Bucs face key game vs. Giants

Coach Jon Gruden says his 4-6 team is ready for a turnaround.
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) -- Jon Gruden perused the NFL standings and saw hope for his Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The Super Bowl champions take a 4-6 record into tonight's game against the New York Giants. But the Bucs' coach doesn't see any reason why his team can't overcome its poor start to get back to the playoffs.
"I'm shocked at the state of the league. There are a lot of teams that I think are very talented that are struggling," Gruden said.
"Nothing ever stays the same. You either get better or you get worse. Clearly, we've made a decline in the first 10 weeks of this season. We're confident ... that we can turn this thing around."
Close encounters
Despite ranking in the top 10 in offense and defense, Tampa Bay has lost two games in overtime and two more in the final two minutes of regulation. The Bucs also have accumulated more penalty yards through 10 games than they did all of last season.
Throw in a steady stream of injuries, plus the decision last week to deactivate star receiver Keyshawn Johnson for the remainder of the year, and it's been an extremely tough stretch for the defending champs.
"We have to stop being our own worst enemy," Bucs linebacker Derrick Brooks said. "It's not taking credit away from the teams that have beat us, but watching film there's things that we're doing ourselves that's costing us."
Three years removed from an appearance in the Super Bowl, the Giants (4-6) can identify with what the Bucs are going through in their quest to repeat. The season after losing to Baltimore in the NFL title game, New York went 7-9 and didn't make the playoffs.
Similar scenario
Coach Jim Fassel sounds like Gruden when he talks about the mistakes and inconsistency that have undermined the Giants, who have lost five of seven to damage their playoff prospects.
The New York coach said the woes of both teams show how difficult it is to maintain an edge in this era of free agency and the salary cap.
"In the NFC this year, the four teams leading it weren't even in the playoffs last year," Fassel said. "The combined records of the Super Bowl teams and the combined record of the playoff teams is a losing record. It is just the way it is. It has been that way for a while."