Bucs Going Backward ... To Move Forward Roy Cummings, The Tampa Tribune, published 31 December 2007 They can look ahead to the Giants now. As if they weren't looking ahead already. The lineup for their regular-season finale against the Panthers - replete with reserves - suggested they began that task days ago. Hard to blame them. A first-round playoff matchup with the visiting Giants looms on Sunday. At least the Bucs will enter the postseason healthy. Most of them will, anyway. As hard as he tried Sunday, Bucs coach Jon Gruden couldn't avoid losing yet another regular. Rookie left guard Arron Sears was the victim this time. Sears left what proved to be a 31-23 loss to the Panthers after three plays. He later left Raymond James Stadium riding a cart while wearing a protective boot around his right ankle. If Gruden needed to justify his decision to approach this game like it was an August exhibition, all he had to do was point to Sears. Instead, he pointed to Cadillac Williams, Luke Petitgout and Jeff Garcia. These Bucs already have overcome enough injuries to key players, Gruden argued. He didn't want to put his team in a position to prove it could overcome any more injuries if he didn't have to. "When you look at the big picture, Joey Galloway got a week off and Ike Hilliard needed the rest. Earnest Graham needed the rest," Gruden said. "If we had to do it over again, we'd do the same thing, because starting next week it's going to be single elimination and we're going to be in for the fight of our lives." The Bucs will go into that fight having lost two straight games and three of their last four. Still, no one with the NFC South champions, who went from 4-12 to 9-7, believes the slide has robbed them of any momentum. Though they surely would feel better about things had they won three of their last four, the Bucs say they will go into their first playoff game in two seasons with plenty of energy. "Momentum is making the playoffs," Gruden said. Momentum also is taking the ball away inside your opponent's 20-yard line and turning the takeaways into touchdowns. It's getting off the field on third down, and it's keeping mistakes to a minimum. The Bucs didn't do any of that Sunday. They twice settled for field goals after taking the ball away inside Carolina's 20, they struggled on third down (four of 12) and a critical error helped Carolina turn a field goal into a touchdown. It wouldn't be all that much of a concern had the Bucs' reserves largely been responsible for most of those mistakes. But key regulars were involved heavily in all those problem areas. Four of the five starters on the offensive line, for instance, played the entire game. In addition to allowing four sacks, it struggled to help move the ball in the red zone, where the Bucs scored one touchdown in three tries. Meanwhile, a Bucs defense that played at least as many regulars as it did reserves continued to struggle on third down, allowing the Matt Moore-led Panthers to convert seven of 14 tries. Derrick Brooks even had an uncharacteristic mistake. Though he disagreed with the call, he was whistled for holding on a field goal try. Given new life, Carolina scored a touchdown two plays later. On the plus side, the Bucs kicked off the game by driving 67 yards for a touchdown, and they kicked off the second half by moving 98 yards for a touchdown, the longest scoring drive in team history. Gruden also walked away feeling mostly good about the play of backup quarterback Luke McCown. He completed 21 of 28 passes for 236 yards and two touchdowns and finished the day with a quarterback rating of 108.6. McCown missed a couple of open receivers, but he made better decisions while on the run Sunday, continued to show his athleticism and proved yet again that he can keep the Bucs in a game should Garcia go down. The Bucs also got a good look at several players who have played sparingly this season but could become a big part of their game plan once the playoffs begin. That was Gruden's objective Sunday. He wanted players such as linebackers Jeremiah Trotter, tight end Jerramy Stevens and receiver Michael Clayton to sharpen their skills. He also wanted players such as linebackers Quincy Black and Adam Hayward and defensive tackle Greg Peterson to get a feel for the intensity of a meaningful game. Having done that, Gruden said he believes the Bucs will only benefit from the approach they took to their regular-season finale, even though they wound up losing. "Some of these guys may have to come in against New York in the middle of the third quarter or to cover a kick, and at least they can say now that, 'I've been on that field and I've been there and done that,'" Gruden said. "It's a part of developing young players. There's a downside to it, but there's also an upside to it."