The Titans (led by their backup quarterback, no less) showed a lot of grit in coming back to tie the Bucs at 10 with just over a minute to play.

The Bucs could have played it safe afterwards, playing for overtime, but never hesitated in trying to win in regulation. Jeff Garcia made it all work, completing a clutch 3rd down pass to Ike Hilliard and ultimately setting up Matt Bryant for the game-winning field goal.

Would this have happened with previous Bucs quarterbacks? Would Chris Simms, Bruce Gradkowski, or even Shaun King engendered enough trust from the head coach to be so aggressive in the closing minutes of regulation?

Bucs are back to playing “Dungy Ball”. This one reminded me of the 1999 Season. Hope we can trade for a decent RB. Still a win is always preferable to losing.

sbrown2 - 14 October 2007 04:20 PM

The Titans (led by their backup quarterback, no less) showed a lot of grit in coming back to tie the Bucs at 10 with just over a minute to play.

The Bucs could have played it safe afterwards, playing for overtime, but never hesitated in trying to win in regulation. Jeff Garcia made it all work, completing a clutch 3rd down pass to Ike Hilliard and ultimately setting up Matt Bryant for the game-winning field goal.

Would this have happened with previous Bucs quarterbacks? Would Chris Simms, Bruce Gradkowski, or even Shaun King engendered enough trust from the head coach to be so aggressive in the closing minutes of regulation?

The only QB Gruden has trusted is Brad Johnson since he arrived in Tampa.  Now he has a second in Jeff Garcia.  As long as he stays healthy, this season has legs to stand on.  If he goes down, with a third string running back, the season is over.  A better question is would Gruden just Gradkowski in the same situation (the current number two QB)?  The answer is undoubtedly no.

Of couirse, am I the only one noticing that after the defense had been on the field all but a few minutes in the second half, Gruden played it safe on the second to last series - a run by Graham, a pass to Graham, and then on thrid a long, another run by Graham?  Since when had that worked all day?  Never - it was Gruden playing conservative ball, which a worn down defense could not stop the Titan’s offense anymore.  The amazing thing is how well the defense played considering they were on the field for 40 minutes.  It is not often a defense only gives up 10 points over a 40 minute period (the Bucs only had the ball for 20 minutes this week).  I am glad they won, but Gruden did no one any favors on that second to last series trying to “play it safe.” The Bucs came very close to losing because Gruden does not trust the offense as stated here - he only trusted it when forced to the last 1:17 of the game.

AcuraT - 14 October 2007 10:38 PM

The only QB Gruden has trusted is Brad Johnson since he arrived in Tampa. Now he has a second in Jeff Garcia.

Paul M. - 15 October 2007 12:31 PM

AcuraT - 14 October 2007 10:38 PM

The only QB Gruden has trusted is Brad Johnson since he arrived in Tampa. Now he has a second in Jeff Garcia.

I beg to differ about Gruden “trusting” Brad Johnson. If you remember he brought in Rob Johnson, Brian Griese, and drafted Simms not to mention the 100 or so QBs he brought in to tryout or attempted to sign such as Garcia to replace Johnson. Brad Johnson was able to continuously beat out the competitors...

Hey, it is all relative.  By trust I mean he did not pull the guy after the first three mistake made (think of every other QB he has used during the regular season).  Gruden trusts no one in the QB slot.  As you stated, he wanted Plummer too.  I am sure if he had thought of it he would have brought in Vinny Testaverde as well as the kitchen sink (kidding!)

If you followed him in Oakland, he “trusted” a QB at one time, but even then and brought in other QBs.  Gruden just loves to cause controversy at that position.  Next year, I assume a number of other QBs will be brought in as well since that is his pattern. 

Dungy put a lot more faith into QBs even when they were not all that great.  Now we get the opposite from Gruden, a guy who has no faith in the QB until proven otherwise.  Which is better, I don’t know.  I do know stablity after declaring a starter is better in any case.

Paul M. - 15 October 2007 12:31 PM

AcuraT - 14 October 2007 10:38 PM

The only QB Gruden has trusted is Brad Johnson since he arrived in Tampa. Now he has a second in Jeff Garcia.

I beg to differ about Gruden “trusting” Brad Johnson. If you remember he brought in Rob Johnson, Brian Griese, and drafted Simms not to mention the 100 or so QBs he brought in to tryout or attempted to sign such as Garcia to replace Johnson. Brad Johnson was able to continuously beat out the competitors… that doesn’t mean Gruden trusted him. This is one of the causes of the Buc’s problem over the past few years. No one ever knows who is truly going to lead them onto the field. And if you think Garcia has that trust, then look online or in the media for all the quotes Gruden made about wanting Jake Plummer.

Lil point of order, Simms wasn’t drafted by Gru was he? Seems to me he was part of the last draft before Gru.  Even if Gru was on staff he wasn’t a Gru pick he must have been a McKay pick.

Paul M. - 15 October 2007 12:31 PM

AcuraT - 14 October 2007 10:38 PM

The only QB Gruden has trusted is Brad Johnson since he arrived in Tampa. Now he has a second in Jeff Garcia.

I beg to differ about Gruden “trusting” Brad Johnson. If you remember he brought in Rob Johnson, Brian Griese, and drafted Simms not to mention the 100 or so QBs he brought in to tryout or attempted to sign such as Garcia to replace Johnson. Brad Johnson was able to continuously beat out the competitors… that doesn’t mean Gruden trusted him. This is one of the causes of the Buc’s problem over the past few years. No one ever knows who is truly going to lead them onto the field. And if you think Garcia has that trust, then look online or in the media for all the quotes Gruden made about wanting Jake Plummer.

I completely disagree on Gruden not trusting Garcia.  Sure Gruden wanted Plummer, that’s because the current backups (including Simms) do not have Gruden’s trust.  Gruden also doesn’t trust that Garcia will play into Vinny like years, thus he trusts Garcia on a short term basis.  Plummer is approx. 7 years younger and if Gruden could have molded/helped him the way he helped Gannon, Plummer could have been here for a number of years.... at the very least he would have been a good backup for Garcia.  Gruden also wantd Garcia 4-5 years ago but the Bucs didn’t have the cap money. 

I will agree with you that he did not “trust” Johnson.  Stated better, Gruden didn’t like Johnson’s lack of mobility.  We are seeing with Garcia how much of a difference a mobile QB can make.  It also took Johnson a long time to learn the Gruden system and Johnson didn’t get any more mobile with age.  That’s why the Vikings (who need a QB) did not keep him.

The obvious point being missed here is that it’s the NFL people. Look at what happened with injuries to our team this year. Gruden is very well aware that if his Qb goes down, he’s back in the same boat as last year. He did the right thing by bringing in other QB’s, if not for back up, then to create competition. Garcia is OBVIOUSLY the difference, however, that doesn’t mean that Simms couldn’t hold his own. I feel that Chris may have been able to handle some of these situations. Where the difference lies is in Garcia’s ability to creat outside the pocket. The line has given Garcia JUST enough time to make something happen, CHris Simms would undoubtedly be injured again this year had he been back there. If Garcia goes down (knock on wood that he doesnt)I think we would have a much tougher time getting through the season. However, it’s not hard to believe that Gruden could fire up the offense with a “ IT’S ALL OR NOTHING BOYS, WE’VE BEEN DOWN ALL YEAR, NOW WE ARE DOWN FOR THE COUNT. ARE YOU GONNA GIVE UP OR GET UP...etc” The line starts holding steady, McCown has a Simms like performance (circa two years ago) and Graham gets consistent.