This week’s Pewter Report Roundtable is FREE for all Bucs fans to read. In fact, all of the Pewter Insider content on PewterReport.com is FREE this week. Be sure to check out PewterReport.com on a daily basis. Feel free to share this story with other Buccaneers fans.

If you like the Pewter Insider content, subscribe to our premium service by calling 1-800-881-BUCS(2827) or clicking here. In addition to over 200 premium stories, columns, videos, chats and podcasts each year, you’ll also get access to the Pewter Insider message board and 10 issues of the color, glossy Pewter Report magazine.

Publisher Scott Reynolds
"The Buccaneers may have to take Cadillac Williams out of the garage sooner than expected with the ankle injury that starting halfback Earnest Graham suffered on his first carry against Minnesota. Graham, who was already gutting it out due to a knee injury he received at Kansas City two weeks ago, missed the entire game against the Vikings and may not be able to go against Detroit next week. That means Williams, who just came off the PUP (physically unable to perform) list and was inactive against Minnesota, will likely be active against the Lions. Yet if there was a perfect shake-off-the-rust game for Williams to make his 2008 debut in, it might be against Detroit, which has the 32nd-ranked defense in the NFL. A defense, by the way, that gave up 264 yards on the ground to Carolina on Sunday. While the Bucs were excited about Williams' return this week, he was never in the game plan against Minnesota. The team was probably thinking the same thing about his status versus Detroit until Graham's injury today. Now Williams will have to shift his comeback from a torn patellar tendon injury into high gear to help the Buccaneers advance to 8-3. Expect head coach Jon Gruden to still lean on Warrick Dunn against the Lions, but with Clifton Smith fumbling on offense in two consecutive games against the Chiefs and the Vikings, Gruden may be forced to give Williams the ball next week to spell Dunn on occasion - whether Cadillac is truly ready or not."

"I thought Jon Gruden's play-calling against Minnesota was quite good and creative. The Bucs varied their offensive calls with a double reverse that Antonio Bryant took for nine yards, a screen pass for Warrick Dunn that went for nine yards, and a couple pass plays on roll outs off play action, which have been missing in the game plan for weeks. Bryant also gained nine yards on a wide receiver screen, and the Bucs even brought out the "Wildcat" formation that saw Jeff Garcia line up at wide receiver and Warrick Dunn line up at quarterback in the shotgun formation. Dunn only gained a yard out the "Wildcat," but it was nice to see Gruden using a little trickeration. But why didn't these creative plays produce touchdowns? Why wasn't Tampa Bay able to produce more than 19 points, and why did it have to settle for four Matt Bryant field goals inside the red zone? The reason was Jeff Garcia not taking enough shots downfield. Yes, Garcia should be applauded for taking a shot downfield to tight end Jerramy Stevens for a 31-yard gain down to the Minnesota 1 on second-and-25 from the 32-yard line. Yes, Garcia was incredibly efficient against the Vikings, completing 23-of-30 passes (76.6 percent) for 255 yards, but he was too content to check the ball down to an open outlet pass-catcher rather than giving a wide receiver or a tight end a chance to make a bigger play in a one-on-one setting downfield. The primary example of this was on third-and-2 at the Tampa Bay 40 with 1:00 left in the half. Joey Galloway was open 25 yards down the field, but Garcia hesitated and decided to check the ball down to Ike Hilliard in the right flat for a loss of one yard. Instead of being in field goal range by throwing to Galloway, the Bucs were forced to punt right before halftime, trailing 13-6. This is just one example as wide receivers were open down the field and in the end zone, but Garcia did not pull the trigger. This conservative type of approach wound up winning the game for the Buccaneers, but prevented the offense from being as explosive as it could have - and perhaps should have - been because Garcia either doesn't trust his arm enough to make plays or doesn't trust his receivers enough to make plays. This is the same type of play that has existed all season with Garcia under center - good play, but not great. As I've said before, I think Garcia will play just well enough to get Tampa Bay into the playoffs, but he may be the reason the Bucs end up losing in the postseason, which is where upper echelon quarterbacks are usually called on to shine. I don't think Garcia fits in that category."

