Don't Count Joseph Out Yet

Don't count RG Davin Joseph out of the season opener just yet.

Though it probably will take at least a month for Joseph's broken right foot to heal, the Bucs are holding out hope that the anchor of their offensive line will return in time to start at New Orleans as planned.

"This is one strange bird," Bucs coach Jon Gruden said of Joseph. "Davin's the kind of guy who may take the boot off and play, knowing him, so I'm not going to discount him playing in the opener or the third week of the season.

"I'm just going to say that right now, he will not play Saturday against Jacksonville. There's a chance he may not be ready for a couple of weeks, but we'll just have to see how Davin does."

Joseph had surgery Tuesday, Gruden said, to repair an injury he suffered while blocking for an extra point during the Bucs' 27-10 victory against the Patriots on Saturday.

Gruden said the injury is similar to the one suffered late last year by LB Cato June. June played through that injury for a couple of weeks but missed the Bucs' playoff game against the Giants.

"It's a tough blow for us," Gruden said of losing Joseph, an offensive team captain. "But it's also a very exciting time for somebody to step up. That's the plan we have right now."

Stepping up immediately is rookie Jeremy Zuttah, a third-round pick out of Rutgers. Zuttah will start in place of Joseph on Saturday against Jacksonville, but the Bucs fell short of saying Zuttah will start the opener.

Offensive line coach Bill Muir said Zuttah will start Saturday's game because it's his turn to get work at right guard. Muir and Gruden both said Dan Buenning is in the mix to start at right guard, as are others.

"There is a possibility of adding a player here or there," said Gruden, whose team re-signed one-time Buc Phil Bogle on Wednesday. "But I think we have the stuff here that we need to get the job done."

SOMETHING SPECIAL IN STORER: He's barely visible on the stat sheet, but standing out on a stat sheet is not always the best way to make an NFL roster. The best way is to stand out on game film, and Bucs FB Byron Storer certainly has done that this preseason.

Through two games, Storer has graded out very highly as a replacement for projected starter B.J. Askew, and Gruden can't seem to say enough good things about him.

"I like the way he's blocking, the way he's catching the ball, and the way he's finishing his blocks," Gruden said Wednesday. "I also like the aggressiveness with which he plays. To be honest with you, I like everything he's doing."

It's not like Gruden hasn't see this before from Storer. After making the team as an undrafted free agent last year, Storer worked his way up the depth chart and even started a couple games after Askew went down.

Now the Bucs are trying to figure out ways to get Storer more work. He still figures to spend the season backing up Askew, but if he keeps showing the ability to effectively take on big linebackers that he showed in last week's game against New England, that could change.

"When you play against a 3-4 defense like New England has, you're going to get some isolations in the hole with some big-time NFL linebackers," Gruden said. "They've got some of the biggest and best linebackers I've ever seen, and he's willing and able to take them on and he's getting better at it all the time."

PROSPECTS PROMISED: The third preseason game is usually the one in which veterans get most of their playing time. With the first round of cuts coming up Tuesday, though, the Bucs still plan to spend most of the game looking at their prospects.

"We're running out of time to make some final evaluations," Gruden said. "So we'll try to adjust the playing time to make sure the players get an opportunity to showcase their skills.

"Hopefully at the end of the day we can at least say we've been fair. That's important to me."

BUCS BITS: Bogle, who was with the Bucs for brief periods of the 2005 and 2006 seasons, spent the past two years playing for the Philadelphia Soul of the Arena Football League. He won an AFL title with the Soul this season. ... In order to make room for Bogle on the roster, the Bucs released FB J.D. Runnels. ... WR Joey Galloway practiced for the second straight day Wednesday, this time in shoulder pads. DT Jovan Haye continued to work out with the team and is hopeful he will make his preseason debut Saturday against Jacksonville. Askew and TE Ben Troupe remained sidelined, with each nursing a sore foot.

Roy Cummings