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Garcia A Man Of Opportunity

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By ROY CUMMINGS, The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 9, 2007

Updated: 09/09/2007 12:11 am

SEATTLE - Jon Gruden swears he did his homework. He swears he studied the tape. Maybe he just didn't study it long enough.

Whatever the reason, Gruden wasn't all that impressed by what he saw on tape of a Calgary Stampeders quarterback named Jeff Garcia when he first looked at it nine years ago. And if what he saw on tape didn't impress him, then there was no way Gruden was going to be wowed by anything Garcia did during the tryout Gruden eventually gave him.

'I'm not the kind of guy who is going to step off a plane and impress you with how I look in a one-on-one workout,' Garcia said.

When that workout for the Raiders ended, Gruden, then the Oakland coach, thanked Garcia for his time, shook his hand and turned his attention back to Rich Gannon, the quarterback he had signed a few days earlier.

Gruden doesn't necessarily regret the decision. He did have a pretty good run with Gannon, and he does have a Super Bowl ring with the Bucs. He acknowledges, though, he made a mistake in 1999 when Garcia eventually signed with San Francisco.

'We screwed it up by not signing him,' said Gruden, who has been longing for another chance to hook up with Garcia almost since he watched him walk away from that tryout.

The reason is simple. When he's holed up inside the darkened office he calls his 'laboratory,' a room where the only light comes from the screen tied to his computer, Gruden concocts plays for a quarterback like Garcia. He doesn't necessarily have the arm strength or the size Gruden wants in a quarterback, but Garcia does have competitiveness and toughness, and he can improvise better than a comedian working The Comedy Store.

That's what Gruden likes most - Garcia's ability to ad-lib. As he proved during the preseason, he's a QB who can make plays with his arm as well as his feet. And he often makes plays out of nothing. That could be a key today when the Bucs open the season on the road against Seattle.

'I scored a touchdown in Miami because he made a play,' receiver Joey Galloway said, referring to a 26-yard TD pass Garcia made while running out of bounds and away from pressure in the third exhibition game.

'That's what's different about him. He scrambles and finds a way, so when he's in there, we're going to have to stay alive, because plays are going to last longer with him.'

The Bucs are hoping their drives last longer with Garcia, too. That will be a sign they're moving the chains and creating more scoring opportunities. And that, in turn, will keep their defense fresher. The Bucs need that just as much as they need a playmaker on offense. Their defense often wore down late in games last year, the result of an offense that couldn't keep the ball.

'He's a guy who just makes us a better football team,' Gruden said. 'He's a guy who can play. And when you see him play, you're going to know why we've coveted him for the last three or four years.'

Gruden's desire to bring Garcia to Tampa dates to 2003, when Garcia hit the free-agent market after a five-year run with the 49ers.

Money was the problem back then. The Bucs didn't have the salary cap space to bring Garcia here, so he signed with Cleveland. A year later, after things didn't work out with the Browns, cap space limited the Bucs again.

Garcia signed with the Lions this time, but that marriage lasted only until the end of the 2005 season. A few months later, while the Bucs were dickering over what to do with Brian Griese, Garcia signed with the Eagles. He took a job as a backup to Donovan McNabb. He has made no secret that at this time last year, he was losing his passion for the game and was seriously thinking of giving it up.

'He just started to sort of just go through the motions, and it was really kind of sad to see that, because it was the first year where he took a back seat and it was very difficult,' said Carmella, Garcia's wife. 'A real player like that, they want to play. It's not fun for them sitting on the sidelines. It's less work, but he has so much passion for the game, so it was very tough.

'At times we thought, 'Well, how much longer do you want to do this?' We thought maybe another year and he'll hang it up and then one thing led to another in Philadelphia and ...'

What happened in Philadelphia was an injury to McNabb. It occurred early in the Eagles' 10th game, against Tennessee, and it came at a time when the Eagles were reeling. After a 5-1 start, they had lost three of their past four. Garcia didn't stop the slide right away. The Eagles lost that game against Tennessee as well as their game the following week at Indianapolis.

Their next loss, however, didn't come until the second round of the playoffs. By then, Garcia had resurrected his career, and as best as anyone could tell, he would be re-signed by the Eagles for the 2007 season.

But a strange thing happened on the way back to Lincoln Financial Field. Whether it was concern over McNabb's feelings or something they saw on tape of Garcia, the Eagles passed and Garcia became a free agent.

His first stop was Oakland. He was in the middle of a conversation with the Raiders when he got word that the Bucs were interested. A few hours later, he was in Tampa signing a contract.

'It's an awesome opportunity for me,' Garcia said. 'I really feel like I fit in well here with the team and with the coaching staff. And I feel I bring certain elements here that were needed from the quarterback position.

'It's unfortunate we couldn't have come together three or four years ago. But I think the Bucs are getting a more focused, more motivated, more excited player now.'

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

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