By Times Staff and Wire Reports
Published October 2, 2003
TAMPA - Always the optimist, injured middle linebacker Shelton Quarles is aiming to return Monday night against the Colts.
But the Bucs aren't ready to give him the green light considering the remote chance his left forearm, broken in a special-teams drill on Sept. 4, will be completely healed by then.
"He is practicing and moving around real good," coach Jon Gruden said. "He has another appointment later on this week with the medical staff and his final status for this game will be determined later this week. But we're really optimistic for how far he's come in such a short period of time.
"Whether or not he'll be cleared to play by the medical people remains to be seen."
The starting middle linebacker has missed all three games this season but is scheduled to have a final X-ray Friday afternoon. The bone would have to show complete healing for Quarles to have a chance to play.
"I think it's a reach, but it's within grasp, so I'm going to shoot for me playing," Quarles said. "I'm a lot stronger than I was at this point last week, so hopefully it'll continue to improve."
The Bucs have kept Quarles out of contact drills - or so they think.
"I'm making a little bit of contact here and there, even though I'm not supposed to," Quarles said with a smile. "I'm sticking it in there every now and then."
Quarles stands a good chance of playing against the Redskins on Oct. 12 but will likely have to wear a brace. "It's a little bit cumbersome but, hopefully, Ill learn to deal with it," he said.
KEEPING PERSPECTIVE: The Colts' 55-21 hammering of the Saints on Sunday night in New Orleans caught the attention of the Bucs coaching staff, but didn't strike fear in the players.
"I think you have to take it with a grain of salt," defensive tackle Warren Sapp said. "It's not us. You look at them put up 55 against New Orleans and we laugh at it. That's not going down. But we have to be ready to play. They are a high-powered offense with Marvin Harrison, Edgerrin James and Peyton Manning, one of the best signalcallers you'll find from here to 80 years behind.
"They are special and we are too. If you ask them how they win the game, they'll say, "Put our offense out there.' We'd say, "Put our defense out there.' Let's see what we've got."
Linebacker Derrick Brooks gave the Colts credit for seizing opportunities. "I sat there and watched the game and I saw mistakes being made and they capitalized on them," he said. "They took advantage of some matchups that they had and they scored on them."
QUOTE OF THE DAY: "You've got to respect them. But the thing I've come to learn being on this Tampa Bay Buccaneers team, don't too many stars shine when you play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Triple threat, no threat, it's about us." - Dwight Smith on the Colts' Manning, Harrison and James.
FALSE IMPRESSIONS: The Colts' 55-21 victory has people buzzing about their high-powered offense, but the Bucs average more yards per game. Tampa Bay ranks eighth in the league in total offense (347 yards) and the Colts 15th (317.3 yards).
Which means nothing.
"Yards are the worst thing to go by," Bucs quarterback Brad Johnson said. "The only thing you can go by is winning games and winning championships. If we were trying to rack up yards we might have thrown the ball a little bit more in the fourth quarter against Atlanta. We're not caught up in the yards thing. We're caught up in getting a lead, preserving it and finishing it out."
SPY MATERIAL?: Tight end Ken Dilger spent seven seasons with the Colts before coming to Tampa Bay as a free agent last season. Could his familiarity with offensive coordinator Tom Moore's system be of help to the Bucs this week?
"He's been gone for long enough now to not be of great assistance, but who knows?" Gruden said. "We'll try to probe him. We'll interrogate him every way we can."
NOT SO IDLE: Several Bucs spent quality time with their families during the bye week. Some were happy to return to the busy business of football.
"I was up all night feeding the babies and blowing bubbles with my kids," Johnson said. "It was nice to get away but it was almost a relief to come back to football. My 2-year-old, Max, he's going full tilt all day. He gives a lot of energy to the house. He's chasing my dog, the dog's barking. There's never a dull moment."
INJURY REPORT: Quarles (broken left forearm) is questionable; receiver Joe Jurevicius (torn right MCL) is doubtful.
GLAZER ADDS SHARES: Bucs owner Malcolm Glazer upped his interest in English soccer club Manchester United to nearly 6 percent, the club said.
Malcolm I. Glazer Family Limited Partnership went from 3.17 percent ownership to 5.92 percent of the issued share capital of the company.
The world's wealthiest soccer team announced pretax profits of $64.84-million for last season.
