What A Rush: Bucs Finally Let Caddy Do The Driving Martin Fennelly, The Tampa Tribune, published 20 November 2006 Back to the grind. The grinder's grin said it had been special, like last season. We hadn't seen that sweet rookie smile much the second time around, lost as it was under all those, well, losses. It got so bad that not getting the ball wasn't the end of it. Cadillac Williams couldn't even stomach watching TV highlights - all those guys running free. "When you see some of the premier backs, like L.J. and L.T. and Tiki, you see those guys grinding, in a groove, I kind of envy them," he said Sunday afternoon. He smiled. Back to the grind. If for only a moment, it felt like last year. It felt like hope. Jon Gruden might have vehemently denied - or did he? - the report that he has sent out "feelers" to other NFL teams, but Sunday he did send feelers out to 2005. To Cadillac. Briefly forgotten was the 3-7 record or that all they'd really done was beat the now equally 3-7 Redskins, 20-17. There was Cadillac, grinding. "He was that Cadillac," Ronde Barber said. He was the Cadillac who was handed the ball again and again - 27 times Sunday, his heaviest workload in 2006. He was the Cadillac of 100 yards - 122, in fact, his best effort of the season. He was the Cadillac still running hard in the fourth quarter, the leading edge when the Bucs had the lead, eating up defenders, clock, helping lock down a win, just like he did last year. Caddy in total control. True, the Bucs merely beat a Washington team whose quarterback was taking his first NFL snaps, and whose premier back, Clinton Portis, and top receiver, Santana Moss, were injured. But there was no getting around how it felt, if only for an afternoon. "It just felt good to be in that groove, hitting guys, me throwing the body around, me getting carries," Cadillac said. He carried only 15 times last week and 12 times the week before that, and only eight times the week before that - absurd numbers given the Bucs offense and its rookie quarterback. Caddy went unused for all sorts of reasons, some crazed, some stubborn, most of them wrong. This was always the guy the Bucs need to have on his game to have a chance to win. Period. Sunday, he was on his game. The Bucs won. They're 9-0 when Caddy carries at least 21 times. It doesn't get more Period than that. Yes, he had been frustrated. Yes, he'd talked with Jon Gruden. But he said he never doubted his game. "As far as questioning my ability, maybe I'm an average back, it just never got to that point," he said. Point taken. We doubt this season will at any point resemble the last one. A few more losses and we'll be screaming for the Bucs to shut Caddy down. Why risk him over 4-12? But for a day, Caddy rolled. For a day, he pounded away. For a day, the Bucs did what made them successful last season - some opportunistic and passing and Caddy and more Caddy. For a day, Caddy saw that look in defenders' eyes. "That feeling is kind of unexplainable ... you're just grinding. You're getting 4 or 5 five yards a pop. And there's nothing they can do," he said. Mind you, the Redskins went to great lengths, none greater than owner Dan Snyder, who crossed the Atlantic to see this game. Snyder was coming from Italy, where, seriously, he attended Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes' Scientology wedding, complete with oil-fed torches, flag bearers and drum rolls. Then, off to Macaroni Grill! Eventually, Danny Boy flew to see rookie QB Jason Campbell's debut. Young Jason played well, but was no match for L. Ron Gruden. No science involved, though. Just Cadillac. Grinding. Amen to that.