Friday, 5 a.m.
Now that their shortcomings have been exposed, can the Tampa Bay Bucs somehow shore them up?
That's the question for the Bucs, who take a 2-1 record into Sunday's home against the Philadelphia Eagles. The Bucs, who thumped the Eagles in their playoff game a year ago, stumbled in last week's loss to Denver. They didn't protect their quarterback, they didn't tackle well, they didn't run well, they didn't rush the passer. They allowed a rookie quarterback to have a field day. Their best receiver disappeared.
Can they cure all of that at once?
We'll see.
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It should be a little easier for the Bucs' secondary. The Eagles have injuries at wide receiver. Still, they're also 2-1, and they're playing pretty good defense.
So can the Bucs win? With their upcoming schedule, they need to:
Prediction: Tampa Bay 17, Philadelphia 16.
In other NFL games:
N.Y. Jets 33, Denver 21.
Atlanta 20, New Orleans 17.
Cincinnati 30, Carolina 17.
Pittsburgh 24, Indianapolis 16 .
San Francisco 29, New England 10.
And in the college games:
Tulana 24, USF 22.
Georgia 21, Alabama 20.
SMU 16, FSU 14.
Colorado 20. UCF 16.
Miami 34, Vifginia 14.