Josh Freeman has looked great for the better part of a month. Doug Martin seems to be getting it. And Tampa Bay’s run defense is right there with the best in the NFL. When the Bucs destroyed Minnesota last week, it put Tampa in a position to end the first half of the season at 4-4 and spend the second half chasing a playoff spot.

Fans talking playoffs may be jumping the gun a bit, but this team is on the right track, says Steve Isbitts, co-founder of JoeBucsFan.com.

“Sober, reasoned Bucs fans are largely happy this season is playing out as expected with encouraging, inconsistent football,” he says. “Look for the Bucs to continue to be very physical and explosive with mixed results. This is a .500 team on the right track. Nothing more. Nothing less.”

Isbitts joined Zoneblitz as our celebrity guest blogger for the week. He follows Barrett Walton from the Texans Bull Blog, who scored a 9-5 record in week eight. That tied with Tony. Both were two games behind my 11-3 record – which was good enough to overtake Tony and jump into second place for the season. I’m comin’!!!

Week Eight Season
Celebrity Bloggers 9-5 75-43
Andy 11-3 73-45
Tony 9-5 72-46

So here are the picks for week nine.

Thursday, November 1 Tony Andy @JoeBucsFan
Kansas City @ San Diego San Diego San Diego Kansas City
Sunday, November 4
Denver @ Cincinnati Denver Denver Cincinnati
Baltimore @ Cleveland Baltimore Baltimore Cleveland
Arizona @ Green Bay Green Bay Green Bay Green Bay
Chicago @ Tennessee Chicago Chicago Chicago
Miami @ Indianapolis Indianapolis Miami Indianapolis
Carolina @ Washington Washington Washington Washington
Detroit @ Jacksonville Detroit Detroit Jacksonville
Buffalo @ Houston Houston Houston Houston
Tampa Bay @ Oakland Tampa Bay Tampa Bay Tampa Bay
Minnesota @ Seattle Seattle Seattle Seattle
Pittsburgh @ NY Giants New York Giants New York Giants New York Giants
Dallas @ Atlanta Atlanta Atlanta Atlanta
Monday, November 5
Philadelphia @ New Orleans Philadelphia Philadelphia New Orleans

Game of the Week: There aren’t a lot of real big games this week. I can’t say there are any where I’m going to suddenly call up DirecTV to re-order the NFL Sunday Ticket. I’m intrigued a bit by Denver @ Cincinnati, largely because I think the AFC North is up for grabs due to age and injury and because I think Denver is about to run away with the AFC West. I am curious to see if Dallas can knock off Atlanta in the Georgia Dome, but I would be highly surprised if it happens. Miami’s game in Indianapolis has a surprising amount of intrigue, but I’m not sure either team is really ready to make any kind of a major run this year. So, I’ll go with Pittsburgh @ New York Giants as the game of the week. Both are potential playoff teams, though Pittsburgh just seems to be getting old. It would have been a better matchup a couple years ago but it’s as entertaining a contest as there is on this week’s docket.

Game of the Weak: Take your pick. Thursday night games generally aren’t that bad, but Norv Turner’s sinking ship in San Diego hosting the stunningly bad Chiefs is a dog. Washington is showing some promise but I’ve been saying all season that they are a year away. The Panthers are further off, so that game is right up there for snoozers. The Monday nighter between Philadelphia and New Orleans pits two hugely disappointing teams against each other, but it should at least be an entertaining offensive game. So I think I’ll take Detroit @ Jacksonville as the biggest dud amongst a weekend full of them.

To see our best bets for the week, click here.