The Harsh Reality of Being “Three Dash Six” Sometime in January 2005, when messrs Gruden and Allen sit down to dissect exactly what went wrong in 2004, they may choose to point to variety of factors which led to our failure to make the play-offs for the second consecutive year. Injuries may be cited, along with poor special teams play as they stick pins in a FUAT doll, but put in plain and simple we have not been good enough, often enough and have made too many rudimentary errors to be successful. Granted we have been close in every game bar the Raiders one, but 3 simple plays on Sunday encapsulated our season for me. On TJ Duckett’s first TD run he was met by Derrick Brooks at the three yard line and Derrick had a clear grip on him; Duckett simply bounced off our star linebacker and roared on to paydirt. Five things I think 1. Welcome back to Dexter Jackson. Since you’ve been away Dexter, you may notice things have changed around here a little bit. 2. The time to cut FUAT has arrived. The season is down the throne, and we can’t even trust him to attempt to miss the uprights so why is he still on the roster? Answers on a postcard to Mr J Gruden, One Buc Place. 3. I think the more I see of our offense and think about our recent history, the more I’m convinced we need a stud running back who is a threat to go the distance, and whom we can. hand the ball to 25 times a game and know we will get 100 plus yards. If only we could clone Deuce McCallister, or maybe kidnap him when the Saints come to town in December, as he would just be an ideal fit in Gruden’s offense. This needs sorting and for anyone considering it, Ricky Williams is not the solution to this particular problem – and besides at 27 he’s far too young for Bruce Allen to consider. 4. I think Jermaine Phillips contract extension, coupled with Dwight Smith’s intention to pursue free agency means we will be waiving bye-bye to Mr Smith come March 2005. I’d love to see him stay but just cannot see us being able to match the salary figures he is likely to command on the open market. 5. Draft Watch – with the bloody Panthers winning a game (shock horror) the Dolphins and 49ers now stand alone in their bids for this prize. We dare not lose on Sunday or we are right back in the thick of this dubious race. This just simply does not and should not happen as missed tackles like this were just not part of the Buccaneers vocabulary. Coach Gruden then openly demonstrated his lack of faith in our long haired lunatic kicker by spurning a fieldgoal try for a rather panic stricken fourth down play, we are unable to run the ball two yards when we must do so to stay in a game. Finally, and the coup de gras just seconds later, the Falcons best receiver Alge Crumpler simply runs completely uncovered down the hashmarks, with no-one around to hinder his pitch and catch game with Michael Vick – just the type of blown assignment the Bucs from 1997-2002 hardly ever had, but one that has been our hallmark since our fall from grace. We now find ourselves at a bit of crossroads in the season, as the players need to find the motivation to grind out wins when there is no hope and Bob Hope of a chance of making the play-offs. Will they tank the season from here or fight on to win maybe 7 or 8 games? Younger players like Michael Clayton, Chris Simms or Dewayne White will have personal reasons to bust their guts as they bid to establish themselves as bona fide NFL players, but some of our more aged acquisitions like Tim Brown, Derrick Deese and the disasterous Todd Steussie may struggle to continue to give it 100% on a season now seemingly lost as an experiment in short-termism that went distinctly wrong from the outset. The Brian Griese fan club will continue from my work space but barring the Bucs suddenly putting together a 5 game win streak, we will need to consider throwing Mr Simms back into the fray for at least the last 3 or 4 weeks of the season to indeed gauge his progress. Griese should be retained by the Bucs and can no doubt battle for the starting job in camp in 2005 as Brad is most definitely on the way out of Tampa come January. However as we are playing for no more than our position in the NFL draft, we owe it to Chris Simms to give him at least a decent audition in Gruden’s offense and see exactly what he has got. This Sunday we face one of those games on the calendar that the television networks hate and the Fox commentary team is comprised of two blokes you’ve never heard of. This happens in the back half of the NFL season where both teams are out of contention, and sad as it us we face up to a Faulty Whiners squad who like ourselves are mired in a losing season, but unlike the Bucs they also have a lame duck coach – their players know it, he knows it and so does John Gruden and I think we really will go for the kill on Sunday to try to establish something, anything of note as an offense and a team. Therefore it’s another solid, totally biased vote for the Bucs this week by at least 10 points. I dread to think how we would all feel if we dropped this one to the Niners – it doesn’t bear thinking about and it won’t happen. Clayton will go over 100 yards as will Pittman and the Bucs will prevail 27 – 13 (please God).