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The Tampa Tribune, published 3 December 2007
As for Gruden's decision to flip-flop Luke McCown and Bruce Gradkowski on the depth chart, the coach seemed to believe McCown possessed more play-making ability.
Gradkowski, 24, had been the primary backup quarterback since Week 2, when McCown, 26, was demoted to No.3.
"As time went on, I just thought the (practice) reps were going to reduce to zero because Jeff takes everything," Gruden said. "So, I was going to rely on Bruce's past experience here in an emergency situation to go in and complete a game for us. But if we have a prolonged injury with time to get a guy ready, McCown was the guy we chose, and we're happy we did."
Clayton's new job
Michael Clayton was used as the primary kickoff returner as receiver Micheal Spurlock was inactive. Clayton wasn't spectacular, but he managed not to leave his team backed up deep in its territory. "I was glad to be able to go in and help the offense and give them good field position," Clayton said. "It was my first time back there in my whole career."
Big days for tight ends
Anthony Becht and Jerramy Stevens caught their first touchdowns of the season. With Alex Smith getting most of the looks, there haven't been many opportunities for the backups.
"I think it's a tribute to what we have on this team," Becht said. "If you look around the league at the ability of teams to rotate guys in and have high expectations for guys who come off the bench ... it's important to be able to have guys come in and do it right. Stuff like that can win championships."
With all the tight end success, Becht had a suggestion for position coach Bob Casullo. "I told Coach Casullo if he wants to renew his contract, this would be a good time," he said.
Quarterbacks galore
Gruden has won games with 12 starting quarterbacks, more than any active coach. Baltimore's Brian Billick and San Diego's Norv Turner have won games with 10 starters.
Buc notes
Tampa Bay has opened division play with a 4-0 record for the first time since 1990, when it played in the NFC Central. The Buccaneers claimed their first four division games in 1990 on the way to a 5-3 division mark. Tampa Bay's best records within the division in team history are 5-1 in 2005 (NFC South) and 6-2 in both 1979 and 1981 (NFC Central). The Buccaneers won their first six division contests in 1979.
Tampa Bay's 285 yards in the first half are the most in a half since the second half against Atlanta (Dec. 20, 2003) - 290 yards. The 466 total yards marked the fifth-best single-game total in team history
Luke McCown made his first start as a Buccaneer, but not the first of his NFL career. As a rookie with Cleveland in 2004, McCown opened four contests.
Joey Galloway's 159 yards on seven catches gave him a 100-yard outing for the 29th time in his career, and the third time this season. Two of those three century efforts have come against the Saints.
Galloway came into the game tied for first in the NFL with New England's Randy Moss with six receptions of 40 or more yards this season. He added two more against the Saints, 41 and 60-yarders in the first quarter.
Earnest Graham's 25-yard breakaway early in the third quarter gave him a touchdown for the fourth consecutive game. He is just one game shy of the record in that category, threatening five-game streaks by Errict Rhett (1995), Reggie Cobb (1992) and Gary Anderson (1990).
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