Garcia Should Be Ready For Falcons The Tampa Tribune, published 10 December 2007 Jon Gruden said after Sunday's game that Jeff Garcia will play next week against Atlanta, while also acknowledging he knew his starting quarterback's back injury would take two weeks to heal. Garcia bruised his lower back Nov. 25 during the first series against Washington and has missed the last two games. Gruden continuously classified Garcia's status as day-to-day when interviewed by the media, but inwardly believed revealing too many specifics would ultimately hurt the team. Garcia was listed as doubtful when the injury report came out on the Friday before the New Orleans game; he did not practice that week until limited action during Friday's walk-through. He was listed as questionable Friday for the Houston game after having limited participation in practice Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. According to NFL injury report guidelines, doubtful means a player has "at least a 75 percent chance" of not playing. Questionable means there's a "50-50 chance" he will not play. "I'm sure there has been a lot of debate and I have done the best I can to not let the whole world know what we're doing," Gruden said. "It's hard enough to make a first down in this league if everybody has your game plan, but this was a two-week injury. The medical people said the injury was going to take two full weeks. "As you know, Garcia will tell you he could have played, and he could have. He played against Washington after he got hurt, but the injury took two weeks to heal. We feel we did the only thing, and that's let the injury take its time to heal. When we walk in the building today, No. 7 will be back." The Bucs were able to win two of three games without Garcia, who was listed as the third quarterback in Tampa Bay's last two games and could have played if needed. Backup Bruce Gradkowski played the majority of Tampa Bay's victory against Washington, but struggled. Luke McCown received the starting nod in Tampa Bay's last two games and was 1-1. However, it is clear Tampa Bay's offense plays consistently better with Garcia under center, and he will prepare to play beginning today. "As much as it was difficult earlier in the week, I was trying to battle Coach about being back out there," Garcia said. "He was pretty straightforward in the sense of 'See how you feel, but most likely not.' "As the days went along, and I got some reps out on the practice field, I could still feel like I was working through some aches. But coming out Sunday, the aches seemed to be gone. Full range of motion was there. I felt really good. I'm ready to go."