Tampa Bay Buccaneers Face Impressive Ravens: What Are Their Chances?

No patsy, no pushover, no softie, no cupcake.

The Baltimore Ravens are a 100 percent certified bunch of bone-crushers, bullies and probably are looking forward to their post-Thanksgiving meeting with those youthful, upstart Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday in the city named after Cecilius Calvert, the second Lord Baltimore.

The Ravens are as far from a "nobody" as you can get in the NFL. And the Bucs stand accused week after week of scoring victories over a dandy collection of NFL "nobodies."

The Ravens are somebody.

At the same time, they can be a confusing team. Consider these tidbits:

They lost to a lowly Cincinnati Bengals team in Week 2, 15-10, a team the Buccaneers disposed of. There you go, somebody got beat by nobody. It happens in the NFL, and fortunately, the Bucs haven't lost to a "nobody."

These "somebody" Ravens beat Cleveland at home by a touchdown in week three, 24-17.

These "somebody" Ravens barely beat the "nobody" Bills, 37-34, in Week 7.

There are also some resume-builders in the Ravens' win column, like the 17-14 win at Pittsburgh in Week 4, a one-point squeaker in Week 1 over the probably playoff-bound Jets, 10-9.

So which Raven team will be on the field Sunday?

If it's the Bengals bunch, these Bucs have a chance.

If it's the guys who lost at Atlanta, 26-21, these Bucs have a chance.

If it's the guys who gave up 34 points to then-winless Buffalo, these Bucs have a chance.

This will be no doubt the biggest challenge for the Buccaneer coaching staff.  Superb preparation is a must.

Buccaneer special teams will have to be extraordinarily special. Don't expect any 80-yard drives against this Ray Lewis-engineered defense.

Oh yes, then there's that lad named Ray Rice. Come on, run defense, meet the challenge and give Ray-Ray the Frank Gore treatment. That will be a supreme challenge and will let everyone know if Raheem Morris has come up with a run-stopping scheme.

The warm-up for the Ravens last week was a thumping of Carolina, a team that is being bullied by virtually everyone, including the Buccaneers.

So what are the chances?

The oddsmakers love the Ravens. They're anywhere from a touchdown favorite and has high as 11.

Fact is, the Bucs will have to win the turnover game. They'll need some help from Joe Flacco, who is solid but also beatable, and the Tampa secondary could fool him.

So while you recover from your turkey hangover, ponder the possibilities.

A road win in Baltimore will be very very hard to come by.

But then, who figured this team formed around a bunch of NFL infants would be 7-3 going into Lord Baltimore's city?