Defense happens at the end of the season and we saw some of that in Week 14 from several teams, notably Oakland and Tampa Bay.

Early in the season you get a lot of big plays on special teams (and there was more of that this past weekend), and then the offenses kind of have their way in the middle of the season. But at this time of the year, the teams that are going to do well are usually the ones that are playing well defensively.

	Greg Spires and the Bucs defense slowed down Michael Vick and Co.

You need the whole combination of defense, offense and special teams at the end of the season and there are some teams that have that going for 'em right now.

Now is also the time when you can start looking at who is the best team or teams in the league and it means something. It didn't mean anything in September or October and it started to mean a little bit in November, but now that we're in December it does mean something.

When you look at the teams that are currently playing the best, it's probably the Raiders in the AFC and the Buccaneers in the NFC.

Having said that, that doesn't give those teams anything. There aren't any awards given out for how you're playing in the second week in December. What it does mean, however, is if those teams keep playing the way they are and they keep getting better every week and they stay healthy -- and that's a big thing -- then they could be the two Super Bowl teams. But there are a lot of other teams that will have something to say about that.

Oakland's playing well on defense and stopping the run, and it's important to be able to do that at this time of the season. The Raiders were able to keep San Diego's LaDainian Tomlinson down on Sunday and that was a big thing for them in winning that game. Offensively, Rich Gannon's having a super year and he has those veteran guys at wide receiver in Jerry Rice and Tim Brown. Jerry Porter's another receiver that Gannon has to throw the ball to and is a talented guy. Running back Charlie Garner brings a lot of speed to that team, too.

The underrated area of that offense, to me, is the line. When you look at Gannon and the great things he's doing, he's doing it with a clean uniform and clean feet. He can step up and hold and read and go through his progressions and all those things, and a big reason why is because of his offensive line. They've given him great pass protection this season.

Tampa Bay proved that if you have a speedy defense, you can contain a guy like Michael Vick, even though he runs with so much speed. That Bucs' defense just seems to know how to do that and they play Vick well. And not only do they play him well, but when you look at that defense, generally they play everyone well. The only things that seem to get to them are a power running game and a game at a cold-weather site. They do still have trouble with that.

They're very athletic, very fast and they all tackle well. Big, ol' Warren Sapp always seems to get a good push up the middle and guys like Simeon Rice and Derrick Brooks are playing good football this season.

Brad Johnson threw four touchdown passes in his team's win over Atlanta and he looks like he's getting more comfortable each week with Jon Gruden's offense. He's played really well over the last month or so for Tampa Bay.