Hilliard waits for key catch

Jeff Garcia looks elsewhere before completing a 28-yard pass that sparks the winning drive.

By JOANNE KORTH, Times Staff Writer
Published October 15, 2007

Tampa Bay wide receiver Ike Hilliard heads to the sidelines to stop the clock for a 28-yard gain at the Tennessee 48 during the Bucs' final drive in the fourth. Photo gallery Audio: Gary Shelton's post-game analysis
	[James Borchuck | Times]

TAMPA - On third and must-have, Ike Hilliard was the third option.

The safety valve.

The sure thing.

The check down.

But when the Titans took away quarterback Jeff Garcia's first two options, Hilliard was there to jump-start the Bucs' winning drive with a 28-yard catch. He not only picked up a first down, but got to the sideline to stop the clock.

Sometimes, reliable is better than flashy.

"It's not like you say, 'Third down, let's go to Ike and he'll get us out of trouble.' It's never like that," Hilliard, 31, said. "We draw plays, and sometimes, they may put me in a situation to work against coverage and be a check down option. I just happened to be the guy."

With the score tied at 10, the Bucs offense took over at its 20 with 1:17 left. There was little reason to be optimistic. Beyond a 69-yard touchdown to Joey Galloway, the offense had generated only two first downs in the second half - one via a Titans penalty.

After consecutive incompletions, the Bucs faced the possibility of punting the ball back to a hot Titans offense with nearly a minute left on the clock.

Coach Jon Gruden, anticipating a Cover 2 zone on an obvious passing down, called for a three-receiver formation with Joey Galloway and Michael Clayton on the right, Hilliard on the left. Galloway ran a deep route, Clayton an out route toward the sideline.

Neither was open.

The Titans linebackers played deep enough in their zone to take away Garcia's outside throwing lanes. That left Hilliard, running a crossing route about 15 yards deep.

"I was working the two-receiver side with Joey and Michael Clayton," Garcia said. "With what I was seeing, I didn't think that was real positive over there. Ike was working over the ball, between 10 and 15 yards. I knew I had him as a potential outlet if I were able to create a little space, buy a little time and allow him to work around the linebackers."

Garcia scrambled to buy some time and fired a strike into Hilliard's chest. With the first down secured, Hilliard turned to pick up yardage and, with blocks from Clayton and fullback B.J. Askew, got out of bounds to stop the clock with 54 seconds left.

"I was trying to get out of bounds the whole time, try to conserve the last timeout in case we needed it," Hilliard said. "But I didn't want to force the issue, lose grass, lose a first down or put our team in trouble. I think we've seen that happen more than enough times in this league."

After completions of 3 yards to Earnest Graham and 14 yards to Galloway, Hilliard delivered again. After a 10-yard catch, Hilliard stepped out of bounds at the Titans 25 with 16 seconds left.

Matt Bryant came on to kick the winning 43-yard field goal.

"It goes back to training camp when we answered all those questions about what is Ike Hilliard going to do and does he have a role?" Gruden said. "He is a heck of a football player. He understands the game. Ike Hilliard is a specialist in those kinds of situations. That's one of the reasons why we throw to him."

Joanne Korth can be reached at korth@sptimes.com or 727 893-8810.

[Last modified October 14, 2007, 22:54:26]