HOUSTON – Tampa Bay coach Jon Gruden said Jeff Garcia would play next week against the Atlanta after his quarterback recently sustained a back injury.
Garcia’s injury occurred two games ago against Washington, and Gruden continuously classified his status as day-to-day when interviewed by the media, but inwardly believed revealing too many specifics would ultimately hurt the team.

“I’m sure there has been a lot of debate and I have done the best I can not to let the whole world know what we’re doing,” Gruden said. “It’s hard enough to make a first down in this league if everybody has your game plan, but this was a two week injury. The medical people said the injury was going to take two full weeks.

“As you know, Garcia will tell you he could have played, and he could have. He played against Washington after he got hurt, but the injury took two weeks to heal. We feel we did the only thing, and that’s let the injury take its time to heal. When we walk in the building on Monday, No.7 will be back.”
The Bucs were able to win two-of-three games without Garcia, who was listed as the third quarterback in Tampa Bay’s last two games and could have played if needed.

Backup Bruce Gradkowski played the majority of Tampa Bay’s victory against Washington, but struggled during that win. Luke McCown received the starting nod in Tampa Bay’s last two wins and was 1-1.

However, it is clear Tampa Bay’s offense plays consistently better with Garcia under center, and he will prepare to play again on Monday.

“As much as it was difficult earlier in the week, I was trying to battle coach about being back out there,” Garcia said. “He was pretty straight forward in the sense of ‘see how you feel, but most likely not.’ As the days went along, and I got some reps out on the practice field, I could still feel like I was working through some aches, but coming out today, aches seemed to be gone. Full range of motion was there. I felt really good. I’m ready to go on Monday.”