Warrick Dunn to carry the load

With Earnest Graham out for the season with an ankle injury, 33-year-old Warrick Dunn will continue to carry the rushing load for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, coach Jon Gruden said.

"We want to put the ball in our best player's hands,'' Gruden said Monday during his weekly news conference at One Buc Place.

Dunn had 127 total yards during the Bucs' 38-20 victory over the Lions Sunday in Detroit. He rushed for a game-high 90 yards on 14 carries, including a 13-yard touchdown, and caught five passes for 37 yards.

Cadillac Williams closed out the fourth quarter and finished with a team-high 16 carries for 27 yards in his first game back from a severe knee injury.

"I thought the more (Williams) ran, the better he got,'' Gruden said. "I thought it was very good for him. He needed that live activity for himself to get acquainted to what it's like.''

Other highlights:

+ There is a chance injured safety Jermaine Phillips (forearm) and tight end Alex Smith (ankle) could return for this weekend's game against the New Orleans Saints, Gruden said.

+ As Antonio Bryant has emerged as the Bucs' go-to receiver, it is becoming increasingly difficult for the Bucs to find playing time for Joey Galloway, who missed much of training camp and the early part of the season with groin and foot injuries.

"We're hoping to get him on the field more and more,'' Gruden said, "but the bottom line is us trying to find a way to win a football game.''

+ Gruden praised the quickness and elusiveness Clifton Smith showed during his 70-yard punt return for a touchdown and 49-yard kickoff return, saying "it takes a lot of guts to do that job.''

But Gruden said he had to speak with Smith about ball control after Smith fumbled (the Bucs recovered) for the fourth consecutive game.

"We'd like to clean up the fumbles,'' Gruden said. "We talked about that yesterday. That's all part of becoming great, being completely reliable.''

Comments

[IdahoBUCfan]

I Love this years Team, and I Love this years COACH! We are in a place at this point in the season that all of the ney-sayers would have laughed at, had it been suggested by myself or another real BUC fan that we would be 8-3 right now! That makes me feel kinda warm inside! :)
One more thing, every time we win another game, it gets a little quieter on the posts! Where are all the BUC haters right now? I know that they are just keeping quiet till we eventually lose one, even if it is the Superbowl, when they would them gleefully say... "I told you so!" To them I say, there will be 31 teams that will lose their last game of the year, and if that happens to us, and we don't win it all AGAIN this year, I will still be Grateful for the work that this team, and this coaching staff bless US with week in and week out! GO BUCS!

[DR]

Great come back versus perhaps the worst defense ever assembled.
No team should talk super bowl at this point in the season, especially not the Bucs. The Bucs have won good games this year, better than last year for sure, but their offense is still too weak. I don't think Carnell will solve anything for them. They need Garcia to keep playing mistake free ball and hopefully he will find an end zone against a good defense.
A lot of teams win their last game Idahobuc.

[Drew]

DR,

I sent you a Gruden bobble head doll. Be warned though, that it's posessed by Chuckie.

As long as you feed and care for it there's nothing to worry about.

[TriplePlay]

The next set of games will show what this team is about.

Garcia, when not getting blocked by Williams, is playing very well.

[common sense]

It's nice to know that no matter what the score we aren't out of the game! I think we REALLY need a first round bye. Just for the health of our players, I still think that we should use a 4 receiver formation just to run out of.

[Philipj]

Hey Guys!

Don't look now, but they're the second-best team in the NFC. It isn't always pretty, but they find a way.

[WS]

DR- did that hurt saying something semi positive? Great season, great play, great COACHING! Nice words IdahoBucFan.