Throughout the 2010 season and during the early portion of the 2011 campaign, the buzzwords surrounding the Tampa Bay Buccaneers included "young" and "promising." The resiliency the team showed in holding off the Indianapolis Colts on the Monday Night Football stage was remarkable, even though the Colts had yet to win a game.
Then they headed to the West Coast to visit the San Francisco 49ers and got skunked, 48-3, to drop their record to 3-2. Ouch.
Pete Prisco of CBSSports.com is willing to cut the Bucs a little bit of slack, it would appear, placing them No. 15 in the league in this week's power rankings, just a two-spot drop. That's a stark contrast to FOX's Brian Billick, who moved Tampa Bay five spots down in his rankings. "The tough Monday night-West Coast turnaround proved to be too much for this young team," says Prisco. "Now comes an important division game with the Saints."