The Good, The Bad & The Ugly! Colts

The Good

Jeff Garcia - Jeff has been nothing short of amazing for this team. His uncanny knack for sensing pressure and his ability to escape that pressure has been on display all season long. Garcia extended his streak to five games of not tossing an interception. I'm not sure of the stats, but that is either a Buccaneer team record, or he's closing in on one. Jeff and the offense weren't on the field much today as the Colts methodically marched down the field for some very long, time consuming drives today, so his stats aren't going to jump off the page at you. 18 of 23 for 143 yards and 2 TD's. Not glaringly impressive, but as stated before no INT's with a very respectable 79% completion ratio and a QB rating of 121.6....that is impressive against a very good Colt defense.

Alex Smith - Alex wasn't going to be confused with Dallas Clark today with only 2 receptions for 6 yards. Although those 2 catches couldn't have come at better times. Alex seemed to get open when Jeff needed him to at the most important part of the field, inside the red zone. Smith responsible for all 14 of Tampa's points lands him on the good list this week.

Tanard Jackson - Tanard Jackson is becoming a mainstay on this weekly feature. This kid's tenacity and intensity is unmatched. He plays with such a sense of urgency and reckless abandon it just has to be admired. His downright punking of one of the better TE's in the league, Dallas Clark, has to have made a statement. Future opponents will take notice when watching game film the week before their match-ups with the Buccs. Sooner or later the anticipation of what Tanard might do, will affect the play of WR's and TE facing the Buccs defense. Just when it looked like the game was about to get away, Jackson changed momentum toward the Buccs' favor with his interception right after his bone jarring, teeth shattering hit. TJ is making a difference on defense.

The Bad

Joey Galloway - Joey took a page out of Clayton's book today, and caught a case of the dropsies. The Joey Galloway I saw out there today was unlike anything I have ever seen from him before. Just when Jackson turned momentum toward the Buccs' favor, Joey gave it right back when he dropped a sure 3rd down conversion forcing the Buccs to punt, allowoing the Colts to get the ball back with enough time to get another 3 points via field goal before retiring to the locker room for halftime.

Gaines Adams - No one is expecting miracles out of Gaines, but fans are expecting improvement. He had a great PAT block, but that one point obviously didn't make any difference in the score. He totaled 4 tackles, but got nowhere near Manning. Personally I was expecting a breakout game as he was facing fellow rookie picked 42nd overall in round 2, Tony Ugoh. Ugoh won this battle of rookies, just riding Gaines outside past Mannning as he took a wide angle toward the QB. I refuse to judge Gaines at this point in his career, but I must admit I'm becoming worried.

Barber/Buchanon - The New England Patriots drew up the blue print on how to beat the Colts a few years ago. I thought we had the men to duplicate that plan and slow down Manning and company. To slow down the Colts passing game, you have to get up to the line of scrimmage and smack these WR's in the mouth, knock them off their routes and screw up their timing. A lot of people think manning has all day to throw the football, but in fact most of hi passes are out of his hand so quick, even the best defensive pass rush is ineffective. It is vital to mess up the timing between he and his WR's and make him double clutch to give your defensive linemen time to get in his face. Barber and Buchanon provided such a cushion that it seemed like Wayne and Gonzalez weren't even breaking a sweat. To beat Manning and the Colts, you have to abuse his WR's in the first 5 yards, and we didn't do that today.

The Ugly

Jon Gruden - I won't even begin to try and blame Jon for the players not showing up, and looking down right scared out there today. Brooks and Tanard were the only two players that didn't look intimidated today. I won't even blame Jon for being thin at the RB position, as injuries are not his fault. What did drive me crazy today, and what I will hold him accountable for, were the run plays he called. You can only play with what you got, and all John had was Graham. With that being said, you have to call plays that take advantage of your player's strengths and exploit your opponents weaknesses. You have a guy that is a mediocre RB who's strength is running North/South. You're playing a defense that is susceptible to a bruising runner who runs North/South and who is also missing a starting DT in Booger McFarland. But instead, we tried to run laterally today with a slow lumbering Graham against a defense that is just as fast as ours from sideline to sideline. Graham had 6 carries for 11 yards with a long of 9. That's right, the one time we ran right at them, he got 9 yards. On the other hand, he averaged 0.4 yards per carry trying to run outside the tackles. That's unacceptable to me.
...JJC/ABuccsFan