Headlines this morning: Bills not sure if Cowher is interested.  Come on.  This is Buffalo we’re talking about.  You could make him Coach, GM, President, Part-Owner and Mayor - he ain’t interested!

In Tampa the conspiracy theorists are pointing out that the owners still haven’t given Raheem Morris a mention—they’ve only committed to the plan that they began 12 months ago.  Interesting.  Any Cowher sightings in Tampa? 

Let’s get to what matters.  Football.  And the teams still playing.

Today’s action: Bengals over Jets and Eagles over Cowboys (not a typo, you read it right).

Sunday: Patriots over Ravens and Packers over Cardinals.

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Ready to cap off another amazing regular season?  Here we go.

49ers over Rams; Vikes over Giants; Colts over Bills; Jags over Browns; Pats over Texans; Bucs over Falcons; Panthers over Saints; Steelers over Dolphins; Eagles over Cowboys; Bears over Lions; Chargers over R’skins; Titans over Seahawks; Broncos over Chiefs; Ravens over Raiders; Cards over Packers; Jets over Bengals.

See ya in the playoffs!

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Urban Meyer to Tampa?

Let’s see, how will they fall this weekend?  Chargers over Titans, Bucs over Saints, Texans over Dolphins, Packers over Seahawks, Giants over Panthers, Browns over Raiders, Patriots over Jags, Steelers over Ravens, Bengals over Chiefs, Falcons over Bills, Cards over Rams, Niners over Lions, Eagles over Broncos, Colts over Jets, Cowboys over Redskins, Vikings over Bears.

There you have it!

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Right to it… running late this week.  Imagine that?  Christmas week in the life of a preacher?

Colts over Jags, Saints over Cowboys, Chiefs over Browns, Texans over Rams, Patriots over Bills, Titans over Dolphins, Jets over Falcons, Eagles over 49ers, Cards over Lions, Ravens over Bears, Broncos over Raiders, Chargers over Bengals, Bucs over Seahawks, Packers over Steelers, Vikings over Panthers, Giants over Redskins (buh nye J-Z).

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Are you kidding me?  The Steelers’ collapse is complete.  Back to back losses to the Raiders and the Browns?  What’s next?  I’m wishing the were on the Bucs’ schedule!

Speaking of the Bucs schedule—there’s a win on the horizon.  Has to be.  Josh the Future got those five interceptions out of his system.  Now it’s time for a magnificent bounce back performance.  I smell win number two.  Do you?

Hey, this just in: The Rams are possibly going to start a rookie at QB tomorrow.  Neither Bulger or Boller can answer the bell, Keith Null is in.  Oh boy!

Raiders QB JaMarcus Russell expects to be the Raiders’ starting QB again in 2010.  He made it clear that he won’t be taking a pay cut.  Anybody want a piece of that action? 

Let me get to the picks.  Saints over Falcons and Colts over Broncos (yep, two teams at 13-0); Bills over the Chiefs; Packers over Bears; Ravens over Lions; Bucs over Jets; Dolphins over Jaguars; Vikings over Bengals; Patriots over Panthers (because they’re at home); Seahawks over Texans; Raiders over Redskins (BRUUUUUUUUUCE!); Titans over Rams and their rookie QB; Chargers over Cowboys (Wade Phillips rumor mill back to full throttle); Eagles over Giants; Cards over 49ers.

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Out with the new and in with the old?  Well sort of—Mike Holmgren is reportedly interested in returning to Seattle as President and General Manager now that the job(s) are open.  Anything would be better than coaching in Buffalo, eh?  Quick!  Get linked to a job OTHER than the Bills.  Besides, that job is all wrapped up for Marv Levy to return.

Where do you suppose Mike Shanahan ends up?  Sources say he had a series of great meetings with Bills execs.  Here’s a thought: those reports came from the way Shanahan looked at the airport leaving town.  You’d be happy, too.  Dancing, maybe.

Hey!  How about Charlie Weis?  Now there’s a candidate.

