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Falcons Rescue Pass-Happy Bucs, Gruden

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By JOE HENDERSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 14, 2008

Everyone was debating who should play quarterback this week when the bigger question should be about the man calling the plays.

I don't say that to be flippant. I just wonder why Jon Gruden insists on throwing the ball so much and basically treating the running game as an afterthought.

It just seems like this offense would be better if it ran more often, that's all. They sure showed that at the end when Earnest Graham ran 68 yards late in the fourth quarter for a game-clinching touchdown in the 24-9 win over Atlanta – this at a time when Atlanta was bunched up, knowing the Bucs didn't want to stop the clock with an incompletion.

The Falcons still couldn't stop Graham. They probably wouldn't have all day, had he been handed the ball more often. The TD run was only his 15th carry.

It's at least worth questioning where that commitment to run was all day, since up to that last dynamic dash Gruden had Brian Griese launch 31 passes against only 23 called runs. The Bucs' offense sputtered and coughed most of the day.

It's not like Griese was doing his best Peyton Manning impression out there. He missed at least three absurdly open receivers, two of which would have been sure touchdowns. Put it this way: Griese wasn't so good that anyone will forget how Jeff Garcia led this team to a division title last year.

Griese's best pass of the day was a 36-yarder to tight end John Gilmore near the end of the third quarter. It came right after two good runs by Warrick Dunn. Cause and effect?

I guess we should expect this from Gruden by now, though. He did it last week at New Orleans (ignoring a running game that was working); he did it in the playoffs against the Giants; and it was basically the same thing Sunday. This just happened to come against an Atlanta team that was intent on aiming the shotgun at its collective foot and pulling the trigger, so it didn't matter as much.

I guess running games don't have the sizzle the head coach seems to want. Graham is a pounder who needs to get the ball a lot.

When the Bucs did run, it often worked well. Dunn had a superb 17-yard run for a touchdown in the second quarter to put the Bucs up 14-0. He was basically running to set up the field goal though; let's be honest. The touchdown was Dunn's doing, not the play call.

Just want to see more of it, that's all.

As much as we ask the question why Gruden called the game he did, the same question could be asked more emphatically of Falcons head coach Mike Smith. The Falcons run-run-run with the likes of Michael Turner, so naturally Smith chose to throw-throw-throw.

It was almost like he was determined to see just how much he could screw up his rookie quarterback, Matt Ryan.

The answer: Royally.

These Bucs can still play some defense.

Oh, lest we forget: Welcome back Dunn. That 17-run for a touchdown we referenced above couldn't have been more fitting, both for the moment and who it came against – Atlanta, his old team. This was his first regular-season home game as a Buc since he left town in 2002.

Dude's still got game, does he not?

Lest we forget, Part II: There is something about playing a rookie quarterback that is salve to Derrick Brooks' aching hamstrings. Did anyone really think he wouldn't answer the bell this week after hurting his hamstring near the end of the New Orleans game last Sunday? It'll take more than a sore hamstring to keep him out. An amputation, maybe, but perhaps not even then.

To be fair, Brooks wasn't on the field in obvious passing situations but it was still a comfort seeing No. 55 at his usual post on the outside.

Coming up big: Safety Tanard Jackson had one of the more significant plays of the afternoon when he tackled Falcons running back Jerious Norwood for a 3-yard loss on 3rd-and-3 at the Bucs 6-yard line late in the third quarter. Jackson makes big plays and that was another one.

If the Falcons had scored a touchdown there, it would have cut the Bucs' lead to seven points. As it was, the subsequent 27-yard field goal by Atlanta's Jason Elam still left the Bucs ahead 17-6.

The last word: Can the Bucs play Atlanta every week?

ADDENDUM: Just got back up from the locker room, where we still do this curious thing called "reporting" after a game. It often gets in the way of a good rant, but we do it anyway.

I asked a lot of questions of Graham, Dunn and center Jeff Faine about the points I raised above. The numbers certainly suggested those questions needed to be asked. The Bucs ran 28 times for 164 yards, 68 of which came on Graham's final TD run. Griese threw 31 times for an average gain of 4.5 yards per play.

Faine, I think, gave the best answer on the whole running game thing. He basically said Gruden wants to run the ball more often and that more runs have been called the first two weeks than we've seen. Many of those plays resulted in check-offs into passes, dictated by coverages and that sort of thing.

"The thing about offense is that we're an adaptive offense; we adapt to the situation," he said. "There have been times that a run has been called and we just didn't get the look we needed to be successful. Brian, or Jeff [Garica] last week, got us out of the play and into something we needed to be successful. Coach Gruden definitely loves to run the ball.

"Why would you run right into a blitz? Why would you run into a look where your chances of success are not that good? It's hard when you're on the outside looking in to see what's happening on the field. Sometimes the looks just aren't there."

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