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Bucs Beat: Garcia Worthy Of MVP Chatter

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 18, 2007

ATLANTA - OK, so you didn't pick the Bucs to win the NFC South. There's no shame in that. Hardly anyone did. That's part of what makes their status as division pace-setters so remarkable.

No one saw this coming; that is, no one with a truly objective viewpoint.

The Bucs are the NFL's 2007 Cinderella story. Their glass slipper, if you will, is quarterback Jeff Garcia. Without him, the Bucs are nothing more than a young team with potential.

So why isn't Garcia being mentioned along with Patriots QB Tom Brady, Packers QB Brett Favre and Colts QB Peyton Manning as a candidate for NFL MVP?

Bucs quarterbacks coach Paul Hackett said it best last week. He said the Bucs wouldn't be where they are today were it not for Garcia. Anyone who has watched them this year knows that's not an overstatement.

Supporters of the other candidates will argue that it's not an overstatement to suggest the Patriots, Packers and Colts wouldn't be where they are were it not for Brady, Favre and Manning.

Point taken. All have had fine seasons; all are invaluable members of their teams; all deserve to be mentioned as candidates for the NFL's highest single-season individual honor. So does Garcia.

None of the aforementioned MVP candidates and none of the other players offered up as such (Pittsburgh QB Ben Roethlisberger, Patriots WR Randy Moss) have done what Garcia has done this year.

None, for example, plays for a team that put 12 players, including three of its offensive starters, on the injured reserve list before the first half of the season was up.

None plays behind an offensive line that has just one seasoned veteran and is made up of a rookie left tackle, a rookie left guard and second-year pros at right guard and right tackle.

None has spent the majority of this season turning around and handing the ball off to a third-string tailback and a third-string fullback, all the while learning a new offense.

None went nine games without throwing an interception, none has thrown fewer interceptions than the three Garcia has thrown and none has played in more games in which he has not thrown an interception than Garcia has.

And while Favre may have come close on occasion, it seems unlikely that any of the other MVP candidates has pumped up his defense more or completely energized his team the way Garcia has.

Garcia has breathed new life into the Bucs. He has reshaped the attitude of the offense, reshaped the playbook and reshaped the way the coaching staff maps out game plans.

He is easily the Bucs' most valuable player. While that doesn't automatically make you a league MVP candidate, being the engine behind the kind of surprise run the Bucs are enjoying should make you one.

The Bucs may not be anyone's best bet to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl this season. As the leaders in the NFC South, they have to be involved in the conversation.

The biggest reason they are in that conversation, perhaps the only reason they're in that conversation, is Garcia. It seems logical, then, that he be included in the conversation about MVP candidates as well.

GOTTA LIKE IKE: Joey Galloway is the receiver Bucs opponents have to game-plan for. He's the one with all the speed, all the home-run potential and most of the big catches.

We say most because Galloway enters today's game ranked second on the Bucs in catches with 38. The player ahead of him is Ike Hilliard, who is having just as big a season as Galloway.

Though Galloway leads Bucs pass catchers with five touchdown receptions, Hilliard has arguably done just as much, if not more, to get the Bucs into the end zone.

Hilliard's 29 receptions for first downs are eight more than Galloway's total. With 46 catches overall, the percentage of his catches that have resulted in first downs is also greater than Galloway's.

Not that this is anything new. Since coming to the Bucs in 2005, Hilliard consistently has come up big in the clutch, catching 72 of 115 passes (63 percent) for first downs.

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