Four Road Trips In 30 Days For Reeling Bucs!
Friday, December 22nd 2006(Bob Acton)

Many handicappers will look at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers gritty effort at Chicago last week as an indication that this team is not going to lay down at the end of a disappointing season. The fact is that Tampa is winless on the road this season and this trip to depressing Cleveland is not what the doctor ordered.

SuperBook.com as always, is ready to go this weekend and every day throughout the holiday season and they have the Browns installed as a -3 point pick. Once again we have a scenario where we find an NFC team hooking up with an AFC team and this is a mismatch.

Last weekend as has been the case all season, the AFC was 3-1 against the NFC, with Pittsburgh, New York and Denver winning for the AFC, while St.Louis was the lone NFC winner, against doormat Oakland.

Supporters of the underdog Bucs will point to the insertion of QB Tim Rattay, as a big reason for betting on Tampa this weekend. Rattay finished 20-of-35 for 268 yards and threw three touchdown passes, against the Bears. All of which came in the fourth quarter. One was a 64-yard strike to speedy wideout Joey Galloway - the longest play from scrimmage for the Bucs this season - that closed the gap to 31-24. After Tampa's defense forced a quick stop, Rattay hit Ike Hilliard in stride down the middle, and the veteran receiver outraced the Chicago secondary for a game-tying 44-yard score.

Tampa Bay will get one final chance at earning that elusive first road victory of the season this Sunday, when the club travels to Cleveland to battle the 4-10 Browns.

Points could be at a premium in this upcoming matchup that clearly won't be a highlight of the Week 16 docket. Cleveland is tied for 29th overall with an average of 16.1 points per game, while the Buccaneers' 13.0 per game average is next-to-last in the league.

Tampa Bay is just 1-5 lifetime against the Browns, and hasn't won in two previous visits to Cleveland. The Bucs' only win in the series was a 17-3 verdict in 2002.

While Cleveland has not exactly set the world on fire, they play in a division with Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and Baltimore, which is whole lot more difficult, then playing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Combine this with the emotional road loss to Chicago and this Florida based team is done.

You try taking four plane trips in 30 days and how would you perform?

Bob Acton

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