The Bucs took some steps in the right direction Saturday night.  But, let’s keep it real: the team on the other side of the field was the Miami Dolphins.

First off, congrats to the quarterbacks.  All four of them played pretty well.  Brian Griese had the lone TD toss, but engineered a rspectable drive.  Chris Simms played well, in fact, you could argue that he had the best night of the four - engineering another scoring drive, and a few respectable drives.  Using the words of Coach Gruden, Luke McCown managed to avoid “lightning strikes”, i.e. mistakes.  But, you could argue he didn’t really do anything positive with his time under center.  Josh Johnson showed why he’s on the camp roster.  Let’s give him another couple of weeks.  Here’s my question, Bucs fans: Why is Chris Simms in the doghouse to the degree that we all expect he should be gone - yet, he outplayed three other Buc signal callers Sunday night?  Wouldn’t we want the second best QB on the roster to fill the number 2 spot on our depth chart during the regular season?  Do we really think that is Luke McCown?  I’m just saying…

Next, the offensive line deserves some high fives.  But, let me bring an aroma of reality to the party - Bill Muir.  Yep, the same man we have wanted to flay at times during the last two seasons.  I’m crossing my fingers (toes and eyebrows, too) that this guy will finally justify the hopes the Bucs have pinned on him.  But I need to see his line do more than man-handle the Jason-Taylor-less Dolphins before I coronate him.

A couple of uglies?  How about Matt Bryant?  What happened?  Two picture perfect snaps and holds.  Two perfectly straight kicks… perfectly five yards to the right.  How about Michael Clayton’s drop of a sure scoring potential pass?  The replay showed his eyes leave that ball before it hit his hands.  The best thing he could do would be to make that a DVD for children aspiring to be wide receivers in the NFL… WATCH THE BALL ALL THE WAY IN.  And lastly, how about our back-up defenders making Ricky Williams look good?  Tackling 101.  I’ll bet that Monte Kiffin will have that film on hand this week.  What do you think?

Hey, not a bad outing for the kid with the confusing name.  Ashib Taliq… er, Aqui Taqui… you know who I’m talking about.  A couple of really nice open field tackles - he will be the only guy who doesn’t need to put on his sunglasses when Monte cues up the Ricky Williams reel.

One more name to drop: Michael Bennett - this year’s version of Earnest Graham.  Mr. August.

What are your thoughts after one pre-season outing?