Cadillac Williams and the Buccaneer running game will play a key role if they wish to have any success against the undefeated Saints on Sunday.

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The road is long. The season is tough and the competition, fierce. And when the Saints come marching into Tampa Bay on Sunday, it won’t get any easier.

So how do you beat those Saints, anyway?

Well, we can’t ask anyone who has faced them this year, because none have succeeded. The Saints may know, but I doubt they’d share with us. And the Buccaneers have hardly drafted a foolproof formula for victory in their 2009 campaign, so I’ve called upon Captain Obvious to aid in the discussion.

"Run the football," says Obvious, "and when the play is over, get up and run it again."

Thank you, my wise friend. You are truly a cornucopia of strategical knowledge. After all, wasn’t that the plan from the beginning of the year? A three-headed rushing attack led by a resurgent Cadillac Williams with Derrick Ward and Earnest Graham not far behind to keep fresh legs in the game for a full 60 minutes?

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More photos » by Steve Nesius - AP

Tampa Bay Buccaneers cornerback Aqib Talib ponders how the Buccaneer defense will stop the high-powered New Orleans offense on Sunday. (AP Photo/Steve Nesius)

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Well, we certainly have Aqib Talib covered well here on Buc'Em this week!!!  Talib will have a major role in the Buccaneer defensive scheme come Sunday: blanket the big, explosive go-to WR Marques Colston.  So far this season, sticking to opposing #1 WRs hasn't been a problem for Aqib.  He's stayed with Randy Moss, Terrell Owens, Steve Smith, and Santana Moss pretty well. 

Let's take a look at some video highlights Niko put together:

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This series has had its share of surprises. a bit of surprise when we handled the Saints week 2 of 2007, of the brilliant last second win at the Superdome with a Jon Gruden GO FOR IT on 4th down. Last second losses to spoil Bruce Gradkowski's debut, and Brian Griese's heroics to replace Chris Simms' first start...

Relive them all Right here!

Enemy Flashback Saints from Bucs Videos on Vimeo.

More photos » by Hans Deryk - AP

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Here we go again Bucs' fans. Thank you to all that participated in the contest last week. We had lots of funny captions to choose from, with Craig T winning by quite a large margin after all was said and done. Don't be discouraged if you didn't win. Keep trying! Once again, the prize will be the Bucs' game of the winner's choice on DVD, which will be provided by Niko.

Please enter your caption into the comments section below. If you think a caption is funny, simply "Rec" it by clicking on "actions". The top five most Rec'd comments will go to the 2nd round for poll voting on Monday. Remember, it's perfectly fine to enter more than one caption, or Rec more than one entry.

All captions must fall within the Buc'Em community guidelines. Again, we want you be funny, but not offensive. If you have a question on whether or not your caption is acceptable, please email myself or Niko and we will let you know.

Good luck!

The Bucs offensive line got the first piece of good news in awhile on Tuesday.  That news was that Arron Sears would be returning to the team.  A key component to our young line, Sears was going to be counted on heavily in 2009.  But he disappeared from the team in a story that still hasn't completely unfolded.  The Bucs OL turned to Zuttah to fill the gap, who has done an admirable job, but the line as a whole has not performed well. 

Some of this may be attributed to the new zone blocking scheme that has been installed.  Other teams that took on this endeavour for the first time have said it takes about half a season to get comfortable with the blocking change.  That would be right about now, except the Bucs have quietly moved away from the scheme.  Jeff Faine has been quoted as saying they've (the OL) have moved to more of a man up system.  The scheme is still split with some downs utilizing the zone scheme and others the man scheme, but all this change and lack of commitment probably won't serve the team well.

Through Week 10 (9 games), how has the OL compared to it's peers?  Hit the jump and lets find out.

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saints

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You can check out my convo with Dave over at their SB Nation blog site and see what He asked  Me and what I answered, as well as checking out their comments!

Here we go...

Niko: Its pretty well accepted the Saints of 2009 are better because of improved defense. What do you think are the biggest changes on defense that have helped?

