Too bad the Buffalo-Buccaneer game this weekend ahead is not at Raymond James Stadium. Not sure these Bucs can yet win a game at Buffalo. To win, the Buckos would have to play in a Bills stadium up there by Niagara Falls in a setting so foreign to these Bucados of Coach Raheem Morris.

The place will be jumping. Sure Buffalo is the favorite. It is up there, isn’t it?  It’ll be full won’t it? It will be a setting made for the heroics of owner Ralph Wilson’s Bills. Ralph Wilson is our friend in Tampa. He helped us get the Buc franchise. Played a pre-season game at old Phillips Field here years ago against the Colts. Wilson was for Tampa in the NFL before it was fashionable.

Anyway, a win by the Bucs on Sunday will require some doing, though the weather won’t be a factor. Morris and his staff need to eliminate the blown coverages of Tampa defenses that were so badly beaten at Raymond James last Sunday on three long pass completions by Dallas QB Tony Romo. And they simply were outcoached late, with the chips down.  Morris knows that, the Buc-owning Glazer Family knows that. Lousy, lousy, lousy was the defensive play on the part of the Bucs too often. 

A positive was the breakout play of Cadillac Williams. He had a fine game against Dallas, except for a careless pass drop.  He’s about ready for a superb game. Byron Leftwich almost had a whale of a game against Dallas. Almost. He is so big, so strong. He is learning ball speed. Fires into a crack for the receiver on one play, behind him the next, then far too high the next. Top-of-the-line runs by Cadillac and Derrick Ward would fill the bill nicely. The Tampa Bay running game is not what it needs to be, but there is hope, with Williams close to genuine stardom.

This young man can become a real NFL star.

Noticed that the Tribune’s Ira Kaufman has Cadillac on the verge of a breakout. I do, too. Most do. He runs and dances at the same time. Makes the tacklers miss. Wants to be a star.

Key? 

Leftwich. I think he’s the real deal.  And has a solid offensive line, though just crippled with the injury to center Jeff Faine, and backfield help. This game just ahead is vital, at Buffalo. Morris knows what a win would do. They’d be in it for at least another week.

Who could ask for anything more, eh, Raheem?