Tampa Bay Bucs at the Carolina Panthers (UPDATE: PANTHERS WIN 38-23)

To say tonight’s game between the Bucs and the Cats is huge would be an understatement. Both of them sit tied at the top of the competitive NFC South, and whoever wins tonight will not only get the right to claim first place in their division, but their playoff hopes will be a lot more clear. Not only that, but the Cats are looking for revenge after getting trounced by Tampa Bay 27-3 back in mid-October. That game was on Bucs turf, though, and Carolina – like all other NFC South teams this year, has not lost a division game at home. Let us hope that the trend of home turf wins continues tonight.

This rivalry has gotten so heated (and in some cases, comical) that it is being billed as “Chucky vs. Freddy” in apparent reference to TB Coach Jon “Chucky” Gruden referring to Panthers WR Steve Smith as “a nightmare … He’s like Freddy Krueger. He scares the hell out of me. Every film I pick up, he’s brilliant.”

It’s unclear whether or not Panthers guard Jeremy Bridges, arrested for the second time this season last night after turning himself in on charges of simple assault and battery and making threats at a local restaurant, will start tonight. My money says he’ll be sidelined/suspended courtesy of Coach Fox.

The game starts at 8:30 ET tonight (on cable channel ESPN – or on DirecTV channel 206), but earlier today fans already started tailgating well in advance of kick-off time, and reports are tonight that traffic in uptown Charlotte is heavy duty (more so than normal, apparently). And yes, it will be cold at BOA Stadium.

I’m going to go cook some dinner, and take care of a little more “woman’s work” – I’ll be back before the game starts.

Update – 11:44 PM: It feels great to be atop the NFC South Panthers win 38-23. Tampa’s got the easier schedule ahead of them. Ours is going to be tough. If we can win our three remaining games against the Broncs (home), Giants (away), and Saints (away), we’ll win home field advantage in the playoffs. That’s a big “if.”