We had a great win over the Bucs on Sunday and now are heading into our bye week undefeated for the 3rd time in a row.  It's really a great accomplishment and one we don't take for granted.  The fact that we've gotten off to good starts can tend to minimize how tough it is to get on winning streaks like this in the NFL.  As I was watching the Sunday night game between Chicago and Green Bay it was pointed out that Brett Favre was trying to get to 5-0 for the first time in his career.  As many good teams as they've had, Green Bay had never had a 5-0 start with Favre.  So it put our last three years in great perspective for me.

 

The Tampa game was especially gratifying for me.  It's always fun to win against your old team but it was really a lot more than that.  Tampa was on a three game winning streak and playing well.  We had six regulars out and our young players really stepped up.  Our veterans didn't try to do too much in compensating and we  really played a sound, fundamental game.  Our defense got us off to a good start with a three and out.  Craphonso Thorpe, one of our young guys who was playing his first game, got a great punt return and our offense scored on our first drive.  That set the tone for the game and we never looked back.  Kenton Keith, Anthony Gonzalez and Tyjuan Hagler were other young starters who played very well.  Seeing your team respond to adversity is special. You think you know how they'll respond, but actually seeing it take place is great.  I thought one of the keys for us was Peyton Manning really allowing all the new guys to do their job.  He could have simply tried to take things into his own hands and throw exclusively to Dallas Clark and Reggie Wayne, but instead he just ran the offense and utilized everyone.  And the defense really did the same thing.

 

So now we have a week off to get some of our guys healthy and get ready for a big Monday night game with Jacksonville.  They took it to us last year and they are playing well right now.  The AFC South is going to be tough all year and we'll have a chance to put some distance between us and the rest of the pack.  If we win it will be like a two game lead because of the tie-breakers. I'm sure Jacksonville will want to bring us back into a tie, feeling it will be the only way to stop us from getting a big lead on the rest of the division.

 

But we will not worry too much about that this week.  I tell the team this is a time to recharge batteries and do a little self-analysis.  We won't spend any time on the Jaguars this week.  We'll have practice Wednesday and Thursday and then get away for the weekend.  I'm going to go down to Florida and spend some time with our kids at Disney or Busch Gardens.  Hopefully, I'll get some fishing in as well.  And I'll encourage everyone else to have some fun as well.  We'll have plenty of time to get ready for  Monday night.