So when we declared on Thursday night that we’d get the Preseason Power Rankings finished before the games start on Sunday, we promptly procrastinated.

Thus, we now have to get eight of them done in about 27 hours.

At No. 8, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Tempted as we are to just end it there and move on to No. 7, we probably should say some more.

Last season, the Bucs were widely overlooked, and quietly put together a solid year.  The NFC South winners gave the Super Bowl champs a pretty good game in the playoffs, losing ultimately by ten points.

The defense still has teeth, and rookie cornerback Aqib Talib adds a sense of freshness to this mix of old and young players like Derrick Brooks and Cato June and Ronde Barber and Barrett Ruud and Gaines Adams.

On offense, Jeff Garcia is one of the more underappreciated quarterbacks in the league, even though we still disagree with his decision to whine about his contract in the offseason.  Earnest Graham and Warrick Dunn will provide a solid one-two punch at tailback, and if Joey Galloway still has some spring in his step, the receivers could be better than expected, especially if Antonio Bryant gets it together.

Still, the sense we get is that folks are discounting the Bucs again this year.  And that’s probably fine with coach Jon Gruden.

Then again, he’s probably saying that “it’s a f–king bunch of f–king bullshit.  F–k.”