Tampa Bay Buccaneers Face Seattle Seahawks With a Faint Pulse

The Merry Christmas news for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers is the astonishing fact that they sit here before us ready for a MEANINGFUL game in late December.

After their pre-Christmas stumble at Raymond James last week, the playoff hopes are in emergency mode—the patient is weak, with barely a pulse.

A win against franchise brother Seattle is mandatory on Sunday. A real live MUST-win.

And here's a great day-after-Christmas gameplan: just give LeGarrette Blount the damn ball!

Pound 'em with the big boy, make 'em breathe hard.

There's not much you can say after that Detroit loss, especially since the Bucs got one of those "apology" letters from the league, telling Mark Dominik sorry, the offensive pass interference call on Kellen Winslow Jr. in the end zone was totally bogus and that, indeed, should have been a touchdown—the winning touchdown.

Sorry for your loss.

Sure, 9-5 would have sounded oh so very much better than 8-6. These Bucs need to saddle these Seahawks to insure that winning season, an AMAZING feat in and of itself.

Here we are with a game in December that means something. Who'da thunk it?

And if there is to be a winning season, it needs to happen on Sunday. The Bucs do not want to put themselves into a situation where they have to go on the road to the still powerful Saints to try and get a win.

Win-win in these last two and the Bucs get the improbable 10 wins that no one in their right frame of mind would have bet on last June.

Right now they're up against the Packers and the Giants for that last wild card.

And, oh yes, this would provide a sweep of that wonderful division called the NFC West.