The Saints and the Colts remain perfect on the year.  Either team have a chance to run the table, you ask.  No.  There will be a loss in both teams’ tallies before it’s over, but I tell you that both look like they have Super aspirations.  Do you think a team that wins in a bury-them style (Saints) or a team that finds-a-way-to-win (Colt) has an advantage?

On the Buc front, you have to love how people are saying “Jake Delhomme is out” like the Bucs are better off facing Matt Moore.  Truth be told, the Bucs secondary is sad.  They watched a weekend to pad the INT stats go down in flames.  Oh well. 

Let me give you the edge on this weekend’s slate.  Here goes: Jets over Bills (this is the Bills we’re talking about); Eagles over Falcons; Bucs over Panthers; Bears over Rams, Patriots over Dolphins; Bengals over Lions; Colts over Titans (reality check for Vince); Jags over Texans; Broncos over Chiefs; Steelers over Raiders (best cure for Ben’s headache… the Raiders); Saints over Skins; Chargers over Browns; Cowboys over Giants; 49ers over Seahawks; Vikings over Cards; Packers over Ravens.  There you have it.

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This just in: Raheem Morris has demoted Jim Bates, and he will be taking on the defense calls himself.  Raheem says that it’s “on him” to fix things.

How about former Bucs QB Bruce Gradkowski?  He led the Raiders to a win!  No, I’m not kidding.  Watch the clouds - I think Jesus must be returning any moment.  You have to love the guy.  For a follow up can he beat the Cowboys on Thanksgiving?  Uh… Love those Cowboys cheerleaders, eh?

This just in: Raheem Morris has fired the Buccaneer cheerleaders, and he’ll be wearing the skirt this week.

Chris Simms got his first post splenectomy start.  Lasted three series.  He said he was “rusty.”  You think?  Call it a career.

And while we’re on the topic of Bucs QBs, our rookie looked like a rookie last week.  Bound to happen a couple of times.  Bear with him.

This just in: Raheem Morris has benched Josh Freeman, and he will be playing QB himself this weekend.

So, picks?  You betcha.  Packers over Lions; Cowboys over Raiders; Giants over Broncos on Thanksgiving. Dolphins over Bills; Titans over Cards; Colts over Texans; Seahawks over Rams; Bucs over Falcons (This just in: Raheem Morris benching Barrett Ruud, and he will lead the team himself with 24 tackles); Bengals over Browns; Jets over Panthers; Eagles over Redskins; Chargers over Chiefs; 49ers over Jags; Vikings over Bears; Steelers over Ravens; Patriots over Saints.

This just in: Raheem Morris has demoted the Pigskin Preacher, and he will be making the picks starting next week.

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Shock and Awe.  Here it comes!  Rumor has it the Bucs are wearing red over white today.  I’ve been calling for that scheme.  You watch.

The week has been a crazy one for me.  Apologies… and picks.

Preacher’s Picks: Steelers over Chiefs; Packers over Niners; Browns over Lions; Bucs over Saints (it’s in the threads); Giants over Falcons; Jags over Bills; Cowboys over Redskins; Vikings over Seahawks; Colts over Ravens; Cards over Rams; Patriots over Jets (and no more going on 4th down late); Bengals over Raiders; Chargers over Broncos; Eagles over Bears; Titans over Texans.

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Thursday Night Football!  Somebody say, “Amen!”

Hey, before I get too far into this post, let me wish professional football Happy Birthday.  This date in 1892 the first game considered professional (money was paid to players) was played between Allegheny and Pittsburgh Athletic Clubs.  Household names like Pudge Heffelfinger graced the field that day.  How do you suppose he’d look in Bucco Bruce Creamies? 

No mustard.  Chad Eight-Five was planning to send a case of mustard to members of the Pittsburgh Steelers secondary in advance of their upcoming game.  His point: Despite playing at Heinz Field, they can’t ‘ketch-up’ to Chad on the field.  Coach Marvin Lewis stopped the shipment.  Spoil-sport.  If I were the Steelers, I’d send Chad a Spanish/English dictionary so he could learn that the proper way to say Eighty-Five is not Ocho-Cinco. 

