The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Detroit Lions combined to win seven games last season. Assuming they don't tie when they meet in Detroit, they'll surpass that total on Sunday.
That's the nature of the NFL. Except for the Patriots and Colts, what goes up usually comes down and vice versa.
The vice versa part is the Bucs (4-2) and the Lions (3-2).
"I try not to compare this team to last year. It's not fair to these guys," says Tampa Bay coach Jon Gruden, who has combined the old (Jeff Garcia, Derrick Brooks, Ronde Barber) with the new (rookie safety Tanard Jackson) to get his team to where it is. But it's mostly old: Garcia's favorite receivers are 35-year-old Joey Galloway and 31-year-old Ike Hilliard.
"We've got a whole new football team, honestly," Gruden says. "We've got a long way to go. But we do have enough grit, enough stuff inside our building to rise up, and I know we'll be there every Sunday and compete."
Injuries have cost the Bucs running back Carnell "Cadillac" Williams and left tackle Luke Petitgout for the season. Tampa traded for Michael Bennett on Tuesday and he'll back up Earnest Graham at running back.
Gruden's Bucs are a lot more consistent than the Lions, who were awful in their two losses, both to NFC East teams.
They allowed 56 points to the Eagles and were beaten 34-3 in Washington. But they also can be explosive, as they were in a 34-point fourth quarter against the Bears. And their receiving corps - Roy Williams, Mike Furrey, Shaun McDonald and rookie Calvin Johnson - is potentially as good as any in the NFL.
Nonetheless, the Lions seem better than any Detroit team since 2001, the year Matt Millen took over as president. Entering the season, they were 24-72 in the last six seasons.
But the consistency is still absent.
"We haven't leapfrogged to another level because you can't play good one week and get throttled the next," says the senior Lion, kicker Jason Hanson. "But we have put ourselves in a position where we're playing for something, so that should be an incentive. Getting throttled two times should tell us: `You thought you were good? Take another look.' We're still a team that is scratching and clawing."
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In other games Sunday, Atlanta is at New Orleans; Tennessee at Houston; Arizona at Washington; New England at Miami; Baltimore at Buffalo; San Francisco at the New York Giants; Kansas City at Oakland; the New York Jets at Cincinnati; St. Louis at Seattle; Minnesota at Dallas; Chicago at Philadelphia; and Pittsburgh at Denver.
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