Remainder Of The Season Hinges On Garcia's Health Martin Fennelly, The Tampa Tribune, published 26 November 2007 He'll be listed as day to day. So is this Bucs season. Maybe it was the way oxygen was sucked from the stadium when he left a game that had hardly begun. Or the sight of the Bucs offense without him. The long-dreaded scenario was here. If there was ever an argument for Jeff Garcia, MVP, it came Sunday, in a dark and lonely place, a scary place. Lions and tigers and Gradkowski, oh, my. Jeff Garcia said it happened on the game's first play, when a Redskins helmet drilled his back between the rib cage and hip bone. "Almost like a kidney shot," he said. It reverberated like a knockout punch. It will be if Garcia isn't ready this week . Because Bruce Gradkowski never will be. Jon Gruden's team escaped with a 19-13 victory against Washington to go to 7-4. It means nothing without Garcia. Gruden bristled, saying it would be doomsday for anybody. "Wouldn't you say that about the Colts or Patriots?" Gruden said. "Give me a break on that. Think of the reality of what you're saying. I don't know any teams that have their star quarterback disabled ... If Tiger Woods' caddie hit all the shots for him, he wouldn't win the Masters, I know that." Kids, we've just reached Amen Corner. But there's no way around it. Jeff Garcia's caddie can't carry his bag. We hear what Gruden is saying. But Jacksonville went 2-1 on the road with their backup, including a win against the Bucs in his first NFL start. The Browns are 7-4 with theibackup. Then there's Bruce. Which reminds us: How bad, exactly, is Luke McCown? Garcia says he'll play against the Saints on Sunday, though he said he has never suffered from this kind of body shot. So how can he truly know? How can anyone? It was encouraging when he returned in the fourth quarter, discouraging that he didn't look right. He missed Joey Galloway almost as badly as Bruce had. Garcia had badgered Gruden about going back in. "I told him to get away from me, basically," Gruden said. Understandable, since the Bucs led the league in splenectomies last season. But Gruden relented. He had checked with the trainers and doctors. "Garcia gives us the best chance to win," Gruden said. Oh, yeah, there was that. Garcia, like everyone, could feel the game and maybe the season slipping away. In the end, the defense came off the ropes to save the Bucs, with big second-half plays by old guardsmen Derrick Brooks, Ronde Barber and Brian Kelly. And Garcia's reappearance brought cheers. There was hope again. With Garcia, you think the Bucs can actually win their final five games. With Gradkowski, you think they can actually lose them. Think Gruden would have sent Garcia back in if he didn't know that? The Redskins attempted to hand the Bucs this game, but came back from 19-3. The turnover crazy Bucs defense handed the offense the ball deep in Washington territory four times in the first half after Garcia went down. The offense came away with only 16 points. Think Garcia wouldn't have dropped the hammer? Think it wouldn't have been 20-0, 28-0? The Bucs made 15 yards and no first downs after halftime. We'd seen this Gradkowski before - the bad decisions, the missed targets. Gruden's play calling and the offense curled into a ball. At halftime, Gruden smiled bravely, walked across the field and asked Redskins coach Joe Gibbs if he could buy Mark Brunell off him. That Garcia made his way back spoke to what he has meant to this club. "I felt like I needed to be out there for the guys," Garcia said. The guys weren't surprised. "Jeff scares me at times when he does some things," Bucs receiver Ike Hilliard said. "That's just the type of athlete and competitor he is. He's played his football his way his entire career. He's a renegade." "If half the team had his kind of heart, his kind of determination, we'd be unbeatable," Ronde Barber said. They're incredibly beatable without him. Out? Doubtful? Questionable? That's this season at the moment. "I'm very concerned about our quarterback," Gruden said. "I always am. We need him to win. We clearly need Jeff Garcia." We've seen the dark side of the moon. The Bucs need their Tiger back.