Here are a couple quick conclusions drawn from the Bucs game tonight:
First, if you made Brad Johnson six inches shorter, made him a little less accurate on the intermediate pass, and made him more mobile: you’d have a quarterback that looks a lot like Bruce Gradkowski. The difference between Brad’s and Bruce’s long ball is that Brad knew enough not to throw it (either that or Gruden didn’t ask him to throw it as often). Granted, there are some good quarterbacks that didn’t show much six starts into their careers; but, Bruce is SO inconsistent… even when you factor in the dropped passes. “Rookie” should not be a hall pass for poor play, and I think Bruce may be getting too many.
Second, there aren’t too many other choices right now.
Third, nothing is safe in the hands of the Bucs’ safeties. Who knew the Bucs would miss Darrell Jackson so much? (Besides Darrell Jackson…)
Fourth, Michael Clayton still isn’t doing much to back up his claim he’s not getting enough touches. You could say that he’s suffering through a rookie quarterback… but he wasn’t doing much with Simms either.
Fifth, the Bucs are facing stiff competition in the Brady Quinn Sweepstakes. Detroit, Tampa, Tennessee, and Oakland are all right there at 2-7 with nearly identical conference records of 1-6 (Oakland has a game in hand at 1-5 in their conference); but they’re all a game behind Arizona at 1-8. However, the ace in the hole continues to be the Bucs’ schedule… which continues to be brutal.
Sixth, it’s really late and it’s going to be a REALLY long day tomorrow. They don’t make coffee strong enough for tomorrow morning.