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Bryant, Jackson Get More Opportunities With Galloway Out

Tribune photo by CLIFF MCBRIDE

Dexter Jackson hopes to make an impression on one of the NFL's great kick returners Sunday.

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 20, 2008

Updated: 09/20/2008 01:35 am

TAMPA - Bucs WR Joey Galloway will not play Sunday against the Bears.

Galloway, who sustained a right foot sprain last week against the Falcons, did not practice all week. Bucs coach Jon Gruden suggested he would wait until game day to make a decision, but the 36-year-old was listed as "out" on the team's Friday injury report.

The contingency plan includes playing Antonio Bryant and rookie Dexter Jackson at split end.

Jackson said receivers coach Richard Mann told him on Monday he likely would play this week, and Gruden went so far as to leave a note in Jackson's locker telling him to be ready.

The loss of Galloway would seem significant, but through their first two games the Bucs have gotten most of their clutch production out of WR Ike Hilliard and TEs John Gilmore and Alex Smith.

Hilliard leads the team with 10 receptions, including nine for first downs. Four of those came on third-down plays, including one touchdown. Gilmore and Smith have combined for six catches, all resulting in first downs, for 80 yards and a TD.

INJURY REPORT: DE Gaines Adams (abdomen), LB Derrick Brooks (hamstring) and CB Aqib Talib (hamstring) are questionable. RG Davin Joseph (foot) is out. For the Bears, WR Devin Hester (ribs) is questionable.

UP AND DOWN: Reserve CB Elbert Mack lost his appeal of his one-game suspension for violating the league's player safety policy and will sit out Sunday's game. The Bucs promoted CB Marcus Hamilton from the practice squad to take Mack's place. Hamilton spent all of last year on the Bucs' practice squad.

SMASH-MOUTH: If it's old-fashioned, smack-you-in-the-mouth football you like, you're going to enjoy Sunday's Bucs-Bears game. DT Chris Hovan says this one is shaping up to be one of the most physical battles the Bucs have this year.

"It's going to be a smash-mouth game," Hovan said. "I remember playing Chicago when I was with Minnesota, in the black-and-blue division. It's going to be a black-and-blue type of game."

Hovan expects the Bears to lean on rookie Matt Forte and a running attack averaging 149 yards per game and 4.4 yards per carry.

"They ran the ball 36 times in the last game, so we know they're going to try to run the ball, play great defense and try to control the clock," Hovan said. "To beat that, we just have to go out and play Buc defense."

YELLOW STREAK: Only four teams have been penalized more than the Bucs the first two games. One of those is the Bears, whose 19 penalties are one more than the Bucs. Not surprisingly, both teams in this week's game are emphasizing greater discipline.

"We just need to be a little more poised," Gilmore said. "We're a good team and we don't need to go over the top to get something. We just need to bring it down a notch and lock in and focus and we'll be OK. We're trying to do a little too much more than we have to."

FUEL FOR THE FIRE: Gruden is making a mistake starting Brian Griese ahead of Jeff Garcia against the Bears. That, at least, is the consensus of AccuScore, a football simulation program ESPN uses to predict games.

AccuScore claims to simulate each game 10,000 times to come up with an accurate forecast of what will happen. Their forecast for the Bucs-Bears game suggests Griese's penchant for turnovers against the Bears' play-making defense is a recipe for failure.

Neither quarterback makes the Bucs a favorite, but with Garcia the Bucs win 45 percent of the time and lose by an average of one point. With Griese, the losses are by an average of 2.4 points.

Roy Cummings

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