Indianapolis Colts vs Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Bucs Don't Prove Much in Win

It wasn't pretty, but they got the job done.

I feel like I can take that statement and apply it to each and every one of the wins the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have racked up since the start of the 2010 season, and their 24-17 victory over the Indianapolis Colts on Monday Night Football definitely makes the grade.

Indeed, it wasn't pretty. The Bucs went into the half trailing 10-7, and they needed a late touchdown run from LeGarrette Blount to actually finish the Colts off.

In retrospect, the weird part is that the game ended up being that close. The Bucs dominated the stat sheet, as they held the Colts to 318 yards while racking up 466 of their own. Blount was responsible for the bulk of those, rushing for 127 yards on 25 carries. Josh Freeman also had a typical Josh Freeman game, which is a good thing. He completed 25 of his 39 passes for 287 yards and a touchdown, and added another touchdown on the ground.

The reason the game was close was because Curtis Painter had the good fortune of finding Pierre Garcon at the right time and place. And he did it twice, as Painter hit Garcon for touchdowns of 87 and 59 yards.

So if you wanted to, you could look at Monday night's game and file it under "not as close as the final score would indicate." Goodness knows that file is already getting to be pretty thick.

The Bucs will take it either way, of course. They needed a win to keep pace with the New Orleans Saints in the NFC South, and they got it. The quality of the win doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things.

This is true, but I think we can all agree that the Bucs aren't making it easy on themselves. A team as good as they are should have been able to blow a team as bad as the Colts out of the water. Instead, the Bucs damn well could have lost. There are no disasters this early in the season, but a loss like that would have come pretty close.

Don't get me wrong; none of this is to suggest that the Bucs aren't a good team. They are. My issue is that they've been toeing the line between good and elite for a while now, and they seem forever hesitant to take that next step.

It could happen, but the exact opposite is just as likely at this point. With the Colts safely in the rear-view mirror, the Bucs are about to begin a very tough stretch that will see them play at San Francisco, vs New Orleans and vs Chicago. This stretch won't necessarily make Tampa Bay's season, but it could certainly break it.

The Bucs are good enough to come out the other end no worse for wear. Either way, it's not going to be pretty. That's just not their style.