TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Bye Week Good As A Win

ADVERTISEMENT

By ROY CUMMINGS, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 13, 2007

Updated: 11/12/2007 11:56 pm

TAMPA - Some bye week for the Bucs, huh? Not only did they come back recharged and refocused, they also came back reaffirmed as the team to beat in the NFC South.

Four days away from football did the former for them. Losses by Carolina and New Orleans on Sunday did the latter, leaving Tampa Bay a full game ahead of its nearest rivals in the race for the NFC South title.

"It's like we won games over the bye week," receiver Michael Clayton said. "Now we control our own destiny."

Not really. Fate, which already has thrown the Bucs a few crushing uppercuts, still could deliver a knockout blow. Imagine, for example, what would happen if quarterback Jeff Garcia went down.

Paul Hackett, the Bucs quarterbacks coach, has imagined such a scenario. He doesn't believe it's an overstatement to suggest such a loss could cripple the Bucs.

"We are where we are today because of that guy," Hackett said of Garcia. "The two games where he turned the ball over and didn't play well, look what happened. We lost them both."

The Bucs have recovered nicely from those two losses, going from half a game down in the NFC South race to a game up. They might not recover so well should Garcia go down.

That's a belief held universally at One Buc Place. That's why there will be an increased emphasis on keeping the 37-year-old Garcia healthy the second half of the season.

The emphasis won't come from the playbook. The play-calling and protection schemes won't be altered. What will be altered, the Bucs hope, is the way Garcia finishes off some of his scrambles.

As inspiring as his head-first dives for first downs and touchdowns are, the Bucs would really like to see Garcia eliminate them from his repertoire. Teammates and coaches alike intend to tell him so.

"I'm going to have to sit down and talk to him, because he's really starting to scare me," receiver Ike Hilliard said in the wake of the Bucs' pre-bye-week victory over Arizona.

"I know that's the way he plays, but when he's running around diving head first, it scares the expletive out of me. I mean, we need him. We need him to stay healthy and make those plays for us."

Hackett and Gruden also intend to talk to Garcia. Their message won't be anything Garcia hasn't heard before. Both coaches have been preaching safer foot-first slides all season long.

"Every game it's the same thing - be careful, be smart," Hackett said. "But the competitive level he plays at on Sunday is just so incredible. When the game starts, he goes; he's a tiger.

"So it's like he remembers it for a short period of time, but eventually he just reacts because that's his game. And he's been doing it for 15 year, so it's hard to get him to change."

Hard? It may be impossible. Though he acknowledges the danger he's putting himself in and claims to understand how dire the consequences could be for him and his team, Garcia says he's not apt to change his approach.

"That's my game," said the quarterback, who probably needed the bye week as much as anyone.

It's not that he came out of the first half battered and bruised (Gruden, in fact, said he believed Garcia could have continued playing without a break.). It's just that Garcia's workload this year has been greater than any he's shouldered in at least three years.

Garcia already has started and played in more games this year than he did last year or in 2005. Assuming he stays healthy, he soon will surpass the number of starts he made for the Browns in 2004 and for the 49ers in 2003.

That is cause for concern, too, but the Bucs are encouraged by the fact that, according to Hackett, Garcia has not complained of arm fatigue or any other serious physical problems.

"So far we've done a pretty good job as far as keeping him clean, keeping him healthy," Gruden said. "But he's a guy that does play recklessly; that's his style. All we can do is hope for the best, because we certainly do need him."

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

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT