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Bucs coach Jon Gruden could have wanted to see it end like this.
Or could he?
Cadillac Williams’ record-setting start to his NFL career came to a grinding halt against a Lions defense determined to take the rookie running back out of the game. It forced the Bucs to beat Detroit in a manner that previously was the norm prior to this season - hoping Brian Griese can make enough big plays while limiting his mistakes.
The Bucs couldn’t ride Cadillac as they had on the way to their 3-0 start. Part of that was due to the Lions’ stifling defense, which held him to just 13 yards on 11 carries. But more importantly, Williams’ absence came as a result of an injury - a strained hamstring that kept him out for much of the second half.
With Williams out, Gruden had to resort to his pre-2005 game plan. And while it produced a victory, it also provided quite a few tense moments.
Griese had a big day - 22-of-39 for 302 yards and two touchdowns - but he also threw three interceptions, each of which resulted in Lions scores. Pittman had six catches for 96 yards and added 30 yards receiving; and Joey Galloway had an 80-yard TD catch, one of his seven catches on the day for 166 yards.
But the Bucs’ victory was ensured only after officials reversed an apparent game-winning score by Lions tight end Marcus Pollard, who made a sliding catch in the end zone but was ruled out of bounds after the replay showed his knee was on the line as he came down with possession.
That the Bucs were able to manage a 17-13 victory without Williams in the lineup is great news in itself. A .500 finish would still result in 10 wins - almost certainly enough to ensure the Bucs of their first playoff berth since their Super Bowl season. But it came down to an official’s call against a team with a quarterback (Joey Harrington) who has yet to justify his first-round draft status, and it illustrated how important Cadillac Williams had been in the Bucs’ first three games.
Not needing to carry the offense with Williams leading the way, Brian Griese was effective. With Williams taken out of the contest, Griese’s mistakes were magnified - and they very nearly cost the Bucs their first loss of the season.
With questions arising this week about Williams’ workload, and the sprained arch he suffered last week, his departure vs. Detroit serves as a stark reminder of just how important he is to this team and how precarious the Bucs’ season could be if he’s ever out for an extended period.
COULD THE BUCS CHALLENGE FOR A PLAYOFF BERTH WITHOUT CADILLAC WILLIAMS?
Posted by Richard Hess, Belleville, MI on 10/06 at 01:28 PM
It will be tough for a 4-0 teams fans when the luck runs out and the Buc’s fail to make the playoffs...Pollard caught the ball in his hands with control before the knee was out. Control does not have to mean the ball against the chest, control can and was established by Pollard with his hands.
Posted by Toy Pelaez, Tampa on 10/06 at 11:20 AM
There seems to be a anti-buc can win sentiment,be it lucky or determination.the superbowl contending teams will find a way to win.the bucanneers must still take each game one by one .just as gruden KEEPS saying,work hard in practice, play hard and positive things will result.shoulda coulda woulda are for losers like the Vikings,Bills,Packers and Lions.don’t analze this last weekend game,next week game is already upon us. winning in New York may change a few opinions,but the win-loss column of the buc’s opponents issue will remain i’m sure.remember the ole saying anybody can be beaten on any given Sunday ,chance does favor the prepared mind. 
Posted by Ryan Guerin, Lakeland on 10/06 at 07:42 AM
This is what I was scared so much of when I attended the Bucs Draft Day Party announcing Carnell Williams made me cringe I knew his record at Auburn he is damaged goods and has a history of being banged up. That is the reason I wanted Mike Williams then taking a back with the second/third round pick. A la Faison, moats. Carnell is a great back when healthy...notible word is “when”
Posted by Duncan, on 10/05 at 11:03 PM
We all love Cadillac, but there are times when he’s been in the game and really doesn’t need to be and shouldn’t be...like when he was injured and Gruden still kept him in the game even though we were in the lead. That just makes me mad. Gruden should be watching out for his players. Yeah, football is about toughness, but it’s up to the coach to make good decisions for his players.
Posted by Trace, on 10/05 at 10:55 PM
I love the Bucs, but I cannot stand Griese. Yeah, we are off to a good start this year, but I am definitely not comfortable with a quarterback that is mediocre at best. When we win, I just let out a sigh of relief that Griese didn’t screw up too badly or that we were able to make up for his mess ups. And come to think of it, why didn’t we put in Simms last year to see what he could do? Oh yeah, I forgot, he had that “injury"… I don’t know why Gruden is so in love with #8.