They fined Falcons Coach Mike Smith $15,000 for his part in the fight on the sideline last weekend.  What’s it say when your coach is at the center of the meet and greet?  Raiders Coach Tom Cable sent Smith an email, advising next time he throw the punch in a meeting room where cameras aren’t present and then say he can’t remember what actually took place.

Word out of Cleveland is that Jamaal Lewis through a kidney shot at Coach Eric Mangini today through the press.  Somebody give the dawgs a biscuit already.  They’re the Browns.  They stink.  New year, new coach, same result.  What’s the problem?  Oh, Brady Quinn is coming back this week.  Awesome.  We were all getting a little tired of Derek Anderson’s completing two out of his ochenta-y-cinco pass attempts.

Any news on whether the Bucs will wear orange again this year?  I’m thinking a hybrid would be cool.  How about the orange shirts over white pants, but with the pewter helmets?  Huh?  Am I straight-eye-for-the-football-guy or what?  It’s fashion, baby! 

Finally, what happened to the British chap?  He’s dropped off the face of the blogosphere since he took the mic during the London game.  And it’s a shame, too, because my picks have been sub-misery these last couple of weeks—he could’ve gained ground.  What?  Did Cricket season start or something? 

Well, in case he looks in, let me re-establish my dominating ways.  Here are my gift-wrapped-in-the-union-jack picks for week ten: 49ers over Bears; Vikings over Lions (Any truth to the rumor that the Vikes are resting their starters this week?); Broncos over Redskins (Buh-bye J. Z.); Falcons over Panthers; Bengals over Steelers (It’s in the condiments.); Bucs over Dolphins (Two in a row for the rook.); Titans over Bills; Jets over Jags; Saints over Rams; Chiefs over Raiders; Cowboys over Packers (But I hope I’m wrong about this one because it will be fun to see more about the Romo-Williams love in the press.); Cards over Seahawks; Chargers over Eagles; Patriots over Colts; Ravens over Browns.

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Hope you enjoyed the bye week. I did. No Buccaneer loss—has to go down as best week of the season thus far. Let’s just hope that when we look back at the season we can say that it was the turning point, eh?

Going orange! Nothing like a little Bucco Bruce to rally the troops! Lee Roy Selmon going into the ring of honor, members of the 1979 “worst to first” team on hand, and the first game ever in our throw-backs—this is smelling like the perfect recipe for a Buccaneer surprise. Hey, we’ve got a new kicker, too. Maybe we’ll actually put 3 on the board Sunday. A league low two field goals so far. TWO! 

Rumor has it that some of the other Buccaneer alumni have been disappointed that Selmon is going into the ring of honor alone. Let’s see: Who is the lone Buccaneer in the Hall of Fame? Um… I’ll give you sixty-three guesses.

Here’s a question: If the Bucs win Sunday, do they dress in creamsicle the rest of the season?

Time to get back into action. Here are the sure-fire locks for week nine: Bucco Bruce lives! Bucs over Packers; Ravens over Bengals; Patriots over Dolphins; Falcons over ‘Skins (buh bye J.Z.); Bears over Cards; Colts over Texas; Jags over Chiefs; Saints over Panthers; Seahawks over Lions; 49ers over Titans; Giants over Chargers; Eagles over Cowboys (and more Williams impressions of T.O. to come); Steelers over Broncos. Bye: Bills, Browns; Vikings, Jets, Raiders and Rams. 

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The Preacher is on the road this week, too.  Not in London with the Bucs, but gathered with family to officiate my niece’s wedding.  Happy times!  So happy, in fact, that I’ve forgotten all about the drumming I took in my picks last week.  Really.  I’ve forgotten.  Gone.  Never to be mentioned again.  Understand?  Never.  When is my bye week?

The Bucs and the Patriots in jolly ole England.  Sit down and have a few pints, Bucs fans.  We’ll need ‘em.  Everyone is talking about whether Jim Zorn is on the hotseat in Washington.  When is the Redskins’ bye week?  I suspect that there may develop an all-out track meet to fire some coaches in the next few weeks to be first in line to talk to Cowher-Shanahan-Holmgren-Gruden.  You have to wonder if being in London this week will turn the pressure up a bit on the Glazer family to prove their love and affection for the Bucs rivals that for their successful franchise there.  Time will tell.  When is our bye week?  Oh… NEXT WEEK. 

