starts today in Tampa Bay.
Jon Gruden made the call. Now, for the sake of this season, the Bucs coach hopes he is right.
A quarterback change is a major upheaval in the rigid world of the NFL -- a shock to the system of a team, its offense and the entire organization.
The Buccaneers had been programmed since last year that Jeff Garcia is its quarterback. The status quo from a playoff season had been wholeheartedly reinforced throughout the offseason, training camp, preseason games and into the regular season opener. Everybody was on board.
Gruden himself made light of how this is the first time in ages that he will go into a season with a quarterback as a returning starter, since the departure of Brad Johnson.
So what does he do? After one game, he cuts off Garcia at the knees, following a season-opening loss in which the quarterback made several poor throws, with no help from a preseason of injury and inactivity.
Garcia suffered a sprained ankle in the 24-20 loss to the Saints in New Orleans, but that was hardly the reason for the change. If the ankle was the only problem, Gruden would not have come out Wednesday and declared backup Brian Griese the starter for today's home opener against the Atlanta Falcons (1-0).
He would have let Garcia heal and buy time, just like he is doing with linebacker Derrick Brooks and his hamstring injury.
Gruden surely thinks Garcia is still having trouble putting behind him two peripheral issues that angered him in the offseason -- Tampa Bay's pursuit of quarterback Brett Favre, and the unwillingness of the team to award Garcia a contract extension, and a hefty raise on his $2 million salary, after he essentially saved Gruden and general manager Bruce Allen's jobs last year.
Enter Matty Ice.
The Succanneers are a better team then the Lions. Today the true test is on Ryan and Gruden.
IF the Falcons go 2-0 tommorrow will be an interesting day in sports talk radio.
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