"As good as Jon Gruden's play-calling was, he did have his share of bad plays called as well, especially inside the red zone. One stinker was a toss to the right to Warrick Dunn on first-and-goal from the Minnesota 3. The Vikings had that play properly defended from the start and Dunn was stuffed for a 4-yard loss. Two plays later, Jeff Garcia dished a shovel pass to Clifton Smith on third-and-goal from the Minnesota 7, but the play wound up losing a yard. Garcia appeared to audible at the line of scrimmage on that play, so if Gruden didn't actually call it and Garcia did, my apologies to the head coach. Running Dunn up the middle on third-and-1 at the Minnesota 10 in the fourth quarter, a play that wound up losing a yard, was not a wise idea considering that the Bucs ran up the middle on four consecutive short-yardage situations. Although Tampa Bay had converted the two previous third-and-1 situations, the third time wasn't the charm as the Vikings were ready for it. While I credit Gruden for being more creative for a slew of other plays, he really should have been a bit more imaginative on these particular plays."

"Is legendary Bucs linebacker Derrick Brooks on his last leg? Yes, but that leg can still kick some butt and did so against Minnesota. Brooks finished the game with six tackles, a tackle for loss and a pass defensed. Not a great stat line at first glance, but there were a couple key plays that Brooks made that were ... well, signature Brooks plays. The first came on fourth-and-1 from the Minnesota 49 with 5:58 left in the third quarter. Vikings quarterback Gus Frerotte was almost sacked by Ronde Barber, but managed to evade the blitzing cornerback and throw the ball downfield to running back Adrian Peterson, who was running a wheel route down the right hash mark. Perhaps surprisingly, Brooks was running stride for stride with Peterson, and despite a good throw by Frerotte, the future Hall of Fame linebacker was able to break up the pass and force a turnover on downs. Brooks' second stellar play came on third-and-2 at the Minnesota 28 with 3:11 left in regulation and the Vikings trailing by six points. Frerotte threw a short pass to his left to wide receiver Aundrae Allison, but Brooks was tracking Allison the whole way and at the moment he caught the ball, Brooks drilled him for a 1-yard loss and wrapped him up with a textbook form tackle. That forced Minnesota into a fourth-and-3 situation and Frerotte's pass to Sidney Rice fell incomplete. He may not be as dominant as he used to be, but Brooks still has it, folks."

"Is Joey Galloway being phased out of the offense? Is Galloway in Jon Gruden's dog house? The answer to those questions is "No." Remember that Galloway has missed a significant part of practice time in 2008 dating back to the OTAs when he was rehabbing a shoulder injury from 2007, and missed the entire training camp and preseason with a groin tear. After seeing action in the first two games, Galloway suffered a foot and ankle injury against Atlanta in Week 2 that caused him to miss five games. As a result, Galloway is still shaking off the rust and is now third on the depth chart along with Ike Hilliard behind the likes of Antonio Bryant and Michael Clayton. Bryant has been the Bucs' best receiver this year and has taken over Galloway's old role as the split end (X receiver), thus relegating Galloway, who is now healthy, to the slot. The reason why Galloway was not on the field much against Minnesota was the fact that the Bucs were mostly using "Regular" personnel (two receivers, one tight end and two backs) or "U" personnel (two tight ends, two backs and one receiver) sets because Gruden thought his team had better match-ups with those personnel groupings. The Bucs were rarely in "Zebra" personnel (three receivers, one back and one tight end) on Sunday, but when they were, Galloway was on the field. Expect to see more of Galloway and "Zebra" personnel next week against Detroit."

Editor-In-Chief Jim Flynn
"Tampa Bay's bye week came and went, and the Bucs' red zone woes still exist. The Bucs kicked five field goals versus the Vikings on Sunday. Fortunately, kicker Matt Bryant made four of them. While the red zone issues will continue to be talked about by critics, the one issue that also needs to be addressed is Tampa Bay's slow offensive starts. Through 10 games, the Bucs offense has failed to score a touchdown in the first half of five games, including Sunday's contest against Minnesota. In fact, Tampa Bay's offense has been held without a first half touchdown in three straight games. That needs to change if the Bucs are going to make the playoffs and advance in the postseason."

"The Bucs offense only scored one touchdown in seven trips inside the Vikings' 30-yard line, but this unit deserves credit for moving the ball well versus Minnesota's sixth-ranked defense, especially in the second half. Vikings running back Adrian Peterson rushed for 71 yards in the first half, but he finished the game with just 85 yards on 19 carries. That's a credit to Tampa Bay's defense, which made great halftime adjustments, but the offense played a huge role in sustaining drives, too. That kept Peterson and the Minnesota offense on the sideline throughout most of the second half. The Bucs dominated the time of possession in the second half, 20:38 to 9:22."

"Tampa Bay faced a trap game in Kansas City two weeks ago, and it will face another one in Detroit next Sunday. The Lions are 0-10 on the season, and the Bucs, who are one game behind the 8-2 Carolina Panthers in the NFC South division race, cannot afford to slip up in Detroit. The bad news for Tampa Bay is Detroit has not been playing that bad as of late. Five of the Lions' last six losses have been by 10 points or less, and three of them have been by just one score. Detroit will want to win this game badly. Not only are the Lions winless, but they have several former members of the Bucs organization, including head coach Rod Marinelli, defensive coordinator Joe Barry, defensive backs coach Jimmy Lake, defensive end Dewayne White, defensive tackle Chuck Darby, linebacker Ryan Nece, cornerback Brian Kelly and safeties Dwight Smith and Kalvin Pearson, who would love nothing more than to hinder Tampa Bay's attempt to defend its NFC South division title. The fact that they beat the Bucs last year in Detroit, despite Tampa Bay prevailing on the stat sheet, could give the Lions some much-needed confidence."

Beat Writer Charlie Campbell
"The pass protection from the Bucs offensive line has been superb all season, and the line may have had its most noteworthy game of pass protection against the Vikings. Not only does Minnesota have one of the best pass rushing defensive ends in Jared Allen, but they also have the best defensive tackle tandem in the NFL in Kevin Williams and Pat Williams. The Bucs shut out those great defenders. Not one of them registered a sack, a quarterback hurry, or a knockdown. Entering the season, the view of the majority of NFL pundits was that this offensive line's strong suit was run blocking. While the run blocking has been good at times, it has not been as consistent as expected. The rushing attack has suffered also due to reasons outside of the offensive line. Opposing teams have been throwing eight-man fronts and daring the Bucs to beat them through the air. The five-man line cannot be expected to block eight defenders. The excellent pass blocking has helped pick up the slack for the offense though, and allowed Tampa Bay to keep winning. They have given time for Bucs quarterback Jeff Garcia to take advantage of the opposition selling out to stop the run, and complete enough passes to score enough points to win the past two games. Garcia has also had a number of injury issues over the past few seasons, but the offensive line has done their part in keeping him injury free since his return to the lineup six games ago. If the offensive line keeps up their great pass protection Tampa Bay should have plenty of opportunities to move the ball in the passing attack."

"It seems like almost every week the Buccaneers suffer a big injury. Last week, it was Earnest Graham and Alex Smith. This week it was Graham again, and reserve linebacker Geno Hayes. Graham's injury did not look to be as serious as Hayes injury, but Graham is having his injuries add up. The young linebacker was having a strong rookie season. He spelled Brooks early in the season when the veteran was playing through a hamstring injury, and graded out very well. Hayes also had a punt blocked that he returned for a touchdown against the Carolina Panthers in Week 6. Over the season, Hayes has emerged as one of the Buccaneers' better special teams players. He also was proving to be a serious candidate to groom and eventually replace Brooks as the Bucs' Will (weakside) linebacker. Hayes went down late in the game with a knee injury that looked as if it could be significant. After the game, Hayes left the locker room on crutches, and was going to undergo tests on the injury Monday. If Hayes has a torn ligament it would be a big blow to the Buccaneers special teams and their depth on defense. It would also rob Tampa Bay, and Hayes, of valuable time to grow and improve in practice. If the injury is a torn ACL (anterior cruciate ligament), it would probably cost Hayes next spring's OTAs (organized team activities) and mini-camp. That could severely hurt his development and his career in the NFL. Hopefully for Hayes and Tampa Bay, his injury will not be serious and he will not miss much time."

"Congratulations are in order for the Bucs organization and Bucs fans. By beating the Vikings, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers now have .500 record at home during the history of their franchise. After many down seasons, the Bucs are now 127-127-1 at home. This year marked the team's first 5-0 start at home in franchise history. The remaining home opponents are New Orleans, San Diego, and Oakland. The Buccaneers have a realistic shot at going 8-0 at home for the first time in franchise history. With the way they've been playing at home, if the Buccaneers can get a playoff game at home, that could make all the difference with the team going on a postseason run."

Comments