BucShotz

Times staff writer Tom Jones looks back at Sunday's Bucs-Saints game.

By TOM JONES, Times Staff Writer
Published September 17, 2007

Best throw

With all due respect to quarterbackJeff Garcia, who was on the money all day, the Bucs' best throw came from coach Jon Gruden. Strongly urged by his alert players, Gruden threw the challenge flag to ask officials to review a Saints fumble in the first quarter. The ruling on the field was overturned. The Bucs got the ball and immediately drove down and scored. Would things have turned out differently if the Saints had kept the ball and kept driving? Who knows ... but maybe.

Best block

Michael Clayton doesn't catch many passes these days, but his devastating block sprung Joey Galloway's 69-yard touchdown in the second quarter to give the Bucs a 14-0 lead. Hines Ward- or Anthony Munoz, for that matter - could not have done better.

Unnoticed MVP

How about punter Josh Bidwell? He punted five times, and none of his punts was returned. Considering the Saints employ a guy named Reggie Bush, who has been known to kill the Bucs (and a few others) on punt returns, that's a good thing.

Best announcers

Give us announcers Sam Rosen and Tim Ryan every game and we'll be happy. Both are sharp and funny, and Ryan's analysis is spot-on. But one nit: Ryan kept harping on everyone who questioned whetherJeff Garcia can throw a deep ball. Honestly, the only one who ever suggested such a thing was Ryan himself when he kept saying things such as, "Who says Jeff Garcia can't throw a deep ball?" Other than you, Tim, no one.

Best commercial

The Bud Light ads with the two guys who sneak beer bottles into the opera only to have them shatter when the "fat lady" hits her high note. Stupid, but I laughed. Worst commercial? Again, Bud Light. Those yapping little dogs are already on my nerves, and the commercial has only been on a couple of days.

Worst penalty

Sure, the Saints' Reggie Bush pushed Bucs linebacker Cato June to the ground in the third quarter, but to give Bush a 15-yard personal-foul penalty was cheap. First, June deserved a little shove for giving Bush a little knee to the head. And the way June reacted to a pretty tame Bush push, it's surprising he didn't end up on Sunday night's Emmy awards show.

Most tired story line

Geez, Fox beat to death how hot it was. Maybe it's because we live in Florida and know it tends to be a little toasty in the afternoon in September, but it just seemed as if the story was overblown, especially when it didn't really seem to affect anyone's performance.

Best answer

It was only one game, but when he was in there, Derrick Brooks seemed as if he had what might have been a nasty response to all those out there who said he couldn't play this game anymore.

Most interesting stat

We pored over the defensive stats, the offensive stats, the special teams, quarterback ratings and so forth. But the best stat we heard during Sunday's broadcast? Analyst Tim Ryan saying that linemen would lose 10 to 12 pounds on a day such as Sunday.

"That works for Monday morning weigh-ins," Ryan said.

Play-by-play guy Sam Rosen added, "That's why all the steak places are stocked tonight."

Second most interesting stat

Fox said "only 1 percent" of the teams (26 out of 274) who started the season 0-2 went on to make the playoffs. What's interesting is 26 out of 274 is actually about 10 percent. That's bad for Fox (math) and still bad for the Saints (playoff chances)

Just wondering

Yeah, even when Jon Gruden wins, we find a little something to question. Midway through the fourth quarter. Up by three touchdowns. Do you really need Cadillac Williams and his sore ribs running the ball up the gut?

Postgame analysis

The Fox crew wondered aloud how much New Orleans was still feeling the effects from being blown out in Indianapolis in Week 1. But let's not forget, the Saints had extra time to get ready for this game - nine days, to be exact. Meanwhile, the Bucs were working on a slightly shorter week when you consider they played on the West Coast and didn't get home until the wee hours Sept. 10.

Speaking of the Bucs, Fox's Jimmy Johnson said, "This Tampa Bay team ...Jeff Garcia is doing a great job involving everybody."

But Howie Long added a bit of pessimism (or realism, depending on your view): "But can he stay healthy? That's a young offensive and defensive line in Tampa."

Final thought

With all the graphics on the screen - score, quarter, time, down, yards to first down, the yellow line indicating where the first down is - how did we ever watch football on television 20 years ago?

[Last modified September 16, 2007, 21:59:41]