Bucs Squander an Opportunity In Jags Loss

Football Betting Lines

10/30/2007 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - When the 2007 NFL season ends and the post-mortems are written, this one is going to stand out for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. And not in a good way.

The Bucs' 24-23 loss to Jacksonville on Sunday was a game Jon Gruden's crew had to have. Teams that have playoff aspirations, and beyond, don't lose home affairs to first-time NFL starters who finish with all of seven completions.

Teams with staying power don't relinquish chances to acquire control of the division, and they don't blow opportunities to draw nearer to the conference field entering the season's second half.

But Tampa committed all of the above sins on Sunday, dropping its third game in the last four, and remaining a game behind first-place Carolina (4-3) in the NFC South with resurgent New Orleans (3-4) tailgating quite closely.

It was an uncharacteristic game for Tampa Bay on several fronts.

Quarterback Jeff Garcia, lauded for his efficiency and an aversion to mistakes in each of his first seven starts in a Tampa uniform, was neither efficient nor mistake-free against Jacksonville. Garcia completed just 19-of-41 passes in the loss, also throwing his first three interceptions of the year after entering the day with 189 pass attempts and no picks in 2007. Two of the INTs were absolute killers, the first going the other way for an Aaron Glenn touchdown in the second quarter, and the final coming on 4th-and-10 on Tampa's ill-fated final drive.

Garcia's 45.5 passer rating was his worst of the campaign to date.

Defensively, where the Buccaneers should have been able to set the tone against an opponent that everyone knew was going to have to run the ball to survive, clammed up at all the wrong times.

After going ahead 23-17 on a Matt Bryant field goal late in the third quarter, Tampa Bay allowed Jacksonville quarterback Quinn Gray to engineer his best drive of the day, an eight-play, 53-yarder that culminated in a brilliant one- handed touchdown catch by Matt Jones.

Later, on a critical 3rd-and-6 play from the Jacksonville 7-yard line with 3:17 left, the Bucs allowed Gray to complete an 18-yard dump-off to fullback Greg Jones, a conversion that moved the chains in the clock in ways that proved fatal to the Tampa cause.

After finally re-acquiring the football with 1:43 left, the Bucs nearly stole the game back when Ike Hilliard broke free on a go route along the ride sideline. But Garcia overthew him, tossing his game-ending pick on the next play.

All in a bad, and potentially very damaging, afternoon for Gruden and company.

"Obviously, I'm very disappointed in that game," said Gruden. "I felt we had a number of chances to get it done tonight...I thought we had 10 or 12 plays, big plays, big opportunities to make them. I didn't think we cashed in on some opportunities that we normally do. That's the difference between winning and losing. They're making one-handed catches for touchdowns. Unfortunately for us, we were not able to come up with several big plays."

SOME PEOPLE CALL ME MAURICE

An ankle injury to wide receiver Michael Clayton suffered in last week's loss to Detroit allowed second-year-man Maurice Stovall to crack the starting lineup for the first time this season. Stovall opened the game on the field along with Joey Galloway and Ike Hilliard in the club's three-receiver set, and finished with career-highs of five receptions and 47 yards. Stovall had scored his first career touchdown against Detroit the week before.

Clayton is not expected to return this week, meaning more time for Stovall, a third-round selection out of Notre Dame in the 2006 Draft.

AT THIS JUNCTURE

The loss to Jacksonville meant that the Buccaneers reached the season's midway point at 4-4, perhaps a bit of a disappointment given the team's 3-1 start but still a vast improvement over last year's 2-6 mark at the halfway pole.

The Buccaneers are no stranger to 4-4, having opened with that first-half record 10 times since the schedule went to 16 games in 1978. The bad news for Tampa Bay fans is that the last time it happened, 2003, the Bucs finished 7-9 and out of the playoff money. The encouraging news is that Tampa Bay has used 4-4 as a springboard to the postseason five times, including in three straight years under Tony Dungy (1999-2001).

The best Tampa Bay ever finished after opening 4-4 was 11-5, which the franchise achieved during a 1999 season in which it reached the NFC Championship game. The worst mark the Bucs ever posted after beginning 4-4 was 4-11 during the strike-altered season of 1987, a year that saw the team finish with an eight-game losing streak under head coach Ray Perkins.

NEXT UP

The Buccaneers can right the pirate ship this week when the 3-4 Cardinals visit Raymond James Stadium.

Arizona has an 8-7 edge in its all-time series with Tampa Bay, breaking a deadlock in the series with a 12-7 home win when the teams last met, in Week 17 of the 2004 season. The Buccaneers won the previous meeting, a 19-18 nail- biter in Florida in 1997. The Cardinals are 0-2 in Tampa Bay since last winning there in 1988.

Gruden is 1-2 against Arizona in his career, including 1-1 while with Oakland (1998-2001). The Cardinals' Ken Whisenhunt will be meeting both Gruden and the Bucs for the first time as a head coach.