The Continuing Saga of Tampa Bay Buccaneer Fan!

Boy howdy, talk about starting the season with a little "mo!" The Bucs routed the Texans tonight - the game wasn't even as close as the lopsided score. Tampa's first string D picked off David Carr twice in the first quarter - the first by nickelback Juran Bolden, who helped his cause, and the other by primetime Ronde Barber. Carr would finish one of five for four yards and two picks against the first string D...if that's not a good sign, I don't know what is.

The hero was Chris "Powder" Simms, who probably, unfortunately, locked up the backup job with his play. He threw 12 of 16 for 163 yards and three, count 'em three touchdown passes. Have I changed my mind about him? No. The Texans did NOT look ready to play, and he did it against the backups. Still, it's encouraging.

Luke McCown also played well in limited reps. He completed 4 of 6 passes for 44 yards and a TD. Young receivers Edell Sheppard, JR Russell, Paris Warren, and tight end Nate Lawrie all caught TDs. Mike Alstott also ran one in. Newly acquired defensive end Andrew Williams helped his chances of making the final roster with a nasty sack of Preston Parsons in the fourth quarter. Matt Bryant may have won the kicking job with a 53 yard beauty in the first quarter.

Carnell Williams carried twice for 7 yards, and caught a pass for six yards. The lack of carries he's received in the preseason leads me to wonder how ready for primetime he will be, but hey, at least he's healthy.

Earnest Graham had his quietest preseason game, rushing 5 times for 16 yards and catching 2 passes for 25 yards. He was kept out of the endzone after scoring 5 times in the first 3 games. Hopefully, this is not cause to cut him.

As I said, the game was not as close as the score. The game was love 24 when the starters left, and 38-zip before Houston scored two garbage time TDs. Also, although the yardage was near even - Tampa 327-305, 120 of those Texan yards came on two long pass plays.