Posted by john, riverside california on 10/05 at 09:50 PM
enough with the whining about the catch, personally i think he was out of bounds...how many times have the bucs been screwed by the instant replay??? remember the nfc championship game??? every team gets screwed now and again...if the bucs had played up to their potential,this game would have been over at halftime...i pity the jets this week-end!!! 5-0 here we come…
Posted by michael roberts, Bartow on 10/05 at 06:08 PM
Why is it that we can never just go in and blow a team out of the water? Why does it always come down to the last seconds of the 4th quarter for us to know if we are going to win or not? I feel the Coach is doing great things with our offense but we need to get a QB that can be more of a threat. Yes, Griese threw some great numbers and had a couple of great passes but what about the other things? Fans pause to think if you will what if we had a QB like Farve here in Tampa Bay? A QB that was a threat all the time. We have a great group of receivers now and finally a line that can at least slow some one down, and then our Running backs are some of the best in the league. Coach, please think about this let’s look to future and get a QB that will put up some good numbers not just once a year but all the time!
Posted by Toreano, Oakland on 10/05 at 02:52 PM
The Bucs have to find a way to play special teams at some point in before hell freezes over. No kickoff touchdown EVER and when you watch it doesn’t look like they ever will run one back. The “unspecial” teams also is constantly making stupid penalties too often. This units coach has had long enough.
Posted by Ted, Sun City Center, Fl. on 10/05 at 02:47 PM
In my past viewing of Bucs games I have come to the conclusion that no.1 the breaks are what wins or loses games. This has been so in past years and continues to be so this year.no. 2 Also it seems Bucs usually win against the better teams and lose to the poor ones.No. 3 So far this year they haven’t played the better teams so could say they are way ahead.
Posted by Whoopeee!, Tampa on 10/05 at 12:51 PM
Yes they can. With the defense playing like that and an improved O-line.
Why doesn’t Gruden call more pass plays that are down the field. Galloway is one of the fastest players on the field every week. You saw what he did during the Detroit game. More completions like that or more attempts like that would force defenses to respect our passing game which as of now could be a lot better than it is!
Posted by clayton, corning, ny on 10/04 at 12:00 PM
on the pollard play. espn showed the replay and i used video capture software to capture it onto my hard drive. i looked at it frame by frame and the ball was still moving in pollard’s arm when his knee went out of bounds. no question about it he did not catch the ball in time.
Posted by WMac, Tampa on 10/04 at 07:34 AM
If Pollard had caught the ball with his hands it would have been a touchdown. The catch was made into his chest area. If you watch the replay the ball had made it to him while still inbounds but when his knee hits the line you can see the ball still has not made it all the way in. You can argue it all you want, get the replay and tivo it.
Simple fact is the Bucs played poorly for a large portion of the game and still pulled it out. This isn’t college, you don’t get any points for high scores or pretty wins with voters. Do you think if they win the division or go deep in the playoffs people are going to say “yeah but remember how they barely won in week 4”. Lions fans get over it, you play in the worst division I have ever seen and someone will prob win with a 500 or lower record. It’s sad if you can’t win with the talent you have in the toilet of the 2005 NFL season.
Posted by Victor Barney, LeHigh Acres, Florida on 10/03 at 05:21 PM
I know I’m suppose to be happy about the Bucs being 4-0 in a “football state,” but why do I hear no one mention the fact that Brian Griese has been plagued his whole professional career in 4th quarter failures (6 years, besides the 5 he had just last year)? Maybe because they are 4-0? Wait until they play somebody good! I then expect to see the Griese fall apart again. Why would Griese stay out there being so dizzy? Maybe, he knew that they would be forced to go to Phil Simms as Quarterback and Griese is back on the bench! Perhaps, our only offensive weakness is our immobile Quarterback with questional arm strength and decision-making skills. I doubt even “Cadillac” will continue being able to overcome the historic 4th quarter failures of Griese? By the way, I was a much bigger Bob Griese fan than Phil Simms, although both were winners!
Posted by Mason, on 10/03 at 03:37 PM
Peter King from SI was on the Dan Patrick show on ESPN radio today. When asked about the touchdown reversal call in the Lions-Bucs game he stated that the Lions were “robbed” and the NFL has to do something about officials reversing calls without “indisputable evidence” as was this case. If I were a Bucs fan I would be very quiet and thankful today.
Posted by Dboy, California on 10/03 at 02:44 PM
I agree with those who said a win is a win, etc. Whether the last call was right or wrong isn’t important to me. Last year (and the year before) we were losing these kinds of games. This year we’re winning them. I strongly believe our major problem is Griese. All of Detriot’s points came after a Griese turnover. I want to like the guy, because he will make some nice throws (like he did to Galloway on Sunday), but he seems to always throw big interceptions that cost us points. I love Cadillac and Clayton, Will Allen, and the other young guys that can make us excited about the future. I just wish I could say the same thing about the quarterback position.
Posted by Paul Anderson, Denver, Colorado on 10/03 at 02:06 PM
Cadillac Williams?? How ‘bout Brian Griese? Without Griese, your Bucs would be lucky to be 2-2 right now. In fact, the only player I saw in the game was Brian Griese. Who is Cadillac anyway?
