The matchup

Tiki Barber, NBC Sports: I think Tampa did a service to Jeff Garcia by starting Brian Griese over him and he came back with a sense of urgency. I think he's their guy, but the team had started to lose confidence in him and he needed this kind of spark.

Matt Ufford, With Leather: The Seahawks, preseason favorites to win the NFC West for the fifth consecutive year, have suffered an embarrassing implosion borne from injuries and substandard coaching.  The wide receiver corps, once depleted of its top six receivers, is still starting a collection of has-beens, never-wuzzes, and Bobby Engram.  Matt Hasselbeck is injured, and Seattle will start either Charlie Frye or a hobbled Seneca Wallace.  And if Wallace can’t elude defenders with his speed, he may as well be Charlie Frye.

Seattle’s defense, which featured four Pro Bowl starters last year, has been hamstrung by rookie Lawrence Jackson’s difficulty adjusting to NFL linemen, the all-around awfulness of free safety Brian Russell, and some suspect formations by defensive coordinator John Marshall.

What are Tampa Bay’s strengths?  It doesn’t particularly matter.  The team that Seattle puts out there will look like a preseason lineup, with shoddy special teams (see the Week 1 loss in Buffalo) and a lame-duck coach whose playoff aspirations have been essentially erased.

Filling in for Madden

Cris Collinsworth, NBC Sports: Nobody has meant more to me in my broadcastcareer than John Madden. He taught me how to watch the game as broadcaster. He has treated my family as his own. He even asked me to be the voice of Madden '09. I'm thrilled that I can finally do something for him after all he has done for me.

Prediction

Ufford: I suppose there’s a chance that the Bucs can make enough mistakes to lose the game, but as a die-hard Seahawks fan I’ll only be watching out of morbid curiosity.  Wait, this is the NBC website?  Oh.  Well, uh, should be a great game!  Be sure to tune in!