest Graham becomes the starter. So far this season Graham has 36 carries for 147yds with 3 TD's.

 To help Graham out when he needs a breather the Buc's signed 13 year veteran Zack Crockett Wednesday morning. Crockett is very familiar with Coach Gruden and his offensive scheme, having played for Gruden in Oakland. Also to make room for Crockett the Buc's placed QB Chris Simms on the IR list.

 Tampa is tied with the Panthers for the lead in the NFC South. This week they must take on a tough task in the Tennesse Titans. The Titans are 13-1 against the NFC south under Coach Fisher and I look for him to continue that streak this weekend. A depleted backfield may be to much for the Buc's to overcome against a good defense like Tennesee's.

 All in all the Buc's may just make it through the season and win a very weak NFC South Division. There isn't one Playoff team from last season left on their schedule other than the Saints whom they already beat at home,  with everyone else in the division taking huge impacts due to injury (or felony charges) in their rosters the Buc's could easily go 10-6 and win out to make a playoff birth. To get them their they will need a real strong push from the new running back tandem of Graham and Crockett. Not to mention some smart coaching by Gruden.

 QB Jeff Garcia can also be a difference maker for this team. He's smart and very mobile and also has a fairly strong arm to get the ball downfield. With a speedy veteran reciever like Joey Galloway that at times has shown that he still has game left in him, these two vet's should be able to get just enough done to make a push towards the playoffs. This is what the rest of Tampa's schedule looks like starting with this sunday's game. I will mark next to each game my win/lose prediction to show how they might finish.

Home vs the Titans- loss

@ Detroit- win

Home vs the Jaguars- loss

Home vs the Cardinals- win

@ Atlanta-win

Home vs Washington- loss

@ New Orleans- win

@ Houston- loss

Home vs Atlanta- win

@ S. Francisco- win

Home vs Carolina-win

Overall finish 10-6

With six of the next eleven games left at home, I think it's very possible for them to save the season and win the division. They have already beaten Carolina and the Saints pretty soundly. It will not be an easy task for them to accomplish but they have the players and coach to do it.

 Defensively is the only question I have for this team. Although they do have six interceptions on the season and 3 fumble recovery's as a team. With all that said I look for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to win enough games to make the playoffs but how deep they go is another thing altogether.

Kobe Bryant is arguably the best all around player in the NBA today. His defense is astounding, he has led the league two years in scoring.  His ability to create shots and score on anyone is second to none.

 But for the Lakers to be succesful this season isn't going to come down to whether Bryant can get others involved in the offense. It isn't going to come down to who can come off the bench and help. What it's going to come down to is whether or not Kobe can keep from turning the ball over so much.

 As great of a player as he is, Kobe tends to lead the league in turnovers a game consistantly. Last night in a pre-season lost the the Golden state Warriors 111-110, Kobe's stats looked like this. 17pts- 5ast.- 5reb- 1stl. and 6to. that's half of what the whole Warriors team had for the game.

 Now you would say that the rest of his stats look descent for the first pre-season game and I would say you are correct. Thing is if Kobe and the rest of the Lakers do not turn the ball over so much they would actually have beat the Warriors pretty soundly. Even though they only lost by one point with such a high number of turnovers (18 total for the whole team) against such elite teams in the regular season this would mean a blowout and not a one point deficit.

 The question here is does Kobe handle the ball to much? Isn't that what a PG's job is? If you ask me I would say yes he does. So until the Lakers get someone in the backcourt to handle this responsibility this will continue to happen to Kobe. When he has the ball teams immediately double up on him. They don't wait for him to make a move then bring help he's to good for that. So when teams do this it's hard for him to find someone to get the ball to because lets face it the Lakers have some of the laziest players I have ever seen.

 I'm as big a Kobe fan as anyone, but this is something that has annoyed me for years. Turnovers can kill a team, especialy when after a turnover it's hard to get back and play defense. You are not only physicaly out of position but you are mentaly disturbed when it happens. I still think the Lakers are a good team and will make the playoffs. How far they go well we will not know till that time comes. But you can be assured that if Kobe as an indivdual and the Lakers as a team continue to turn the ball over as much as they did lastnight and have for some years now, it will not be very far.