Buc fan, do your team a favor and support your quarterback. Griese is a virtuoso of a different sort. He’s like the concert violinist who plays beautifully throughout the whole piece and then near the end of his performance he loses control of the bow which goes careening into the first row of patrons taking out the old bag with the monocle. You’ve got to dig it!!
Give me a genius like Griese over a 30-IQ dolt like Tom Brady any day of the week.
Posted by steve suminski, Portland, OR on 10/03 at 12:57 PM
Some say Pollard’s catch was IN, some say OUT, hell, I STILL haven’t decided myself. However, according to the rules, you do NOT reverse a call unless you have indisputable evidence. This was not indisputable. Crap decision to overturn regardless. Officials screwed the Lions on the Goodman “interference” call reversing ANOTHER Griese interception.
Posted by Mitchel Banks, Tampa on 10/03 at 11:37 AM
I’d like to know who corrects the ref’s, they make a minimum of 1 questionable call per game, with seemingly no recourse. Coaches and players get fined, what about the ref’s. When entire stadiums and millions of people on tv can see they are wrong, who penalizes the ref.?
Posted by Adam Locascio, Tampa on 10/03 at 11:20 AM
Could the Bucs get to the playoffs without Cadillac? I am going to say no - and the reason why is because while Williams is a great runner, he forces defenses to spread their chips over the table a little thinner. In other words, by game planning for the run game, you have to sacrifice some pass coverage, which is what happened against the Lions. Let’s face it: take away Griese’s INTs and his fumble, and this is a shut out.
Posted by GREG MCCARTHY, ST.PETE,FL. on 10/03 at 10:58 AM
TO THOSE WHO THINK POLLARD WAS IN BOUNDS, PLEASE DON`T DRIVE ON OUR HIGHWAYS. THE ROADS ARE DANGEROUS ENOUGH WITHOUT THE VISUALLY IMPAIRED DRIVING. HE WAS NOT ONLY OUT, BUT WAY OUT.
Posted by Scorps, New Port Richey on 10/03 at 10:38 AM
The Bucs have always been lucky. This year the trend seems to be good instead of bad. Griese’s interceptions are a concern but interceptions do happen in the game and one was thrown when he was shaken up (don’t forget the two beautiful TD passes he threw). This leads me to wonder why he was even out there if he was dizzy and couldn’t remember part of the first half. Pull him out, get his head right again and send him back in. Same with Cadillac. They need to give him a game off so he can heal as his injury, ooops, sorry, INJURIES are obviously not getting better and in fact getting worse. The last thing the team needs is for this to become a chonic condition and limit him the rest of the season.
One final concern is the penalities. They need to find a way to eliminate them.
Posted by Bruce Miller, St. Louis, Missouri on 10/03 at 10:17 AM
C’mon guys, can we wrap up the game early so we don’t have to go through torture the last few minutes, I’m running out of tumms!!! Seriously, great win, the defense once again stood tall, Greise made some big plays when he needed to and the backups stepped up and performed. Need to be more focused and not take stupid penalties and Greise must make better decisions in terms of not turning the ball over. This was not a perfect game by the Bucs by any means, but 4-0 sounds pretty damm good. Next up....the New York Jets.....and the drive for five!!!
Posted by Charles Brayton, brooksville on 10/03 at 10:15 AM
A dizzy quarterback, maybe but the coach didn’t get hit in the head. Why after the throws to nobody in particular didn’t we pull Brian and go with the kid. We may get by the Jets but we’ll get killed by Miami if we play like that.
Posted by Ron Undieme, St Petersburg on 10/03 at 10:09 AM
Luck is the most valuable player on the Bucs team. Two touchdowns called back from the Vikings, an extra point missed by Green Bay and a touchdown called back from the Lions. Without luck the Bucs are 1-3. Cadillac or no Cadillac the Bucs are a second rate 1-3 team. Defense collapsed in the 4th quarter again against Detroit. This the the worst 4-0 team I have ever seen. All I can say, is “Lady Luck” “Keep Em Rollin”.
Posted by Brian Durden, Largo, FL on 10/06 at 01:41 PM
Hold up, Buccaneers “fans”...Cadillac might miss the next game. Might want to halt your orders for the #24 jerseys until he’s back over 100 yards again! Then again, the Lightning are back, so maybe spend the bread on some post-title-lockout gear, cause you know how you have been a fan since Day One, right? Carnell is a good kid, and he will bounce back, but im tired of the whining bandwagon fans of Tampa (probably the worst city of fans in America) and the local media hyping this kid as the next Payton so soon. If he fails to live up to the hype, the blame is all upon you. Get off his back (and stop trying to place the entire team upon it) and let his play do the talking for all of us.
And Peter King...two words for your suddenly pigskin karma obsessed self: Bert Emanuel. Didn’t hear you gripe then.