Bucs make statement

Now that is how you take control of a division.

You come off the bye week and throttle a team that appeared to be heading in the right direction after two consecutive wins.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers did that Sunday with a convincing 31-7 win at Atlanta.
The Bucs are now 6-4 and have a two-game lead in the NFC South over Carolina and New Orleans, who both dropped to 4-6 with losses Sunday.

Carolina has issues at quarterback, and New Orleans is streaky, having lost four, won four and now lost two straight. That’s the type of inconsistency that leads a team home in January.

The Bucs still have two of their next three on the road, but all of the six remaining games are winnable.

Unless something major goes wrong – like (gasp!) an injury to quarterback Jeff Garcia – the Bucs should sail to the division title and return to the playoffs.