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Rick Stroud, The St.Petersburg Times, published 24 December 2007
Michael Clayton found a soft spot in the back of the end zone and made a leaping catch of what would have been the tying two-point conversion. But when he came down, one foot was out of bounds. With only 80 seconds left in a game the Bucs would lose to the 49ers 21-19, it was too late to challenge the play. "It's inside two minutes, so you can't throw your red flag," Jon Gruden said.
Besides, the Bucs had already waived a white one. Putting the coast in their West Coast failures, Gruden pulled starting quarterback Jeff Garcia with 3:49 left in the first half, shortly after he staked the Bucs to a 13-7 lead with a 24-yard touchdown pass to Jerramy Stevens. He was soon joined on the bench by running back Earnest Graham and receiver Joey Galloway, who aggravated a shoulder injury.
After one series in the second half, the Bucs (9-6) replaced eight starters on defense. And so it went.
The loss to the 49ers (5-10) - coupled with Seattle's win over Baltimore - locked the Bucs into the No. 4 seed for the NFC playoffs, which begin Jan. 5 and Jan. 6. The Bucs play host that weekend to the New York Giants, who secured the No. 5 seed with a win over Buffalo and Minnesota's loss to Washington on Sunday night.
After the Bucs suffered their second loss in three games, Gruden and his players defended the decision to treat Sunday's game like the preseason because they had wrapped up the NFC South title. "Coach had a plan, I guess, going in about who was going to play what," Derrick Brooks said. "If we had won - great plan. Now that we lost the game, it's something everybody wants to question. But inside this locker room, we're not going to question that."
In a way, the game highlighted Gruden's concerns. Receiver Maurice Stovall suffered what is thought to be a broken right arm and was expected to stay in San Francisco overnight to have surgery. Defensive end Greg White, who has a team-high eight sacks, left with a thigh bruise.
Garcia went 12-of-20 for 196 yards and a touchdown against his former team before he was replaced by Luke McCown. The Bucs outgained the 49ers in total yards 434-213.
But it wasn't nearly enough to prevent the Bucs from adding to their horrific record in San Francisco (where they dropped to 1-11) or on the West Coast, where they are 3-27 in the regular season. Making only his second start, third-string 49ers quarterback Shaun Hill passed for 123 yards and three touchdowns, earning the team's first victory over an opponent with a winning record.
McCown looked shaky early, passing for 185 yards and a touchdown in relief. He lost a fumble that led to a 49ers touchdown and had a pass deflect off the hands of tight end Alex Smith that was intercepted by cornerback Nate Clements and returned 62 yards to set up the go-ahead score.
To his credit, McCown rallied the Bucs to a 61-yard touchdown drive in 85 seconds, capped by Stevens' second touchdown reception late. But Clayton didn't get both feet down on the two-point conversion, and the onside kick went out of bounds.
"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, and you can't do that. It happened. I put the blame on myself. There's no reason why it should happen."
The reaction to Gruden's decision to rest players was mixed, although publicly everyone supported the decision. Garcia said he was told by Gruden early in the week he would play about one half. Brooks said he didn't realize he was coming out until linebackers coach Gus Bradley tapped him on the shoulder in the second half. "I don't want to know the plan," Brooks said. "You tell me the plan beforehand, I'm going to get upset."
Gruden didn't look too bothered by the outcome. In fact, he hinted the Bucs will take the same approach in the regular-season finale against Carolina next week.
"That was a decision that we made when we won the division last week," Gruden said. "We've had a number of injuries this year. We've been able to overcome them and qualify for the playoffs. What we wanted to do today obviously was get Jeff some work in the first half. We wanted to take this as an opportunity to evaluate some of our other players, and we're glad we did that. That will be a very similar case next week."
But what about momentum entering the playoffs? "If you win, it's a great decision," Brooks said. "You waive the momentum flag. When you lose, it's sour to swallow. Trust me, I'm not happy by no means because I do want to win. At the same time, I've got to respect what coach is doing."
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