(Ed. Note: This article was originally supposed to run with our friends on MSNBC.com, but we're not sure what happened to it. We'll consider it a holiday mix-up after too many egg-nog shooters. In any case, if some of this sounds familiar, it's because it's a compendium of some of the issues highlighted this week on ColdHardFootballFacts.com.)

 

The Cold, Hard Football Facts once again rip into the week’s biggest NFL issues with the same harsh, inevitable melancholy that a North Atlantic iceberg rips into the Titanic.

 

 

Have you heard of the Buccaneers? Probably not. They're this little team that plays in Tampa and generates all the national television exposure of the Ron Paul campaign.

 

Here's a Bucs primer: They’ve already clinched the NFC South title, with two games to play. At 9-5, they have the third best record in the NFC. They may be the No. 3 seed in the conference and very well could represent the NFC in the Super Bowl. And their defensive accomplishments this year are legion. Tampa ranks:

And for all these accomplishments as the undisputed defensive class of the NFL’s senior circuit? Tampa earns not a single Pro Bowler.

 

If you were to cite one Bucs player who deserves the honor, it’s Ruud, a third year middle linebacker out of Nebraska.

 

He’s the heart of Tampa’s classic 4-3 defense and among the league leaders in tackles (108). He’s tied for the league lead in turnovers by a linebacker (two INT, two fumble recoveries) and is among the league leaders with three forced fumbles. Bottom line: he’s the best player on the best defense in the NFC and among the league's top tacklers and defensive playmakers.

 

Nobody left off the Pro Bowl roster is more deserving of a trip to Honolulu in February. Of course, we're sure that he'd settle for a trip to Glendale.

 

 

San Diego’s playoff woes weigh on the franchise like Santa’s rosy rotund bottom weighs on a one-horse open sleigh. The Chargers have not won a playoff game since their Super Bowl season of 1994. And it’s this futility in the postseason that caused GM A.J. Smith to panic and fire head coach Marty Schottenheimer after a one-and-done playoff performance last year, on the heels of a 14-2 season, the best mark in franchise history. No coach has ever been canned after such an amazing regular-season record, proving that the organization is obsessed with some semblance of postseason success.

 

For San Diego it’s pretty easy: win its remaining games against Denver (Christmas Eve) and Oakland, and they capture the No. 3 seed and, in all likelihood, host a defensively challenged Cleveland team. It would be a game the Chargers should win. Of course, the Chargers were also favored at home over the Jets in the 2004 playoffs and at home over the Patriots in the 2006 playoffs. They lost both games.

 

Should San Diego stumble somewhere over its final two games and fall to the No. 4 seed, that first playoff opponent would probably be a scary Jacksonville club that just rolled the Steelers in Pittsburgh.

 

A game against the Jaguars would spell trouble for the Chargers and, in all likelihood, another disappointing home playoff loss.

Icy Issue: Which off-season move is proving to bear the most fruit here in the playoff harvest season?

 

Del Rio shocked the football world when, days before the start of the 2007 season, he dumped Leftwich, the former No. 1 pick and face of the franchise, and rolled his dice with journeyman Garrard.

 

The Cold, Hard Football Facts applauded the decision then and – much like Del Rio and Jaguars fans in general – have not been disappointed.

 

The Jaguars are 10-4 and well positioned to wrap up a playoff spot this weekend with a home win over Oakland. If not for a four-point loss in Indy a couple weeks ago, the Jaguars would be a fighting for a No. 2 seed and first-round bye.

 

Garrard is the singular force behind the resurrection of a team that went just 8-8 last year. Jacksonville's defense was actually much tougher last year, when it ranked No. 2 in total defense and No. 4 in scoring defense. This year's Jaguars rank a mere No. 14 in total defense and No. 8 in scoring defense.

 

But Garrard has played well enough to overcome any decline on the other side of the ball.

 

His passer rating of 101.6 is second in the NFL, behind only New England's Tom Brady. He's thrown just two picks in 307 pass attempts, a rate of 0.65 percent, the second-lowest single-season rate in NFL history. And his completion percentage of 64.2 is better than notable quarterbacks (and 2007 Pro Bowlers) Peyton Manning and Matt Hasselbeck. All from a guy in his first full year as an NFL starter.

 

Bottom line: no team made a gutsier move before the start of the season than Jacksonville. And no team has been rewarded more handsomely for a controversial decision.