Tampa Bay vs. New York: Know the Odds of a Giant Miracle for Buccaneers?

Eli's a comin' and the cards say...a broken heart!

Three Dog Night - Eli's Comin'

Form and common sense say "no how, no way" for these 0-2 Tampa Bay Buccaneers when they take on the powerful 2-0 New York Giants on Sunday.

Form and common sense tell us that's it's all over before the ball is even kicked to start this game at Raymond James Stadium.

With this confused Tampa Bay defense, quarterback Eli Manning has to be chomping at the bit to start passing against these guys. Which then begs the question:

Why are the Giants only favored by 6 1/2 points?

If you want to go by perception, these burly Giants are second in the ESPN power rankings, the lowly Buccaneers are pretty lowly at 28th. Mike Florio's ProFootballTalk.com power rating have the Giants first and the Bucs, 29th.

Doesn't sound too exciting if you're a Buccaneer fan, does it? Someone please help us make a case for the Buccaneers.

Fact is, that would be difficult at best.

The Buccaneer defense is more porous than a lava rock, lost another player this week when Jermaine Phillips  broke his thumb, was placed on injured reserve, done for the year. He was replaced by someone named Corey Lynch from the Cincinnati Bengals' practice squad. That has to be very reassuring to head coach Raheem Morris.

The Bucs also signed some defensive back named Marcus Hamilton.

Then there's the Giants' defense.

More bad news for Byron "The Human Bruise" Leftwich, who absorbed more punishment last week against Buffalo than one of those crash dummies at a General Motors plant.

The New York defense is merciless at best, which should go over well with the Buccaneer running game. Worst scenario is the Bucs falling behind again, quickly, as they did in Buffalo.

"We're not that great of a come-from-behind offense," observes Morris, in a revelation for the ages.

Can anyone make a case for these Bucs?

Sure you can. Miracles do happen. Yes, they do. And that's what it will take on Sunday. It would take a miracle in Tampa.

But then again, there is reality.

And there's Eli Manning. And Eli's a comin'. And as Three Dog Night sang so many, many years ago:

Eli's a comin' and the cards say...a broken heart.

Make that a bunch of broken hearts—Raheem, his staff, his players and their fans who will mix in with the thousands of Giant fans who will surely invade their turf on Sunday.

Broken hearts—probably.

Still, that line of 6 1/2 points, stares at us. Are the Buccaneers truly less than a touchdown away from these Giants?

And every once in a while in sports, the obvious is obviously wrong.

Sounds miraculous, doesn't it?