Stevens Steps Up In Return To Field Anwar Richardson, The Tampa Tribune, published 24 December 2007 Jerramy Stevens has faced the demons of his past and showed he has a promising future despite the Bucs' 21-19 loss against San Francisco. Stevens served a one-game suspension last week for previously violating the NFL's substance abuse policy. It was a humbling experience for a player who had been plagued with legal problems throughout his career, and was arguably on his "final strike" when he joined Tampa Bay during the offseason. During Stevens' return from his hiatus, he made an immediate impact with four receptions for 73 yards and two touchdowns against the 49ers. "I thought Jerramy Stevens really stepped up," Bucs coach Jon Gruden said. "He is a guy that as we enter the playoffs, we're going to need. I think a lot of things are behind him now. I think we can clearly see that he is a very good football player." Stevens showed his playmaking ability when he hauled in a 4-yard game-winning touchdown reception against New Orleans during Tampa Bay's biggest win of the season three games ago. He also proved to be a major weapon against the 49ers. In the second quarter, Stevens caught a 24-yard touchdown reception from Jeff Garcia, plus he caught 24-yard touchdown pass from Luke McCown with 1:31 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, narrowing Tampa Bay's deficit to 21-19. Although the Bucs were unable to convert the 2-point conversion, Stevens was happy about the opportunity to talk about football and not his previous off-the-field troubles. "Even though we didn't win, it was good, especially for me to be able to make some plays. It shows I have my head in there and I can help us win in the playoffs," Stevens said. "I'm glad it was just one week and that's what I've been fortunate to say. It was only a one-week suspension and I didn't get off my game too much. I felt great coming in." Stovall and Galloway injured Gruden said he is worried about WR Maurice Stovall after he appeared to break his right arm during the second quarter. Garcia attempted to throw a pass to Stovall on 3rd-and-7 from San Francisco's 37-yard line when the play was broken up by 49ers CB Nate Clements. Stovall was driven off the field in a cart and will have tests run to determine the severity of his injury today. "I don't know if it's broken, but it doesn't look good," Gruden said. "We'll update you as soon as we get it final prognosis." Stovall was a special teams standout who had stepped up since Torrie Cox was lost for the season due to a knee injury. He had slowly started to work his way into Tampa Bay's rotation of receivers until this injury. "I just feel so bad for the young guy. He's played so hard," Hilliard said. "He was a special teams guy. I feel like he was making progress. To a man, regardless of who plays, we have to move forward and play football for him. It just breaks my heart." In addition, WR Joey Galloway aggravated his shoulder early in the game, but Gruden said he was not worried about that injury. Clayton thought he was in Michael Clayton started to celebrate after catching McCown's 2-point conversion pass, which he thought would tie the game at 21. Once the officials signaled he was out of bounds after only getting one foot in, Clayton became extremely disgusted with himself and threw his helmet while walking back to the sidelines. "I thought I easily had my feet in. I didn't even look," Clayton said. "It was just a lackadaisical effort on my part. I just let it slip through the cracks. You can't do that, but it happens. I put the blame on myself. There is no reason why that should happen. Bucs still like back-ups Tampa Bay had performed very well against backups prior to Sunday's game. The Bucs are 6-2 this season against backup quarterbacks. The Bucs defeated Carolina, Tennessee (Vince Young was injured early in that contest), Arizona, Atlanta, Washington and Houston. Tampa Bay's only losses are against Jacksonville and San Francisco. "He Shaun Hill made a couple of nice throws, but it's a little early to draw any conclusions about his play," Bucs CB Ronde Barber said. Buc notes Galloway caught a 29-yard reception in the second half and has 1,014 yards this season, becoming the first player in Bucs history to post three 1,000-yard seasons, both overall and consecutive. He now owns six 1,000-yard receiving seasons overall in his career. Michael Pittman had seven receptions to move ahead of Jimmie Giles for sixth most in Bucs history. Pittman has 283 receptions and Giles had 279. Barber (160 games played) tied Tony Mayberry (1990-99) for fifth place on the club's all-time list with 160 games played as a Buccaneer.