Let’s get to the picks.  Watch ‘em and week (like I was weeping last week): Bears over Bengals; Packers over Browns; Steelers over Vikings; Texans over Niners; Chargers over Chiefs; Colts over Rams; Bucs over Patriots (I will not pick against them, Paul Stewart!); Panthers over Bills; Jets over Raiders; Saints over Dolphins; Cowboys over Falcons; Giants over Cards; Eagles over Redskins.  Bye: Ravens, Broncos, Lions, Jags, Seahawks and Titans.

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Was anyone else thinking, when the Panthers were stuffing it down the throat of our defense in the last few minutes, that our defense should have just let them score to get our offense back on the field and give us a shot at tying it?  There were still several minutes left and I knew… KNEW… that we were going to be watching either Hall or Stewart score with about 20 seconds left.

Frustrating.

Josh Johnson played pretty well.  Cadillac too.  We can’t keep leaving points out there, though.  Sure, we scored 21 today but we only scored 7 with our offense.  Yeesh.  We’re not beating anyone like this.  We couldn’t beat USF like this.

Quincy Black and Barrett Ruud - played a great fifty minutes of football.  Problem is, last ten our D got manhandled.  Ronde Barber had a great game.  Secondary really played well all day.  Guess that’s something.

So, let’s go to England.  We either win one on foreign soil… or we stink up another continent. 

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I’m a poet and I didn’t know it.  That rhymes: Preacher’s Picks, week six.  You see, after losing a couple of surprises in week five, I’m considering a new hobby—from prognosticator to poet.  Did the Browns really win?  I’m thinking it was a typo!

And while I’m whining, let me settle something with the BUK Power chap.  A few weeks ago he mistakenly (sure!) wrote that I beat him head to head by picking against the Bucs.  Let’s be clear—I’ve not picked against the Bucs this year.  Furthermore, as a true fan, I won’t be picking against the Bucs.  That, however, can not be said for Mr. U.K.  You see, it was so important to him to get a leg up on me that he did pick against the Bucs last week.  What this means is that I am essentially conceding a one game advantage to him every week—so when I beat him, it’s been like giving him a ten yard headstart.  I’m just sayin’...

So now, what to make of things this week?  How about Josh McDaniels fist-pumping good job of coaching so far?  Whodah thunk it?  Aa love fest breaking out between McDaniels and Brandon Marshall?  Kyle Orton leading his team to victory?  Kyle Orton?  They managed to look good even when they were dressed as human fudgecicles!  (Broncos’ throwbacks officially the worst I’ve seen to date.)  Anyone seen T.O. in Buffalo this past week?  I think he left town.  Not a word.  You have that pre-erruption feeling—not sure when it will happen, but you know it’ll be good when it does.  Keep the microphones on, boys!  Rush Limbaugh is out of the purchase of the Rams.  They’re making it sound like he was pressured out.  I’m guessing he actually saw the team play.  Certainly there is a semi-pro flag football team he can buy—that would beat the Rams.

In Tampa… whatever.  I’m anxiously awaiting the creamsicle uniforms.  We’re playing like throwbacks, we might as well look like them, too.  But, alas, I’m picking us to win this week!  Come on.  It’s the Panthers.  Their cheerleaders, now those chicks worry me.  But the Panthers?  Bucs by a field goal.  Oh wait…

Here are my fearless, and truly Buccaneer supporting picks for week six (the rhyming continues): Bengals over Texans; Packers over Lions; Jags over Rams; Vikings over Ravens; Saints over Giants; Steelers over Browns; Bucs over Panthers (see that my British friend?); Redskins over Chiefs; Eagles over Raiders; Seahawks over Cardinals; Patriots over Titans; Jets over Bills; Falcons over Bears; Chargers over Broncos.  Bye: Cowboys, Colts, 49ers & Dolphins. 

