Dunn, Sears could miss Sunday's game

The Bucs could be without running back Warrick Dunn and left guard Arron Sears for Sunday's game at Kansas City.

Dunn, who played sparingly last week at Dallas, has a pinched nerve in his back and did not practice this week. Sears has a back strain and suffered a mild concussion in practice Wednesday, even though it was supposed to be a non-contact workout and players weren't wearing helmets.

The status of both players will be determined on Sunday before the game.

"These guys that play seven, eight, nine, 10, 12 years, there's a reason why they do that,'' coach Jon Gruden said. "The guys who have had the kind of careers that Warrick has had, they all play through so many different things. That's why you talk about them, you write about them, you know about them and Warrick is one of those guys. This is my first experience with him and he's not the most talkative guy, he's a very reserved guy. We want him to get right, we want him to get healthy and he is doing that.

"If he can go based on our eyes and our visual evaluation, we'll certainly let him play. But for the time being, we've got to do what's right too, and that's wait until we see it happen.''

If Sears can't go, he will be replaced by rookie Jeremy Zuttah.

"You try to reduce contact and you have a collision,' Gruden said. "That just shows you a little about our team. You have a tendency to go a little too hard all the time.''

Fullback B.J. Askew, who did practice this week, is not expected to play Sunday at Kansas City. Receiver Maurice Stovall also will be out. Both players are recovering from hamstring injuries.

      

   

    

Comments

[DR]

Yeah, your eyes and visual evaluation really did you a lot of good last week. Stevie Wonder could evaluate better than these clowns.

[Scott]

DR, I am sure that if you could be the head coach of the Bucs, you would take it in a second....And even if you had brought multiple playoff births and a Super Bowl championship to the area, you would still have wanabees like yourself calling you a clown. Ironic isnt it, clown.

[DR]

Scott, you're completely wrong. You're defending a coach who activated an older RB with a pinched nerve in his neck and put a RB who is completely healthy, who he traded for and resigned, on the inactive roster. You're seriously defending that decision?!
Why take a risk with that type of injury when you have healthy players on the bench? Isn't that what depth is for? I guess he would have to take the leash and collar off of Bennett, but that only takes a few seconds.

[DR]

Scott, its lemmings like you who allow terrible leaders, dictators to ruin things.
Would you allow your kids to bring home B's one year and D's and F's th next year and be okay with it?

[Scott]

Nah DR, its you who are wrong. I am a long time buc fan who suffered for years and years during a time when our high point seasons would be 6 wins. I believe that Gruden is a much more clever coach than some of the past pedestrian coaches that we had. I enjoy being in the race nearly every year for the playoffs...I see D and F grades on Gruden's teams as the exception rather than the norm than it used to be. I am one that does not take for granted how good we have it...there are dozens of other teams in the league that would love to be defending division champs and 5-3 after the hard part of their schedule. Yes, I am the type of person who looks on the positive, because I have been in leadership positions alot in my life and have constantly had to deal with the critics who do nothing themselves but always feel (in their own mind) as if they could do better than you (if only they really did something in real life besides complain). Although I certainly would do some things differently than Gruden, I still root for him because he is the coach of my team and we are no longer sitting at 5-11 year after year. I am certainly not a follower, but I am also not one who exists simply to complain either. Trust me, if I felt that there were other coaches who would have us at 12-4 every year with our no name running backs and 39 year old Qbs...I would be the first to complain. But, while other teams have Pro Bowl players all over their lineups and are 4-4 of 3-5, why dont you think about what Gruden has gotten out of his players?

[Scott]

DR, remember, we have either won...or been in every single game this year. Our 3 losses came in very close games? Have you forgotten the 1980s and early 1990s where half of our games would be blowout losses? Where the game would essentially be over midway through the 3rd quarter? I guess I am a fool for arguing this....as I live in Manhattan and recall Yankee fans complaining about Torre shortly after they had won four world series wins. As I said again, some people just live to complain.

[Michael]

Scott, I am with you. I have been defending Jon Gruden for years. Its nice to have some support finally. DR, you are not looking at the job Gruden has done with the Bucs logically. If I asked most people who has the most wins as Bucs head coach, everyone would say Dungy. Well, Gruden is currently tied with Dungy in wins as Bucs coach, and so his next will make GRUDEN the winningest coach in franchise history. Want more? Who is the all time winningest coahc on the ROAD for the Bucs? GRUDEN ALREADY IS! Dungy was 21-33 as a Bucs coach on the road. Gruden is 23-30. Oh, and while most people seem to think the offense regressing. The Bucs are averaging 21.2 points per game this year. Thats up from last year. I am not saying that he should not have any blame for their losses, but he has rebuilt this team, and they seem ready to win for years.

