Ah here come all the second guessers.  Jon Gruden should not have played his starters.  Jon Gruden should have tried to win like it was a normal game.  Jon Gruden should have given all the kids exactly what they wanted for Christmas.

OK all you Monday morning quarterbacks, picture this scenario.  Bucs are tied late in the fourth quarter with the Niners and Patrick Willis levels Jeff Garcia on a scramble for a winning fieldgoal. Garcia leaves the field on a cart and is out for the rest of the season.  Cue every headline writer and fan on the case asking why he was still in a game that had no meaning.

Any one can say what should have happened after the event.  Heck the captain of the Titanic might have avoided that iceberg and Dustin Hoffman never would have made “Ishtar”.  But Jon Gruden is paid the big bucks to make the decisions at the time and this was the right one.

All the fans and hysterical morning radio show hosts (Diaz and Beckles, I’m talking to you here) were grudgingly complimentary when Jon made the gutsy 4th down call in New Orleans. Imagine if that one had gone wrong?  Now give him the respect he is due with this decision.  It’s why he is on the sidelines coaching and you all are not.

But aside from that, a few sloppy mistakes that need to be cleaned up before the playoffs is what we should be concerned with from the game at Monster Park.  You can expect more of the same next week against Carolina but hopefully a more slick performance all round, by all the 45 active players that day.

And with that, may I take this opportunity to wish you all a very Merry Christmas, and a happy, peaceful and prosperous New Year.