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Fennelly: Cadillac Helps Bucs Throttle Back

Tribune photo by JAY CONNER

Cadillac Williams runs the ball in the fourth quarter of the Bucs' game at Detroit on Sunday. It was his first game action in more than 14 months.

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By MARTIN FENNELLY | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 26, 2008

Late in Sunday's win at Detroit, the Bucs throttled down. The comeback was more than assured. The lead was 18 points.

But there were more than a few players in the offensive huddle, and on the sidelines, who wanted to put another touchdown across. And they knew exactly who they wanted to do it.

"We wanted Cadillac in there," Bucs receiver Michael Clayton said. "We wanted him to get one and get that swagger back."

Caddy back.

It makes all the more difference now that Earnest Graham is done.

Caddy back.

It was one of the stories Sunday, and it will be the rest of these Sundays, and into the postseason, if he stays back.

Caddy back, 14 months after going down with a knee injury that some thought had finished his career. Caddy back, getting the ball 16 times, and bouncing up after every lick.

Caddy, eyes wide open the night before the Lions game.

"I was nervous," Carnell Williams said. "Night before the game, I didn't sleep at all. It was like we were playing the Super Bowl or something."

It was Super Bowl enough after 14 months, all those hours working that knee until he wanted to cry out of exhaustion, Caddy in the shadows while his teammates went about their games.

"It's a story that needs to be told better," Bucs center Jeff Faine said. "This could have been a career-ending injury. From the time, I've been here, seeing him work out with the trainers, it's amazing what he did."

"It's an inspiration," Clayton said.

It began with exasperation. There was Williams, on his very first play back, bonking into Jeff Garcia, who lost the ball. The Lions ran it in for a touchdown. Williams returned to the bench.

"Wow, what a way to start," he thought.

But the story wasn't finished. Not nearly. He got nowhere sometimes, but Cadillac Williams got his carries, and kept bouncing back up.

He took a good shot to his knee.

He popped up.

"Wow, I'm OK," he thought.

He didn't expect many carries.

"I thought maybe three, four times," he said.

He carried four times in the first half. But near the end, with the game in hand, Bucs coach Jon Gruden kept getting Caddy the ball, again and again, snap after snap, before Garcia took a knee to run out the clock.

There was hope in those Caddy runs.

"I remember one play near the end, when Ryan Nece hit the ground and tried to take me out and we were both down and he hurdled both of us," Faine said. "I think that's showing some confidence. I think that tells him he still has it."

"Jump cuts, hurdling guys," Clayton said. "He's coming back, every game, he's going to get better each game."

Clayton still called Caddy early Monday morning to see if he was OK.

"I was fine," Cadillac Williams said.

We might not ever get the 2005 Caddy.

Or even the 2006 Caddy.

The Bucs need him now. They need him to help strike a balance with Warrick Dunn, to make this offense hum more as the games get larger.

That's for then.

Caddy back.

The idea alone was nice.

"It was a confidence builder," Williams said.

It's a story that needs to be told better.

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