Could Jovan Haye be out a while?

We don't know the extent of DT Jovan Haye's knee injury, but Jon Gruden sounded like he is making plans for playing Monday's big game at Carolina without his starting under tackle.

In talking about Haye's replacement, backup Ryan Sims, Gruden said, "Ryan Sims goes in and plays two different positions, and plays well whether it is 12 plays or 18 plays. He might have to play 60 plays on Monday. I don't know."

Gruden is right about Sims, but the Bucs would still miss Haye against the Panthers' power running game, which is averaging 133 yards per game.

In other injury news, Gruden said DE Gaines Adams sustained a hip pointer against New Orleans, but he didn't characterize the severity of that injury. Adams did return to the game and played sporadically after his injury and downplayed its seriousness afterward.

Comments

[goto11]

Stephen, any word as to why Sims was given more playing time than Jimmy Wilkerson?

[shane]

seriously jimmy is faster than Sims and has made a bigger impact on defense on passing downs but maybe the bucs will rotate Sims and Wilkerson during the course of the game Sims on 3/4 down short yardage plays and Jimmy on passing downs

[TriplePlay]

Good question about Wilkerson - seems like the coaches only want him at the DE position.

Carolina will be a good match up next Monday - they will be ramped up after their comeback in Green Bay.

Bucs will need to be flawless.

[James]

Um... that's an easy one.

Jimmy Wilkerson plays DE and Ryan Sims plays DT. Kinda hard to trump playing time with eachother at different positions.

One guy I have to be questionable of right now is Greg White. He wants to legally change his name to Stylez G White but he can't put enough consistant pressure on the QB to warrant such a noticeable name. Atleast Gaines Adams is pictured running AFTER the QB in most plays where Stylez G is gobbled up in 1v1's.

[Eric C.]

Jimmy Wilkerson has been rotated between tackle and dend. Yes he is classified as a dend, but has come in consistently to play the UT position on passing downs with greg white, kevin carter, him, and gaines. Ryan Sims has been playing really well lately and has been stopping the run better as well.

[Itch]

I like our depth on defense. Syms and Wilkerson have both made an impact and are sold players. do not get the busting on White, he has been a run stopper also, and ussually he is 2x1 in his rush which frees up the others. Much like Sapp was people started double teaming him. I hope Gaines is healthy for Monday, Delhoume needs to be worrying about some one coming from behind to crush him.

But once again, where are all the Barber and Garcia bashers? Both have shown up to play and play well. Garcia just needs to keep the happy feet in check.

[Kurt]

I have to disagree with you Itch, in that, we are winning in spite of Garcia. He is absolutely terrible in the red zone and his happy feet happen every passing play. I would much rather see Griese in there, and I imagine once he's healthy, he'll get his job back. Nonetheless, if Garcia continues to play so poorly, we will not go much further. I'd much rather have a couple of turnovers and 6 scoring drives (Griese) than 1 turnover and 3-4 scoring drives (Garcia.) Not to mention that defenses play us more honestly when
Griese is in there which frees up the running game. Our defense can handle the turnovers caused by taking shots downfield by Griese...at least a big play comes from it now and again. I'm just saying...Garcia is not playing well. Barber is great except one on one outside the hashes. He's a HOF'er no doubt!

[DR]

Griese over Garcia.... I heard it all now. LMAO. Yeah, Griese was playing so well, he was winning games. If the Bucs defense wasn't playing so great, Griese's team would have lost every game. Look at how many defensive TDs were scored during his piss poor stint. A 3rd string QB in Chicago, Griese shouldn't even have a job in the NFL. There isn't much of an argument with Garcia's 92 QB rating over Griese's 64. You'd rather have a QB that throws more INTs than TDs, yeah, that makes sense. Man, you are one stupid SOB.

[OAR]

The Great One speaks to us again. DR the perverbial football god(at least he thinks so). Listen "bro", same thing could be said about Garcia(Defense has won his games), but let's look at some career totals numbers:
wins & loses-Garcia 52-53, Griese 42-36. Under the bucs Garcia is 10-7
Griese is 13-7. Under Bucs Garcia has 21 tds and 7 ints. Griese 31 tds and 23 ints.(Garcia 22 games, Griese 21 games..hmmm) Well 10 more tds more wins(which I'll take anyday)...hmmmmm.
As for defensive scores during games this year; Garcia:2(plus 2 special teams scores) Griese:2(no special teams scores). Gee, I'll stick with Kurt on this one DR. Us stupid sob bucs fans need to stick together.

[Brian]

I know DR is the biggest tool in the shed, and I hate to admit it, but I agree with him here. garcia is much better for the Bucs offense then Griese. Gruden plays a version of the west coast-dink and dunk offense which includes good running and NO turnovers. That is huge, and anyone understanding football knows the impact an interception has on a game--ask the Saints about Sunday. I like vertical football, but the only QB the Bucs have had recently who could throw a good long ball was Simms. Griese is not very accurate on throws over 25 yards, and his interceptions would have killed us except for our great defense! Why do you think he never stuck or never became a long term starter for any team --he has back up talent period.

[BucFandango]

If Garcia keeps running as much as he did the other day, it may be a foregone conclusion about playing Griese. If Garcia(AKA Ben Gazzara) was just a little taller he could see downfield better. Griese has that height edge. You just have to hope and pray when either QB is in the game. It sure would be nice if we could sign Tom Brady. Carolina was owned last meeting & this one should be no different. Atlanta is the same story. Decent, but doesn't stack up against the Bucs' Defense. The Giants are the only NFC team that stand a chance against the Bucs D. A few NY injuries and that could change as well. This week should be redemption for Mr Cadillac. Delhomme is so afraid of the Bucs' D, he will injure himself before the game so he doesn't have to play.

[Brian]

p.s. OAR-Griese has a 3:2 td to Int. ratio vs. Garcia's 3:1, ask any coach in the NFL which they would want, and for Griese to have 10 more TD throws then garcia he has thrown 16 more INts--BAD STATS. Also Garcia can run--look how importnat that was in the Saints game. Griese cannot run for anything.

[OAR]

Brian, I'm not saying Griese is a better scrambler(Happy feet does fine with that)or passer(although Griese may not be 100% accurate with longer throws at least they get there, Garcias passes have the receivers slowing up or adjusting to under thrown). I was agreeing that Griese gives us a better redzone shot. (BTW ask Farve what he thinks about td to int ratios). Wins are what counts ultimately. I dont think we would have won games 2 to 5 had Garcia remained in there, the way he was playing.

[wizdomheard]

Here it is the 10th of Dec. 2008 and Dt Jovan Haye is still on the injured list. When will he be back to help the Tampa Bay Bucs Defense? or do we have to pull some talent from the practice squad? CB