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For Gruden, Garcia Is The Missing Link

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By ROY CUMMINGS, The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 11, 2007

TAMPA - They won without him - twice, if you count the game against Washington, which he watched mostly from the sideline after injuring his back.

Still, the Bucs missed quarterback Jeff Garcia.

Mostly they missed his awareness, that alarm inside his head that seems to go off when a pass rusher begins to bear down on him.

Luke McCown doesn't have that awareness. It showed during the Bucs' victory against the Saints, who sacked him three times, including once for a safety. It showed Sunday during their loss to the Texans, who sacked him four times.

Coach Jon Gruden says the Bucs need that awareness. That's one of the reasons Garcia will be back behind center when they face the Falcons at Raymond James Stadium on Sunday.

"We really missed him for those three games," Gruden said of Garcia, who has been nursing a back injury since he was hit just above the kidney on the first play from scrimmage against Washington.

"We're eager to get him back and have him healthy and ready to go play the way he's proving he likes to play - aggressive, creative and competitively. He'll give us a lot of lift."

He also should give them the awareness Gruden craves. On average this year, Garcia is taking a sack once every 20 times he drops back to pass. McCown, on the other hand, is taking a sack once every 9.7 times he drops back.

That penchant McCown has for holding the ball a little too long nearly cost the Bucs during their 27-23 victory at New Orleans, and it definitely cost them during their 28-14 loss to Houston.

"There was a second-and-1 play in the first half that resulted in a sack, where the ball has to be gone," Gruden said. "And late in the game at the 5- or 6-yard line, step up in the pocket, run or throw it away immediately."

The latter play to which Gruden referred resulted in a sack and helped keep the Bucs from cutting into the Texans' two-score lead when there was still time to possibly tie the game.

Overall, Gruden said he was pleased with the way McCown stepped in for the injured Garcia. He said he was especially impressed with his athleticism and poise, and he believes McCown's future is very promising.

"Clearly, there were seven or eight plays in the game Sunday that weren't as good as the others, but I'm really pleased with what he's done," Gruden said. "He's moved our football team. We've made a lot of first downs.

"I still think there's plenty of room to grow, but what I think we all see is a big, athletic guy who has promise and has potential to be outstanding, and I think that's been obvious in the last two football games."

McCown completed 54 of 75 passes for 579 yards and two touchdowns and turned over the ball on an interception against the Saints and on a fumble against the Texans during his two-game starting stint.

And while he often hesitated to unload the ball or run with it, he also displayed a unique ability to make something out of nothing when plays in front of him broke down.

"You are dealing with a guy who has explosive athletic ability, who can scramble and create," Gruden said. "But that is an area that Luke needs to show improvement, and I'm confident he will do that."

The Bucs, meanwhile, should improve immediately with the return of a healthy Garcia on Sunday.

Garcia was close to healthy last weekend but was listed as questionable for the second straight week because his medical staff said he needed two full weeks to recover and Gruden didn't want to risk Garcia re-injuring himself.

"He probably could have gone in New Orleans because he's tough as hell," Gruden said. "But the injury needed two weeks to heal, and we feel we did the right thing. The idea was to let the injury get better and, hopefully, we don't have to ever address this question again starting this Wednesday."

Meanwhile, the Bucs still must address on Wednesday the injury wide receiver Ike Hilliard suffered at Houston. Though the Bucs initially said it was a shoulder injury, they are now saying it is an upper back injury.

Gruden, who has come under fire in some circles for supposedly being vague about Garcia's injury, did not offer specifics about Hilliard's injury. But he said he expects him to play against Atlanta.

Hilliard, whose 58 receptions lead the team, appeared briefly in the locker room on Monday but did not stop to answer questions from the media, saying only "I'm good" as he walked back out of the locker room.

Reporter Roy Cummings can be reached at (813) 259-7979 or rcummings@tampatrib.com.

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