Garcia sounds off on Favre talk

Quarterback Jeff Garcia said he is focused on leading the Bucs to another division title and beyond, not on speculation that he may be replaced by the Packers' Brett Favre.

"You know, I really can't even think about it,'' Garcia told reporter Josh Koehn of the Gilroy Dispatch Saturday night. "There are only certain things I can control and that's really what I want to focus upon. I can't control what's being said in the media. I can't control what upper management or what people are talking about or what they're thinking about. All I know is that I have a job to do with Tampa.

"I have a job to build upon as to what I did last year with the team. I'm focused on myself being better, contributing more, hopefully leading this team to another division title and hopefully bigger and better things like the Super Bowl...It's about playing football and whatever happens outside of my ability to control is out of my hands.''

Garcia is attending the 35-year reunion in Gilroy, Calif., of the Galivan College team that won a junior college national title in football. The team was coached by his dad, Bob Garcia. He will return to Tampa Sunday night and be at practice Monday.

Garcia said he appreciated the support he has received from his teammates in recent weeks.

"It's very much appreciated,'' Garcia said. "I feel very fortunate those guys see the true character of what I'm all about. They saw how I approached the game last year when I came onto the team -- my focus, my leadership, my motivation -- whatever it was. And there are things I feel I give to the team. For them to support me in that sort of way makes me feel good. I think that's what's so important about this and game and about this team is that we do have good team chemistry. We do have good team camaraderie and it's important to keep that together in order to have a chance to win more football games.''

Comments

[Chris Slooter]

Typo, second paragraph.

[Chris]

I didn't know Favre was in Gilroy, CA Saturday night giving quotes to the local press. Get your quarterbacks straight! And its spelled camaraderie. Don't you journalists have spell check?

[James]

Were you drunk when you put together this pile of Stroud?

My 7 year old nephew can drop more comprehensive paragraphs together during his nap time.

[Aaron]

I think the fans of tampa deserve a better journalist. How do you right a false statement like that and then put it out there for everyone to see. That's got to be embarassing! I have a high school degree and can write better. LMAO!!!

[Jim]

you know,.. the Tampa Fans really DON"T deserve a better journalist. In fact, if the fans that post here are a relevant cross-section, you really don't deserve a team.

[Vince]

I agree with Jim, you guys are acting as if this is "The New YOrk Times", it's a beat writer who's getting information out as fast as possible! Feel gracious that they are so involved, for you know that the national publications wouldn't cover Tampa short of a Superbowl nod! You're embarassing me as a Bucs fan! Why does everyone turn into an Grammar school teacher for a freaking BLOG/BEAT WRITER? GO AHEAD GARCIA! YOU DESERVE TO BE OUR STARTER!!!! Garcia with a second season under Gruden is better than Favre in his first!

[Stephen_Holder]

People, I wasn't involved with the entry in question, but come on: half of this stuff is being done on the sideline from a Blackberry. It's not exactly ideal. We are filtering out information to you as quickly as possible, so sometimes typos will slip through. If we make a factual mistake, then have at it. And to the person above, we don't "RIGHT" articles, we "WRITE" them. Just a little friendly advice.

[Scorps]

Aaron,

Tampa should be capitalized.
right should be write.
embarassing should be embarrassing.

If you need to be critical at least get your $hit right. Maybe you need to go back to high school. Social promotion is a horrible thing and you were apparently victimized by it. I am sure there is a 9th grade remedial English class that you would fit right into without embarrassing yourself too much.

Vince, you are right on target. Let us get the information as quickly as we can. A blog is not intended to be held to the same standards as a printed article.

[Tuol Ting]

You guys are on crack if you would take Garcia over Favre....Garcia is a nice guy and decent QB, but he doesn't compare to Favre. This team needs Favre in many ways

[mkurbo]

The local media is very cautious about this Farve deal because they are scared. With the exception of PR and Justin P. (WDAE) it won’t be a pleasant experience for them. If Farve comes here and they win, it will look like old times for Gruden w/ Farve and Allen will look like a genius. While Duemig and the local fishwraps will continue to spit anti-Gruden rhetoric, the national media will cover it positively and steamroll the negatives…

Can you imagine a Sunday Night game with Madden and Michael talking about how cool it is for Gruden to have Farve running the offense and what a great job Bruce Allen has done rebuilding the team (it won’t sound like what you hear around this area). The local media will look like those flat things in the middle of the road when your cruising Route 70 cross state !

[Al Gore]

Thanks for the blog Stephen, Rick is just getting his ankles bitten by the "Gru dogs". Keep up the great work. I am still burning more energy at my house than most small towns. Vote for me, by voting for Buhrock in 08, that is all.

[Dave T]

Stroud should have known that his negative, nasty, agenda-driven stories were gonna have repercussions. This is the bed he made. Sleep in it, Dr, Stroud.

[Peter Owen]

Mr. Stephen Holder,
I check your blog 4-6 times a day and greatly appreciate the work and time you put into it. I don't really check for proper punctuation, grammar usage or spelling. I'm more concerned about the real news and information you provide. I need to stop reading the comments section because it has become a constant reminder of the many mouth breathing inbreds who populate the Tampa Bay area that have apparently accessed the "internets" on their fancy new "typin' boxes". Cheers.

[James Spradling]

You people are acting like children,if you have something to say concerning the article,fine! if not stay off the keyboard. Thanks Mr.Stroud for keeping us up to date. p.s i typed real slow to make sure i did not misspell

[scott]

What happens if Favre comes here and we start of 3-5. Does he start to question why he came back? What happens if he throws all the picks again like her did a few years ago? Will Gruden be able to deal with that? I think we should stick with Garcia, his only possible issue is his durability.

He reminds me of Brad J where you know he is never going to loose the game for you by doing something stupid.

If we do get Favre we just need to get Sapp to come out of retirement. It would be awesome to see them both during a BUCS game wearing pewter and red. That would be amazing.

GO BUCS!

[Rick]

Sorry folks. The blog was filed just after 8 a.m., reading the quotes from a Blackberry. It's no excuse, just a fact. The beauty is we can correct typos, etc., very easily. We'll continue to give you the information as quickly as we can. Thanks for reading.

[Dave]

Hmm. It seems a few have the lost the fact this is a football story? Tough crowd - I'z best bees on mah tows.

[darryl]

there is a lot of what ifs here.ok what if garcia only gets us to the play-offs again,but thats it?is everyone content with that?IM NOT!If favre came here I would think it would be great,but if he dosent thats fine to.the bucs has all this cap space,and money,and the main thing they needed to address was the receivers,but they didnt.hopefully the running game is a threat this year.if not we are in for a long season.