The Bucs shall rise, in a new South

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By DARRELL FRY

© St. Petersburg Times, published May 24, 2001

Now that it's official, the Bucs' move to the newly-created NFC South division in 2002 is going to take some getting used to.

Like getting used to being home to the division champs year after year.

Like getting used to home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.

Basically, we're going to have to get used to kicking the living daylights out of our division neighbors.

As adjustments go, this ought to be a pretty easy one. I mean, this is like moving to Trump Towers after you've been staying at a Motel 6.

The Bucs are going to own this division like the Yankees traditionally own the AL East. Everybody else will be just renting space.

I know, I know. The Bucs are going to miss playing the Packers twice a year, right? All that tradition. All that rivalry.

Yep, they're really going to miss getting their faces mashed into that frozen turf at Lambeau every year. They're going to regret no longer facing Randy Moss twice a year. They're going to wish they could annually return to Detroit, where they've lost seven of their past 10 games.

Do you know what the Bucs' record is against their old NFC Central division opponents the past five seasons? Try 18-22. The only team they have a winning record against is Chicago (7-3). The Bucs are 3-7 against Detroit and Green Bay, 5-5 against Minnesota.

The Bucs shouldn't have just accepted the NFL's plan to move them to the NFC South. They should have sent the league a thank-you card.

The league did the Bucs a favor. A big one. Putting the Bucs in the same division with New Orleans, Carolina and Atlanta is like putting Mike Tyson in the flyweight division.

Since 1995, the Bucs are 7-3 against those teams, and only twice has any of them mustered more than 16 points against Tampa Bay. Over the past five years, the Bucs are the only NFC South team with a winning record (45-35), well ahead of Carolina (38-42), Atlanta (33-47) and New Orleans (28-52).

I mean, if the Bucs can't win this division, they shouldn't even be in the league.

"I think it will work well for us to be in the same division with Atlanta, Carolina and New Orleans," Bucs general manager Rich McKay said diplomatically.

The Saints figure to give the Bucs the most trouble. After years of ineptitude, they won the NFC West last season. And they've got enough young talent -- Aaron Brooks, Ricky Williams and Joe Horn -- to be good for a while.

Carolina and Atlanta don't scare me at all. Yeah, the Falcons got Michael Vick in the draft, but even if you think he's going to be a star at this level (and I think he will), it's probably going to take a while.

Besides, the Falcons' pass rush is a joke and they still haven't found a decent deep threat. In the meantime, the Bucs will beat them like they stole something.

The Panthers are embroiled in so much turmoil that football seems almost secondary. Plus, they've got no quarterback. (Have you heard of this guy Jeff Lewis?)

No, this is the Bucs' division to lose. There's very little downside here.

Don't worry about losing any rivalries. The Bucs' old rivalries with the Packers and Bears and Vikings didn't develop by chance. They came about because they faced each other twice every season, sometimes in a fight for the division crown or a playoff berth.

The same thing will happen with the Panthers, Saints and Falcons. It'll take a little while, but eventually they will naturally become the Bucs' rivals.

In the meantime, the Bucs should feed on the Panthers, Falcons and Saints like so much bird seed. It may seem like there's not a lot of honor and humility in slapping your division neighbors around like that. But, like I said, we'll get used to it.

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