Joe firmly believes Sunday’s game in New Orleans could shape Bucs history.

No, Joe isn’t hopped up on egg nog and too much Caybrew.

Playing the top team in the conference on the road (New Orleans), when that team desperately needs the victory for home field advantage in the playoffs, is the ultimate opportunity for Bucs management to evaluate the team as a whole and its respective offensive and defensive units.

And that evaluation is very likely to go a long way toward shaping offseason decisions.

Scary. … Especially if you’re of the mind that Mark Dominik and co. are not exactly top notch talent evaluators. 

Now Joe watches lots of NFL Network, (and do treat yourself to it this Christmas) and Joe has seen replays and film breakdowns of the Saints’ recent games. They haven’t been pretty. The 4-10 Redskins sure looked like the better team in the Skins-Saints game a couple of weeks ago.

Jeff Duncan, a Saints writer for the Times Picayune, served up a damning, detailed report on the Saints performance over their past three games.

The past three weeks, the Saints have not run the ball effectively, have been shaky on special teams and haven’t been able to stop anyone consistently, especially through the air.

Since crushing the Patriots last month, the Saints have morphed from juggernaut to jugger…not.

The Rule of Three appears to be in effect with the Saints: Once is unlucky, twice is a coincidence and three times is a trend.

Reading the entire article, Joe mustered a faint glimmer of hope the Bucs could go to The Big Easy and pull out a victory.

Joe also still hopes Rachel Watson will come down the chimney.