Bucs/NFL

Time for a change?

Another difficult outing may cost rookie QB Bruce Gradkowski his starting job. A last-second field goal prevents a shutout but not humiliation.

By RICK STROUD
Published December 4, 2006

PITTSBURGH - Is anything quite as dramatic in the NFL as a team lining up for a field goal on the final play of the game?

With four seconds left, kicker Matt Bryant took a deep breath and nodded to holder Josh Bidwell, who took a snap from Dave Moore and spun the laces toward the goal posts.

Bryant's foot exploded through the leather, and the 27-yard kick split the uprights as the clock read 0:00.

Oh, the field goal didn't win the game or anything.

Quite the contrary. It didn't mean squat. The Bucs were beaten 20-3, in the process becoming the lowest scoring team in the NFL.

It just was something coach Jon Gruden did to avoid the total embarrassment of being shut out for the third time in the past 15 regular-season games.

And according to Gruden, who at 3-9 is assured of his third losing record in his past four seasons, it was a little homecoming gift for rookie quarterback Bruce Gradkowski.

Playing in front of hundreds of family and friends at Heinz Field, Gradkowski didn't have anything else to show for his efforts except three interceptions.

That's what this year has come down to.

In a season that doesn't matter, the Bucs kicked a field goal that doesn't matter on the final play of the game.

"I'm sure I'll be criticized for that. But I wanted our quarterback to leave Pittsburgh with something," Gruden said. "He left Pittsburgh with a field goal. Whether we kicked it or went for it, that's really beside the point. We've got a lot of things to work on, obviously."

Hopefully, Gradkowski appreciated the gesture, because he might not be playing for a while.

Gruden strongly hinted he is contemplating benching Gradkowski, who is 3-6 as a starter with nine touchdowns and nine interceptions since taking over for Chris Simms.

Most likely, veteran Tim Rattay would be Gruden's choice to start Sunday against the Falcons.

"I'm not going to get into all that tonight," Gruden said. "We've got to play a hell of a lot better to win in this league than we did tonight. It's not just the quarterback. We'll take a look at every avenue that we can to try to put our team in a better position to win next week."

Gruden is right. It's not just Gradkowski. The Bucs had plenty of mistakes from their No. 1 picks.

Running back Cadillac Williams, who rushed 11 times for 27 yards, made almost every error a player at his position can make. He had two false starts, dropped a pass that would've been a first down and lost a fumble. Another one was reversed by an instant replay challenge.

And yet, his performance felt slightly better than that of receiver Michael Clayton.

The Bucs' first-round pick in 2004 dropped what would have been a 39-yard third quarter touchdown pass with no one within a first down of him, a score that would've cut the Steelers' lead to 10-7.

To add injury to insult, Clayton sprained his left medial collateral ligament catching a pass four plays later. The drive ended when Gradkowski overthrew 6-foot-5 rookie Maurice Stovall on a fade route in the end zone and was intercepted by cornerback Bryant McFadden. The Steelers scored 17 of their 20 off four Bucs turnovers.

"It was a tough game for me all around," Williams said. "First of all a loss. Second of all, my performance was very, very poor. There's no excuse.

"I feel like this offense needs a play, so I'm just trying make plays, but at the same time that still isn't a reason for me to drop balls or fumble or have false starts or anything. I put that on me."

Clayton also fell on the sword. He finished with four catches for 57 yards before leaving in the third quarter. He jogged to the locker room but was wearing a knee brace after the game and is scheduled for an MRI exam today.

"We all make mistakes and I definitely made a key one," Clayton said. "Had I made that catch, I don't get hurt the next play. It's just stuff like that you try to minimize, and I couldn't take advantage of it tonight."

Gradkowski's struggles are somewhat expected for a rookie quarterback. But Gruden said he is at a loss to explain why his team continues to be plagued by dropped passes.

"When you're a young guy particularly and you do make a good play and you get nothing out of it ... you get a guy open and we make a good throw and don't catch the ball," Gruden said. "You put that together, it's contagious and it's a disease that certainly has us right now."

Afterward, the players seemed resigned to their fate.

"We had 21 starters coming back," cornerback Ronde Barber said. "We felt like things should've worked out better than they have. It's impossible to find a reason. We've tried. We can't do it."

They had better figure it out quick.

Otherwise, Gruden may be attempting more meaningless kicks like the one Bryant finished Sunday's game with. It was long enough, and it went between the uprights.

But it was no good.

"No one wants to be shut out in this league," Steelers coach Bill Cowher said. "That's obviously why you do that. You kick a field goal because you don't want to be shut out. I guess that's the thinking."

Rick Stroud can be reached at stroud@sptimes.com.

[Last modified December 4, 2006, 05:47:59]