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Did you?

When you looked at the schedule, this week five game in Philly wasn’t one you thought we’d pull out.  Admit it.  We met a much better team today.  We knew it coming in.  Last week—well that’s another story.  But this one, we saw coming.

When you’re in a stretch like we are, you need to look for progress.  We’re seeing some.  Our defense is starting to get the Jim Bates system.  But, we can’t get any pressure on our opponents’ QB.  Nothing.  Nada.  Zilch.  Jimmy Wilkerson looks to me to be the only D-Lineman playing with enthusiasm.  The rest of the guys look like they’re playing in fudge.  We need some energy on our defensive front.

Then, on the other side of the ball, we need Jeff Faine back.  Period.  Josh Johnson was harrassed all day.  Our running game spent most of the day in negative plays. 

Let me just say this: Josh Johnson isn’t our problem.  He’s a bright spot.  He’s giving us a chance.  He needs some help.

What did you see out there today?

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So how did the telephone call go?  We’ll give you Braylon Edwards for, let’s see… who do you have that doesn’t take every other play off, isn’t prone to the dropsies and hasn’t thrown a punch outside a nightclub in the last calendar year?  Make no mistake, Eric Mangini was out to do his former bosses a favor.  The Braylon Edwards experience has rolled into the limelight.  Just ask him: “Cleveland is Cleveland.  This is New York!”  And don’t think for a moment that was a geography lesson.

Speaking of the New York groove, Braylon’s first game as a Jet will be in Miami on Monday night.  Channing Crowder of the Dolphins can’t wait.  He’s on record this week talking about his high regard for Jet RB Leon Washington that goes back to their college days, his respect for Jets coach Rex Ryan and his deep mastery of the art of cursing.  Speaking of QB Mark Sanchez, Crowder has this to say: “He’s probably the only guy I haven’t cussed out because he’s a rookie.  But I’ll cuss him out on Monday night.”  ESPN better have their finger on the “beep” button.

And while we’re on the subject of tender words, Cowboys QB Tony Romo is beginning to hear a few directed his way.  He says the chatter doesn’t matter.  It’s important to note that, at this point at least, it’s coming from fans and not his teammates—another reason he’s happy T.O. is no longer in the locker room.  Besides, fans are throwing the love around—head coach Wade Phillips and OC Jason Garrett wear bigger targets.  It was Garrett who called two throws in a row at Champ Bailey last week in the closing seconds of the loss to Denver.  Here’s something: The Chiefs are next on the Cowboys schedule.  Nothing can bring back the love as quickly like a contest against the 0-4 Chiefs.

Unless it’s a contest against the 0-4 Rams.  They are playing so bad Rush Limbaugh wants to buy the team.  Yep, and when he does, his first move as an owner will be to attempt a trade for Donovan McNabb.

How about D Mac?  He’s coming back in time to play the Bucs.  Perfect.  The Bucs D-Line started last week’s game by generating a lot of pressure on Jason Campbell, but by the second half they ran out of steam.  The only shot the Bucs have at getting out of Philly with respect is to get pressure early, often and continually.  Tanard Jackson is back from his league-imposed exile—hope he gets totally jacked up for this game.  I mean that in a completely drug-free way, of course. 

Let’s get down to business.  A 9-5 week for the preacher (and my friend Mark S. as well… kudos!).  My British friend also managed a 9-5, strangely picking exactly the same slate that I did.  You know what they say: If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.  This is a week that will distinguish between the men and the boys.  Let’s get to it.  In honor of Channing Crowder and Braylon Edwards, here are my @#$%@#$%^ picks for week five: Ravens over Bengals, Bills over Browns, Panthers over Redskins, Steelers over Lions, Cowboys over Chiefs, Giants over Raiders, Bucs over Eagles, Vikings over Rams, Falcons over 49ers, Cardinals over Texans, Patriots over Broncos, Seahawks over Jaguars, Colts over Titans, Jets over Dolphins.  Resting: Bears, Packers, Saints and Chargers. 

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