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Cadillac Should Get More Revs Against Panthers

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Jeff Garcia ran for 42 yards last week, but Bucs coach Jon Gruden says he wants Cadillac Williams to carry more of the load.

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By ROY CUMMINGS | The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 3, 2008

TAMPA - The Tampa Bay Buccaneers went into the season thinking their running game would be one of their true offensive strengths. For the first time in more than a month last Sunday it truly was.

It wasn't in a conventional manner, though, that the Bucs finally raised the bar again.

While running backs Warrick Dunn and Cadillac Williams turned in solid performances, combining for 94 yards on 26 carries, it was quarterback Jeff Garcia who gave the stat sheet the wow factor.

Garcia ran the ball seven times, three more than Williams, and gained 42 yards, including 7 on a third-and-4 play in the first quarter and 20 more on a fourth-and-3 play in the second.

Both scrambles kept alive drives that resulted in Matt Bryant field goals that proved critical to the Bucs cause in a pivotal 23-20 victory over the New Orleans Saints.

"Jeff had some great runs [Sunday], that's for sure,'' Bucs coach Jon Gruden said. "Let's be honest, we ran the ball better because Jeff is running. He really hurt them with some of those scrambles.''

There's always a fear, of course, that Garcia will hurt himself with one of those scrambles. The Bucs can't afford that, do Gruden is taking steps to force a more conventional approach to running the ball.

Long an advocate of using a committee of backs, Gruden has gotten away from that since he lost Earnest Graham to a season-ending ankle injury. He's been leaning almost exclusively on Dunn, but that is about to change.

"Looking back on it we should have given [Williams] the ball a little bit more than we did [Sunday],'' Gruden said. "We're going to have to give him some more opportunities in the final month of the season.

"I think [Sunday's game] was another step for him. I think his confidence is growing, and [scoring a touchdown on an 8-yard run] was good for him. But we need to give him the ball more.''

Williams is all in favor of that. After running just four times for 20 yards against the Saints he said he's more than capable of handling a larger workload. In an effort to preserve Dunn and Garcia, he'll likely get it.

The larger workload, of course, will bring greater expectations, but Gruden doesn't seem too concerned about Williams' ability to give the Bucs the lift their running game needs.

"Keep in mind that we're better on the offensive line than we were the last time he carried the ball,'' Gruden said. "I think he's getting some genuinely good looks there right now.

"And I think he's confident his leg is back and he's healthy and you just see more life in him on the practice field. I saw more life in him warming up. We're going to see more life in him Monday, too. We need to get more out of him.''

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

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