Bucs
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Doubters Don't Sway Garcia's Determination
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Published: September 4, 2008
There's no proof positive in Jeff Garcia's world.
He laughed and thought about his funeral, of all things.
What would people say?
"That guy battled to the end."
Garcia begins his 10th NFL season Sunday in New Orleans.
Don't bury him yet.
He wants this season. He needs this season.
The playoff game did that. The contract thing did that. Brett Favre did that. Jon Gruden did that.
It's just another season in Garcia's world.
Questions. Doubters.
Garcia forced a grin.
"It would be weird if there weren't."
Water Under The Bridge
The Bucs don't make the playoffs last season without Garcia. He steadied, then led this franchise. Gruden might not be here without Garcia. So naturally Garcia has ... something to prove.
He has nothing to prove to his teammates.
They love his tenacity, his toughness.
But Garcia wants to prove he isn't the same guy who forced that ball to Joey Galloway against the Giants in the playoffs. He wants to prove his calf is fine and that, at 37, he's still built to last. He wants to move beyond the Favre fiasco. He wants to prove the Bucs were nuts for kicking him to the curb.
He calls it "water under the bridge."
But there has been a lot of water.
"You can only build a bridge so high," Garcia said.
He winced when reminded that some think the recent madness will fuel his fire.
"How about fueling the fire by making guys feeling excited - and wanted?" Garcia said.
Enough.
He says he has moved on.
"I feel ready to go."
"There was speculation going on with Brett Favre and Jeff's character really showed," Bucs fullback B.J. Askew said. "He could have really went into the dark room. He could have said 'Forget it. You guys want to act like that? All right.'"
He didn't.
"That's the character of a real man," Askew said.
The man has regrets, like that key interception in the playoff game against the Giants.
"At that moment, I forced the issue," Garcia said. "It should have never taken place. And I hadn't done that all season."
He regrets going public, too public, about his contract situation.
"I would have never have talked about if I hadn't been asked by the media. All of a sudden, I'm asked about it and I gave honest answers. The last thing I ever wanted to sound like was that greedy professional athlete. When you start to talk about contract issues with what's going on in the world ... I don't regret answering a question, but I think I took it to another level, because I started to let my feelings show. It needed to be behind closed doors. That's not for everyone to hear about, know about - or judge."
He regrets sitting out before the playoffs, which wasn't his call.
"I think it hurt us. It hurt me. I think there are certain players on this team who thrive off playing week in and week out, and I'm one of those players. ... I understood the situation, what Coach was trying to do ... but it's hard to get back that emotional intensity. ... Looking back, this entire team would have wanted to play through it."
Garcia was in California when the Favre saga began.
"The first thing that popped in my head was 'What kind of problems do we have at quarterback where we need another guy?' We had what I thought was quality play from the quarterback last year. I mean, the guy went to the Pro Bowl."
Then there was seeing Gruden for the first time after the Jets got Favre ...
"I'm not going to say that it wasn't weird. But what can you do?
"I can't focus on that, because then it takes away from who I need to be for my teammates. That's really what it comes down to."
The Fire Burns Anew
He says he refocused on important things, like family and, well, more family.
"There are 52 other guys who have my back," Garcia said.
Last season's success?
Garcia smiled.
"That's water under the bridge, too."
There's something to prove - again.
It would be weird if there wasn't.
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