[Erick]

There are definitely problems in Gruden's decision making sometimes and don't think he treats people well, but we could be doing a lot worse. Dungy is a decent coach but he wasn't praised nearly as much as he is until he landed in Indy with Manning and Harrison. I'll be the first to complain when Gruden makes a bone-headed decision (which does happen) but I will also commend him when he takes the tough calls like Alstott's famous leap for the winning score a couple of year's back. DR, criticism is ok, but you NEVER say anything positive on here. Oh, and not everyone considers the Cowboys America's team. I only root for one team and it ain't them.

[Valrico Rick]

The Bucs are underachievers and you can hold up a 6 year old Super Bowl trophy and 3 division titles and claim we have a great coach if you want to. There is a certain element of reality that must be considered when you decide to have a positive outlook, and you can't look at the decision making by the Bucs head coach and ignore the obvious. We had EG on the roster for 3 years before Gruden noticed he could play well enough to start. We drafted a running back who can't catch the ball out of the backfield. We went into Denver and whiffed against one of the worst pass defenses in the league. We started a running back with a pinched nerve in his back over a healthy one. Oh, I could go on and on, but what is the point! If Gruden takes us to the Super Bowl I will shut up, but it isn't looking good, five dash three or not! 'Nuff Said!!!

[jobucs]

I really don't understand why DR comments here. He loves the Cowboys. Why doesn't he blog on those sites? He must just want attention but doesn't get it on Dallas blogs. I live out of state but have been a Bucs fan since 1978. If I was a supporter of another team I sure as hell wouldn't waste my time here. The best thing we should all do is ignore him and maybe he will get on a Detroit Lions, or some other struggling franchise site and try to get attention there.

[Mark]

Not only is DR an idiot, he's a coward too. The whole week leading up to the Cowboys game, that douche bag was nowhere to be found. Hate to make some ridiculous Cowboys are going to win and the Bucs suck comments if there's a chance it might blow up on you right DR? Now that the Cowboys were blessed with a sub par perperformance from our mighty Bucs and able to squeak out a very unimpressive win, here he is back talking smack. That sums up your whole lousy existence DR!!

[jobucs]

Scott- I agree with you on every point but one. We do not have as many pro bowl player as we should for one reason only. EXPOSURE and POPULARITY!!! Do you watch pre game shows , sports center, or the NFL network? If you do,you know all they cover are the media darlings like Dallas, Pittsburgh, New England, and one or two other teams. Same teams, same players, same coaches over and over and over. Week after week after week it's the same old thing. Our players are among the best in the league. That's why when we beat anybody, especially the media darlings we beat not only the team but the league and zebras also. That's what makes it so sweet for me. It's never easy and by the end of some games the refs are looking at each other like what can I call now? It's starting to look like a fix and besides my arm is getting tired from throwing all these flags.

[DR]

Yeah, I did make predictions Mark. I said that Gruden will give Cowboys hope with his horrible predictable play calling. Lucky for me, Gruden came through with his predictable crap and you all, especially Kurt who predicted a blow out, looked stupid.
I live in the Tampa area so I am subjected to watching them play every Sunday unless I hit the bar. Weird, last week there was far less Bucs fans than expected at the bar. They must have agreed with my predictions.
I made comments about Gruden's horrible decision making last week and all you guys do is come back with he won a Super Bowl 6 years ago, and he won division titles-which resulted in home playoff losses.
Gruden is lucky to have the absent owners he has in the soccer Glazers. If Gruden was in New York, Dallas, or any other big city that cares about winning, he would have been fired 3 years ago.
The Cowboys win was ugly but great. You all complain about injuries and look at the Cowboys, they have injuries on both sides of the ball.
Don't get me wrong, the Bucs do have talent to be competitive which they have been all year, but they need a better leader. There is something wrong with a coach who has no problem dropping back a 38 year old QB 35+ times a game against defense that can't stop the run. You all keep supporting that.

[Edgar]

They better win against the mighty 1-6 Chiefs w/o Larry Johnson? If they don't Gruden should be on the hot seat for NFL coaches in 2008.