Lions WR takes a swipe at Garcia

By STEPHEN F. HOLDER, Times Staff Writer
Published October 18, 2007

TAMPA - Jeff Garcia sums up his one forgettable season in Detroit this way: "There's not a whole lot to reflect on."

It's hard to argue. The quarterback's return to the Motor City on Sunday, when Tampa Bay meets Detroit, will evoke memories of perhaps the most difficult season of his career.

The 2005 season began badly when Garcia broke a leg in the final preseason game. Things went downhill from there.

"That was a difficult year beginning with the injury in the last preseason game, and it never really got going for me," Garcia said. "It was an unfortunate thing. I believe that, organizationwise and playerwise, there were some possibilities to do some good things. But we could never really get it going."

Garcia returned to play in six games, but he now says he believes he rushed back too soon and played poorly as a result. He posted the worst quarterback rating of his career (65.1) and passed for just three touchdowns compared to six interceptions while throwing for 937 yards.

Things weren't always good from a relationship standpoint, either. In fact, it appears there still are some differences.

Lions receiver Roy Williams, speaking to a Detroit radio station this week, was asked why Garcia struggled there. He responded by criticizing Garcia's handling of certain situations.

"He blamed everybody but himself," said Williams, who was in his second year in the league in 2005. "I respected the man. I just didn't like the fact that it would be (the receivers') fault and never his fault. It's always the receivers' fault."

Williams downplayed Garcia's command of the West Coast offense, saying, "My son can run the West Coast system, and he's only 2."

Asked Wednesday to respond, Garcia said: "As a quarterback, you're always shouldering the blame. I had no problem absorbing whatever it was that I had to absorb. ... We play this game as a team, and everybody's responsible and everybody has to have accountability. That's where I felt that, at times, there wasn't a whole lot of accountability among everyone in that locker room."

In a subsequent interview, Garcia called out some Detroit players' work ethic: "I can't force players to take their playbook home with them. I can't force players to get in the weight room. I can't force players to watch more film. That's up to each and every individual player."

UP, UP AND AWAY: The Bucs enter the game wary of Detroit offensive coordinator Mike Martz's vertical passing game, something that will require Tampa Bay to find a balance between blitzing and defending against the deep ball.

"You can't just blitz these guys because Mike gets rid of that ball quick," defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin said. "He did it with (Kurt) Warner (in St. Louis), and he does it with this guy, Jon Kitna. When they spread out and the ball gets out of there quick, it's hard. You have to blitz. But a lot of it has got to come from the four-man rush because you have to play coverage on those fast guys."

LionS make change at RB: Detroit running back Kevin Jones will get his first start of the season against the Bucs. Jones missed the first two games of the season recovering from a foot injury, but he has had at least 10 carries in each of the past two games.

Tatum Bell has started each game, and his agent talked to the team last week about trading him before Tuesday's deadline, which passed with Bell still on the team.

"The break was good for my foot, and my body in general," Jones said of the bye week.

INJURIES: Bucs tight end Alex Smith (ankle), defensive end Patrick Chukwurah (shoulder) and cornerback Brian Kelly (groin) missed practice. Defensive end Greg Spires (ankle) was limited.

Times wires contributed to this report.

[Last modified October 18, 2007, 00:56:49]