For Rattay, it's a small victory Gary Shelton, The St.Petersburg Times, published 24 December 2006 He did not save the season. He did not silence the critics. He did not put a claim in on tomorrow. All Tim Rattay did was win. In a season when that has been rare, it was enough. He did not heal the sick. He did not answer the questions. After watching, the Bucs did not pull their offer to Chris Simms off the table. All Rattay did Sunday afternoon was beat the even more inept (and who would have believed such a team existed?) Cleveland Browns, a thoroughly lost team playing for the thoroughly lost Romeo Crennel. In other words, it wasn't much of a victory, and before long, it might be remembered with as much regret as revelry. Tampa Bay fans have been relegated to draft discussions for months now, and after this, Brady Quinn and Joe Thomas might as well purchase homes somewhere else. In other words, there was a little bah and a dash of humbug to winning. When an athlete has nothing more than a game, it is hard to blame him for trying to seize it with both hands. And when a team has won only three games this season, a victory seems like a Christmas miracle. Do you think Rattay cared about draft picks? Do you think his teammates are worried about next year? All he had was this game, and maybe the next one. After that, who knows? For most of the season, Rattay had been the forgotten quarterback, and once the season concludes, it might not take the Bucs very long to forget him all over again. For a day, however, the misery ended. For a day, a franchise did not sink deeper into the muck. Not a bad gift, as these things go. This was Rattay's screen test. This was his audition tape. This was his last chance to get the league to notice. After this, someone might. After this, it might even be Tampa Bay. "I'm not trying to think about the importance of it," Rattay said. "I was just excited to play. I wanted to be a part of winning a ballgame." Rattay does not wow you with his skills. He possesses neither the strength of Simms' arm nor the quickness of Bruce Gradkowski's feet. Watching him, you can understand how the Bucs' coaches looked at him, shook their heads and looked elsewhere. Victory or not, there was not a moment in Sunday's game when you wanted to suggest Jon Gruden call off the quarterback search. Sometimes, however, there is something to be said for making a quick read and a decisive throw. Sometimes, there is something to looking poised and precise. Sometimes, there is something to be said for picking up a key third down. As the quarterback hunt continues in the days to come, the Bucs' coaches should remember the steadiness of Rattay. Perhaps the rest of Rattay, too. Oh, no one expects Rattay to be back. Even in victory, acknowledge that the Bucs need a better option at quarterback. Besides, the position is going to be crowded. The Bucs are in the final stages of firming up their offer to Simms, even though the situation never looked like a good fit on either side this season. Gradkowski will be back. If the Bucs are smart, they will still sift through whatever veteran quarterbacks pop free in the marketplace. After the past two weeks, Rattay needs to be a candidate, too. With him, the Bucs have scored 53 points in two games. They had scored 63 in their previous six. No, Rattay didn't make Cleveland forget about those John Elway flashbacks. He wasn't sensational. He had an interception in the end zone and fumbled away a touchdown. He struggled in the red zone. When it counted, however, Rattay made some plays. He had some moments. He scored some points. Repeat: He won the game. Even in a season this awful, perhaps especially, that's worth something. For four seasons now, the Bucs have had turmoil at quarterback, the position where a team needs dependability. True, in the best of their seasons, Tampa Bay always has been a defensive-oriented team. However, those teams also picked up much of their tone from their quarterbacks. The Bucs of the late '70s and early '80s got much of their fire, much of their faith, from Doug Williams, who could come up with a big play to pull out a big game. The Bucs of the late '90s and early '00s drew from the consistency and toughness of Brad Johnson. Those quarterbacks played as much for the defense as the offense: They were in charge of turnovers, of field position, of time of possession. When the Bucs shop for a new passer, they should keep such things in mind. Sure, you would like for the next Tampa Bay quarterback to have more of an arm than Rattay. You would like for him to have a little quicker feet. You would like for him to make his mark against a better opponent than Cleveland and achieve something more than the fourth victory of a season. Still, a man writes his book one chapter at a time. Rattay started for the first time Sunday. He won. Never a bad thing, that.