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Latest Garcia Injury Casts Doubt On Bucs' QB Situation

Tribune photo by CLIFF MCBRIDE

Jeff Garcia is sacked by the Saints' Charles Grant on Sunday in the Superdome.

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By ROY CUMMINGS | The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 9, 2008

TAMPA - First it was his calf; then it was his pinky finger; now it's his ankle. Jeff Garcia is falling apart faster than the Bucs' season.

Don't be surprised. This is what happens to 38-year-old quarterbacks. At least this one has a tendency to play through pain. He probably will try to do the same this time around - if he's given the chance.

In the wake of the Bucs' 24-20 loss to the Saints on Monday, Bucs coach Jon Gruden sounded a lot like a guy who was ready to bandage his struggling offense by relieving the ailing Garcia of his starting quarterback duties.

"It's not just that he's missed some preseason games," Gruden said of Garcia, who has struggled to stay healthy and find his rhythm. "He missed a lot of training camp, too. He's missed a lot of work, period.

"We can call it rust, inactivity, or whatever it may be. There are plays that Jeff normally makes, but we just didn't get it done Sunday. There were opportunities there that we just didn't cash in on."

Garcia completed 24 of 41 passes for 221 yards and a touchdown. But he was off the mark on several key throws and was clearly out of sync with deep-threat Joey Galloway.

The result was a disjointed offensive display in which the Bucs converted just two of 12 third-down opportunities and didn't reach the end zone until nearly five minutes were gone in the fourth quarter. That touchdown, which came on a 2-yard Garcia pass to Ike Hilliard, was part of a brief offensive resurgence that allowed the Bucs to take a 20-17 lead.

When that lead was lost, though, Garcia couldn't get it back. He moved the Bucs just 25 and 27 yards respectively on their next two drives, the first ending with Garcia throwing consecutive incompletions, the second ending with Garcia being intercepted.

"I don't know what it is really," Gruden said. "I think New Orleans is a good football team in a loud, very difficult place to play in your opener. He just missed a couple of plays he normally hits."

Garcia, who hurt his ankle late in the game, according to Gruden, doesn't disagree with his coach's assessment of his performance against the Saints. He disagrees, however, with the idea that a lack of work may be the cause of it.

"I don't feel like the time off took away from me playing at a certain level on Sunday," he said. "I just didn't play good enough, and it's up to me to go out and play better.

"And I need to be better right from the very beginning. I put that on myself. The last play of the game the interception I put on myself. It was a forced error and those are things I need to correct and correct in a hurry."

If he can get his ankle right he may get the chance. If not, the Bucs probably will go with Brian Griese as the starter. Either way, Gruden wants to know who his starter is by Wednesday.

"We have to get wired in, and we're going to do that in the next 24 to 48 hours," Gruden said. "We'll make sure we get all the information we need to give our team a chance to get back to 1-1."

Part of what the Bucs need, Gruden said, is better play-calling. Refusing to throw all the blame for the Bucs offensive struggles on Garcia, Gruden said he needs to do more to help his quarterback.

He also said the Bucs need to do a better job of avoiding penalties, citing two holding calls and a 15-yard personal-foul penalty for forcing the Bucs to attack the Saints in a way they might not have wanted to.

"Those calls put us way behind in the down and distance and kind of took us out of a run-it mentality," Gruden said.

The Bucs got 91 yards on 10 carries from Earnest Graham and 146 yards on 20 carries overall. Gruden said he'd like to make greater use of the running game but suggested better quarterback play is the key to that.

"When you start the game by going three plays and out, you're not going to get a lot of guys involved," Gruden said in reference to a question about using Graham more.

"Then with our second possession, we got Joey Galloway a great look to keep the drive alive inside their red zone and we don't convert. I mean, we had some good looks in the passing game. We've just got to convert a couple of those early third downs to get the momentum going. We've got to start better."

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

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