Garcia has his say
We're not trying to start anything here. Just wanted to give Jeff Garcia a chance to respond to Lions receiver Roy Williams' critical comments on Detroit radio about Garcia's supposed selfishness during his one season in Detroit (see the next blog entry for excerpts and to listen to the audio). Williams said Garcia never would accept blame for plays that weren't made.
Garcia disputed that, then put his spin on the story.
"As a quarterback, you're always shouldering the blame," he said. "I had no problem absorbing whatever it was that I had to absorb (at times) when we weren’t able to win football games. We play this game as a team and everybody's responsible and everybody has to have accountability. That's where I felt that, at times, there wasn’t a whole lot of accountability among everyone in that locker room."
Then, Garcia, in a later interview, added the following: "I can't force players to take their playbook home with them. I can't force players to get in the weight room. I can't force players to watch more film. That's up to each and every individual player."
Wow. Sounds like things were pretty dysfunctional up there. Seems to be the opposite here in Tampa -- regardless of where the blame is placed for the way things unfolded during Garcia's tenure in Detroit.
Bucs Beat is the online destination for Buccaneer fans interested in the latest news about the team. St. Petersburg Times reporters Rick Stroud, Stephen Holder and Joe Smith will provide regular updates. Readers can comment on players, coaches, the front office - all of it.
Kudo's to Garcia. The most articulate quarterback in the league. He is who he is and he knows that he's the man. Period. And the rest of the Bucs know that as well. And with that don't expect anything less than the Bucs to completely dominate the Lions. But let us thank the football god's that Barry Sanders is retired!
Posted by: Jake Jacobs | October 17, 2007 at 05:20 PM
Garcia is a class act. Proud to have him QB.
Posted by: Tom | October 17, 2007 at 05:34 PM
Thanks Garcia for being a class act. Now ram that football down their throat. GO BUCS!!
Posted by: Clint | October 17, 2007 at 08:14 PM
Garcia is a class act. His tenure in Detroit was with a terrible team. I don't care how good a quarterback is, without a supporting cast, You will still lose. Hope the Bucs blast the Lions and shut up all of the naysayers.
Posted by: Andy | October 18, 2007 at 11:33 AM
Talk about being selfish. Roy makes millions and millions of dollars, but can't even tip a pizza delivery person.
Posted by: Cole | October 18, 2007 at 12:09 PM