Gruden on Cato June's arrest, Michigan job

Bucs coach Jon Gruden didn't seem to appreciate the tone of questions from a local television reporter about linebacker Cato June's arrest and the coaching opening at Michigan during Gruden's news conference Monday at One Buc Place.

Asked "Does Cato June have a drinking problem?'' at the start of the news conference, Gruden gave the reporter a hard stare before responding, "I don't have any comment on that right now other than we're very concerned. We're getting all the facts. It's a serious matter.''

June was arrested in Tampa at 3 a.m. and charged with DUI, hours after the Bucs' 31-7 victory over the Falcons Sunday in Atlanta.

The same reporter followed with a question about whether Gruden allows his players to drink on the team plane.

"I'm not going to comment,'' Gruden said. "I have a strong opinion on Cato June. He's a great young man and as we gather all the information, we'll make an announcement.''

Later in the news conference, the reporter asked Gruden about a report linking him to the head coaching job at Michigan following Lloyd Carr's retirement.

"I really don't know who you are, man,'' a perturbed Gruden responded, "but you're throwing me some fastballs.''

Addressing the question, Gruden said, "I have what I think is the best job in all of football. I'm very happy to be here.''

Gruden said the Bucs will address June's situation ''privately'' and didn't believe it would be a distraction for his team, which is 6-4 and leads the NFC South by two games over New Orleans and Carolina entering Sunday's game against Washington.

June isn't the only current or former Buc to have DUI-related problems this year.

Ex-Bucs receiver David Boston was arrested and charged with DUI in August in Pinellas Park after police found him slumped over the wheel of his SUV with the car running and in drive. A urinalysis later revealed that Boston had GHB in his system, and the Bucs released him.

Tight end Jerramy Stevens was sentenced to 30 days in jail and fined $3,160 after being convicted of DUI in Scottsdale, Ariz. Stevens was arrested in March, a month before he was signed by the Bucs.

(Pictured: Cato June. AP photo/Hillsborough County Jail. Click to enlarge.)

Gruden's news conference

HEAD COACH JON GRUDEN

(On injured players)
Greg Spires has a calf injury and he's currently being evaluated. Torrie Cox injured his knee; he also is undergoing some tests at this time. We are concerned about them. We'll update you when we get the results from these tests. Once again, we're very disappointed in the game yesterday. Our guys played very hard.

(On if he knows if Michael Pittman or Michael Clayton are any closer to returning to the field)
No, not at this point. Patrick Chukwurah and Brian Kelly are two other guys. We've got a number of guys that we have a chance to get back. I just can't comment on that until I actually get final word from our trainer.

(On what he liked about the first half of the season)
I've got to meet a lot of guys on the football team. We've used just about every guy on the team. We're playing hard. Our last three games have come down to the closing seconds. We won a game against Tennessee in dramatic fashion and had a chance to yesterday. We put ourselves in position for a finish in Detroit. Guys are playing hard. Some of the young players are getting better. I feel like if we can get some guys back in the second half of the season we can hang around and make this interesting.

(On Garcia missing some open men after seven games of being so sharp)
Well, you're not going to be perfect. You're going to miss a couple throws. Unfortunately, we missed a couple yesterday, and when we did put the ball on the money, a couple times we dropped it. So there was a combination of those two things in key situations that had a lot to do with us not winning the football game.

(On what hasn't been good enough in the first half)
We've got to get better in all areas. Obviously the last two weeks our turnover ratio is what's hurt us. We haven't acquired a turnover on defense and we've turned it over on offense. You can go through all the statistics you want, you can play fantasy football and draft whoever you want, but at the end of the day it's turnover ratio that decides football games. We've turned it over too many times in two weeks and we haven't got any turnovers. Usually that will do you in.

(On what he says when he sees a catch like the one Matt Jones made against them)
Let's go men. We need that. We've made some great plays throughout the season. You look at Matt Jones jump up and make a freak catch with his left hand and get two feet in. The play before that, we challenged, I don't know who caught it, I can't remember now but it was an unbelievable catch. The ball was in his face, he gets his eyes around, he somehow catches it and gets two feet in. You give them credit. They made a couple great plays and those two plays, signature plays, probably won them the game.