DAVE: Most of it has to do with Gregg Williams. He has completely changed the culture of this defense as a whole and gets a lot more out of the defense than former coordinator Gary Gibbs ever did. Williams' defense emphasizes blitzing, turnovers and populating the ball; all in an aggressive manner. Former defensive coordinator Gary Gibbs ran a very plain scheme but Williams has proven these guys are capable of so much more, and runs many different schemes including both the 4-3 and 3-4.

That's not to say the off-season acquisition of players like Darren Sharper and Jabari Greer haven't proved to be genius. Those two alone have made a huge difference. But I still think the coaching and culture change is the more overriding factor. 

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More photos » by Alex Brandon - AP

Cornerback Aqib Talib hauls in one of his three interceptions against the Redskins. Talib is tied for third in the NFL with five picks on the season.

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There was a time when having the first overall pick in the NFL draft was a big deal. An age where first-round picks were like gold to some teams because, more often than not, it was as close to a sure thing as you could get. An era in which the focus was less on contracts and incentives than it was about the opportunity for a young man to realize his dream of playing professional football.

That was then.

Now, in an NFL focused on signing bonuses and guaranteed money, it’s getting increasingly difficult to judge talent. Just ask Raiders’ owner Al Davis. He’s stuck with JaMarcus Russell and Darrius Heyward-Bey, two top-ten draft picks who have produced only two touchdowns this season, hooking-up just six times. Combined, they will receive $55.5 million in guaranteed money from their rookie contracts, more money than the average American family will gross in their lifetime.

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Vizio.com has a sports site that will be showing an interview with Ronde Barber all across the National and Regional Fox Sports (FSN) networks. These videos are done by Vizio Pro Football Profiles and we have a small preview here...

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More photos » by Jeffry M Boan - AP

Now in his 13th season with the Bucs, Ronde continues to do what he does best; make plays, and Touchdowns.

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I think the majority of Bucs fans besides myself got it right; The Bucs would stink this year. Which really doesnt explain the up in arms behavior if everyone knew it was going to happen...but other than this one blogger who has Pewter, Red, and Orange tinted sunglasses, the majority got it right when it came to the Bucs. On the otherhand, I did predict the Redskins and Seahawks would completely stink up the joint. I also predicted the end of the Colts, but that was before I found out OC Moore was coming back. Still, the Colts are as far from the 8-8 prediction as our Bucs are.

STREAKS; The Atlanta Falcons have NEVER put together back to back winning seasons in their History. In the early part of the season, that looked smashable, but now Atlanta is sitting at  5-4 with two games to play against the Bucs. 

Another crazy streak had to be slightly altered last year, but since its inception in 2002, the Celler Dweller of the NFC South has turned around the next year and made the playoffs (It used to be 'won the division' until Atlanta made the wild card last year instead of winning the division, after finishing deal last in 2007). 

Of course this bodes well for Bucs fans as we are dead last and would be expected to make the playoffs next year if the streak continues. Superstitious or not, there is no denying the streak which now is 7 years old and going strong. Before you offer up the 'last place schedule' explanation you either just came up with or heard on the radio or TV, understand those 'Last Place' games consist of.......2.  Thats right, the Bucs will get two games next year against the last place teams of the NFC North(Detroit?) and East (Washington?) that will be added to playing the NFC West (weak) and AFC North (not so weak) divisions next year.  Stay Tuned....

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Despite a few more truthful than we like to admit negatives, the Ray Jay scored as awesome as the best stadiums out there.

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Lets get right to it, because our first Bucshot is a stadium judging site I found that gave a great but yet realistically uncomplimentary opinion about at least one criteria of going to a Bucs game.

Check it out for yourself on StadiumJourney.com, where they did a nice review of Raymond James Stadium. All the NFL sites are not complete, but the Baseball ones are. Believe it or not, they praise the Trop! Check that out and leave your opinions!!

By now you know, but here is the SP Times piece on returning Aaron Sears! Welcome back!

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