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The Real Test Is Here

Posted Oct 4, 2007 by Roy Cummings

Updated Oct 4, 2007 at 10:40 AM

Bucs

It’s still too hard to tell just how good the Bucs really are. Sure, they’re winning convincingly right now; but you can make the argument that they’ve yet to beat a really good team.

The Saints are not the Saints of last year, the Rams came into Tampa with a quarterback who couldn’t throw because of sore ribs and the Panthers played, admittedly, as if they didn’t care.

That said, you have to give the Bucs credit for doing something winning teams must do. First, they’re beating teams when they’re down; second, they’re beating teams they should beat; third, they’re beating them soundly.

When the Bucs won a year ago they did so by the slimmest of margins – things like a 62-yard Matt Bryant field goal or a Bengals defensive collapse down the stretch.

This year, the Bucs are winning big – very big. Their average margin of victory is 17 points. That’s more points than the Bucs scored in six of their 16 games last year.

The differences are many, of course, but you have to start with the play of quarterback Jeff Garcia. The decision to sign Garcia is fast becoming one of the best GM/Coach Jon Gruden has ever engineered.

Garcia has yet to throw an interception and his ability to slip through defenders’ hands and make a play seemingly out of nothing has limited the number of sacks he’s taken and increased the number of yards he’s produced.

The play of the defense is the other difference maker. The emphasis the Bucs have put on flying to the ball, tackling better and hitting harder has them back among the league’s elite.

You have to wonder, though, how much longer the Bucs can keep this up. The schedule starts to get a little tougher now, with games at Indianapolis and Detroit and at home against Tennessee in the next three weeks.

The defense, I think, will be fine. They have a history of playing well anyway and they seem to have corrected just about all the problems that led to their downfall last year.

The offense is another matter entirely. The loss of Cadillac Williams and Luke Petitgout will have an effect on this team and more than likely the effect will be a negative one.

Petitgout’s experience will be missed. So will the fear Williams presented. Williams gave opposing defenses a running threat that had to be respected. Michael Pittman and Earnest Graham will have to earn that kind of respect.

Until they do, teams will start to load up against the pass. They’re going to start taking away a lot of those short and underneath routes Garcia likes to hit and force him to throw deep or throw the ball away.

Make no mistake, the path to victory is going to be a lot more rocky from here on. The Bucs aren’t going to surprise anyone anymore, so watch closely over the next few weeks. That’s when we’ll learn just how good this team really is.

DAVIS’ TIME MAY BE NEAR: Nothing against Donald Penn, but I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Anthony Davis sees significant playing time during this week’s game against the Colts in Indianapolis.

The reason is simple. Davis has 32 NFL starts to his credit, Penn has none. Playing against Dwight Freeney is tough enough. Playing against him on the road when you’ve got virtually no frame of reference to fall back on could prove disastrous.

The Bucs are already hurting, what with the loss of Williams and Petitgout. If Penn is not the answer at left tackle they could quickly lose Garcia, too. And if Garcia goes down, the season likely goes with him.

I may be wrong about Penn, but I’d give Davis another chance to prove he’s not worthy of the job before I threw Penn against the ‘‘inferno’’ that is Dwight Freeney.

JOHNSON SET THE STANDARD: Somebody asked me the other day if Garcia was nearing the team record for pass attempts without throwing an interception. I didn’t know off the top of my head so I did what all good journalists do and looked it up.

The answer: he’s not even close.

Garcia has attempted 90 passes this year without throwing an interception, which is ridiculously impressive. But to break the team record that Brad Johnson set between 2001 and 2002 Garcia will have to throw another 98 passes without being picked.

ASKEW A VALUABLE ADDITION: He’s not getting a lot of notoriety but fullback B.J. Askew is proving to be one of the better additions the Bucs made this past offseason. Askew has helped open up a lot of the holes that Williams, Michael Pittman and Earnest Graham have run through this year.

‘‘He’s made a lot of big plays for us,’’ Gruden said.

The blockers in front of Askew and the other Bucs backs have made a lot of big plays, too. That’s one reason the Bucs felt they didn’t need to make a deal for a running back this week.

Pittman and Graham are very capable, and with the way the line is blocking, they should continue to have plenty of success as front-line runners. Davin Joseph, Arron Sears and Jeremy Trueblood provide a lot of pop.

FOND FAREWELL: On a slightly personal note, I want to wish a fond farewell to two dynamic former Bucs employees – Eric Land and Tony Morreale.

Land was the Bucs chief operating officer. He joined the team after spending more than five years as the president and general manager of WFLA News Channel 8. Morreale was one of the Bucs public relations assistants.

You’re not likely to meet two finer people or two who were worked harder to serve those they were asked to serve. Both are off on other endeavors now and will be greatly missed.