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Roy Cummings, The Tampa Tribune, published 14 November 2006
The Bucs got their best look yet at their future Monday night. For a while that future looked bright. Really bright. Then came the second half of their prime-time game against the Carolina Panthers.
Truth be known, this one started to slip away late in the first half, when the latest Buccaneer to be crowned quarterback of the future threw his first pick of the night.
That pick marked the first time in 147 throws that Bruce Gradkowski had been intercepted, but it also marked the beginning of the end for the Bucs.
When the slide stopped Gradkowski had been picked off twice, he'd fumbled once and the Panthers were in control of what proved to be a 24-10 victory.
With three first-time starters in the lineup on defense, this was not how the Bucs figured this one would go. A beat-up defense might crumble under the weight of the Panthers' passing attack, but a mistake-riddled game by Gradkowski was not what anyone had reason to expect.
After all, Gradkowski had thrown only one pick since taking over for Chris Simms as the Bucs' quarterback and he'd proved a reliable ball-carrier as well.
This outing was different, though. Gradkowski took more chances downfield and while the risk paid off at times, it didn't pay off in the end.
It wasn't only Gradkowski who struggled to hold on to the ball. Cadillac Williams lost a fumble as well. And just as Gradkowski's fumble did, Williams' giveaway led to a Panthers touchdown.
"The defense gave us great field position and that was nice," Panthers quarterback Jake Delhomme said. "We took advantage of a short field."
"It's a game of momentum and the turnovers gave us the momentum we needed," Panthers coach John Fox said.
It was hard to not gain some kind of momentum off those takeaways. After all, Gradkowski gave the ball away three times in four series, including the first of the second half, and Williams coughed his ball up just one series after Gradkowski let his ball get away. The Panthers, who trailed 7-0 at the end of the first half and produced a field goal on their first series of the second, turned both scores into touchdowns to build a 17-7 edge. The Panthers completed their scoring when Delhomme hooked up with Steve Smith on a pass play in which Smith took advantage of a stumbling Ronde Barber.
Stumbling wasn't something the Bucs defense did much of, though.
Despite missing starters Simeon Rice, Shelton Quarles and Ellis Wyms, the Bucs held the Panthers in check throughout the first half, when they got several big plays from their replacements.
Barrett Ruud, who replaced Quarles at middle linebacker, had a key run stuff during one series and Dewayne White, who replaced Rice at right end, had a run stuff and fumble recovery. The pass rush was better overall, too, but the coverage in the secondary was problematic again and when they got those short fields, the Panthers took advantage.
The Bucs went into the locker room at the half holding a seven-point lead. They no doubt felt as if it should have been bigger. Though they turned one takeaway into points early in the half, they wasted chance to turn a second into a score when safety Shaun Williams intercepted a Gradkowski pass in the half's waning moments. Williams' pick, which came on a play from the Carolina 37, was the second in as many series for the Panthers, who became the first team to pick off Gradkowski in 147 throws.
A lack of throws downfield helped Gradkowski build up that streak, but the rookie's approach in the passing game was far more aggressive during this outing.
Instead of throwing mostly checkdowns to his tight ends and backs, Gradkowski threw regularly to his receivers downfield. It was a risky approach but it paid dividends against the Panthers.
Though Gradkowski failed to connect on a couple of deep throws early on, he did hook up with Joey Galloway for a 27-yard gain to set up the 6-yard pass to Ike Hilliard that gave the Bucs their first-half lead. Gradkowski also connected on throws of 16, 17 and 18 yards during a first half in which the Bucs outgained Carolina 127-98 and matched them in the takeaway department with two each.
Barber was responsible for the latter achievement. Barber forced a fumble to set up the Bucs' first score and picked off quarterback Jake Delhomme to create the opportunity for another late in the half. The pick was the 31st of Barber's career, and it tied him with Donnie Abraham for most in team history.
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