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For their own good Fifty years ago, they were screwed-up kids sent to the Florida School for Boys to be straightened out. But now they are screwed-up men, scarred by the whippings they endured. Read the story and see a video and portrait gallery.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - It has been one of the prevailing themes of the Bucs' season and it showed again Sunday.
Despite the agony of a loss, the curiosity about what went wrong and the annoyance over missed opportunities, the team's problems do not fall squarely on the play of the quarterback.
Veteran Brian Griese continues to show poise, passion and some punch even though his team is inches from playoff elimination.
"He moved that team up and down the field against a defense that we have great respect for," coach Jon Gruden said.
In Sunday's 21-14 loss to the Panthers, the Bucs found many ways to throw a winnable game out the window and Griese contributed to it by giving up a 46-yard interception return to defensive end Julius Peppers.
But the Bucs wouldn't have been in a position to think about the win had Griese not done his best to impose some of his will on the opposing defense. The seven-year veteran, bothered by a sore right hip flexor, was 27-of-39 for 347 yards and two touchdowns.
"We came in with a game plan and we wanted to run the right play at the right time, and we felt good about reading their defense," Griese said. "I felt we did a good job of that (Sunday). We did have to audible quite a bit. I think that a lot of the reason we were successful in moving the ball was because of that.
"We just didn't get it done in the end. We didn't make enough plays. You can't come on the road and turn the ball over three times, miss (three) field goals and expect to win."
But Griese, finding ways to get the ball to his band of sure-handed receivers, put up a game effort. "He did what we expected him to do," left tackle Derrick Deese said. "He's done it all year. It's funny because the guy is a good quarterback, everybody has to stop acting like he was just born or they just found this guy. He's a good quarterback and has been a good quarterback, I think a lot of time it's the media that gets down on a guy."
Added receiver Joe Jurevicius: "I think he did a great job. It's a tribute to Brian."
Griese recognized that the Panthers were doing everything possible to keep the big plays away from Jurevicius, receivers Michael Clayton and Joey Galloway and tight end Ken Dilger. So, he turned his attention to running back Michael Pittman, who finished with eight catches for 134 yards.
"Brian did great, especially considering what we had to work with," Pittman said. "He stayed positive, especially after the interception, he was fired up still and he didn't get down on himself. He drove us down there for the tying touchdown. My hat's off to him."
Continuing to solidify his future with the Bucs, Griese engineered a 13-play, 66-yard fourth-quarter touchdown drive that chewed up 71/2 minutes and tied the score at 14.
In that drive, he was 8-of-9 for 77 yards and completed passes to five different receivers, three of them on third down. For the game, the Bucs were 10-of-16 on third down.
None of that, of course, eased any of Griese's discomfort over the outcome.
"It's tough," he said. "We fought hard. We didn't play our best game by any stretch of the imagination. I, myself, turned the ball over and gave them seven points. We had a couple of fumbles. ... So I give our guys a lot of credit for fighting and keeping us in the game, but at the end of the day it's no consolation."
And while a team's quarterback usually is first to be pelted with blame, Deese made it clear that this loss could not be hung on the man behind center.
"There are a lot of things that made the difference," he said. "Kickers have to kick. ... We had interceptions for a touchdown, we didn't run the ball well, we didn't get on track as an offense like we wanted to.
"Yes, the passing attack was there. We stayed where we were supposed to stay but we didn't win. It's the W that counts and this week it's an L. It's not just one phase that didn't win. It's not one fumble. Not one series. Not one play. Not one missed block. It's a lot of little things that ended up being one big thing."
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Fifty years ago, they were screwed-up kids sent to the Florida School for Boys to be straightened out. But now they are screwed-up men, scarred by the whippings they endured. Read the story and see a video and portrait gallery.
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