(On the red zone production)
We would like to be better, we would like to be better. We fumbled the ball on a first and goal at the one in Detroit. I believe yesterday at the end of the first half with no timeouts, some of the play selection obviously is a little lopsided in passing the ball. We have done some decent things, we have capped off some drives. Cleary, we can score more points than we have in the last two weeks.

(On WR Maurice Stovall)
He did okay. He had a couple penalties, the push off in the two-minute [drive], the holding call on the reverse, negated a 12 or 15 yard run. His inexperience showed a couple of times. I thought he played hard, made a couple of nice catches, played on special teams, got tired. We had to take a timeout late in the ball game to get our guys some air, Joey [Galloway] got tired. Maurice did some good things, and it was a good start.

(On turnovers)
We have done pretty well. Our quarterback went seven games without a pick. One of the interceptions yesterday, Glenn makes a great play. He is timely, he jumps, he takes a gamble and it pays off for him. The last interception of the game, the ball is thrown pretty well, we don't secure it, [and] sometimes that is football. Defensively, I think we have gone a couple weeks without a turnover. We have to obviously do a better job and find a way to get a couple in our favor.

(On the missed opportunities)
That is a golden opportunity. We didn't get it done. We had some chances to make some plays and we win the game. You were there, you saw the game, watched the film, our players I think will feel like, hey, we are a pretty good football team. We have to make a couple more plays. We are going to be alright. That was unfortunate.

(On Michael Bennett)
Well he didn't play a lot. I thought when he was asked to play he did a pretty good job. Obviously he's got some speed, like to see him catch the ball on the sideline, that's a 35 yard-play. I realize their low percentage, but when guys are open deep, that's not low percentage to me, that's high percentage, that's impact play making kind. People are going to blitz, if they're going to sit on you, you throw it over their head. We have to make those plays, but I think he's doing a good job and I believe he's going to be an asset to our football team.

(On DE Gaines Adams getting playing time)
I think the way he played yesterday, I think he has the right to be frustrated a little bit. But if you watch Greg Spires play, Spires will be frustrated because he didn't play too, he played very well. Sometimes there is going to be some frustration when you're not playing, but Gaines Adams did a good job when he played in the game yesterday. I expect him to be a real big part of the second part of the season; we're anxious to see what he can do.

(On DE Gaines Adams performance over the last eight weeks)
There are some aspects that I'm really excited about. He does give a good effort, is he leading the league in effort? Gaines you're not leading the league in effort. Kyle Vanden Bocsh from Tennessee leads the league in effort. I saw that last week and I think Gaines Adams had now a half of a season to get a feel for this league, who's in it, how the game is played, and I believe he's ready to take off. I believe Gaines Adams has an opportunity now to sit back and look back at the first half of the season and understand that he belongs in the league, he knows how to play, he understands our defense now, and we expect big things from him.

(On how he manages the rotations of the DE's)
We are going to do what we do what we feel is right with the entire group, that goes from Greg White to Kevin Carter, all the guys. It's not all about Gaines Adams here today, it's about our defensive line and we do expect Gaines to be an every down player and an impact player for our franchise for years to come. Whether or not that's this week or next week we'll have to see.

(On if he was surprised about Jacksonville running the ball in 15 consecutive plays)
A little bit, but when you take a look at the Jaguars football team, they have the components there to do that. They've got four great backs. [LaBrandon] Toefield is a heck of a back too, no one talks about Greg Jones, but when you have [Maurice Jones] Drew and [Fred] Taylor [and] Marcedes Lewis is one of the bigger more physical on the line of scrimmage blockers in the league and they are a big physical football team. So with the young quarterback, I think the big run, was the third-and-eight run, when they out planked us in a man-to-man defense, which is uncharacteristic of us, but they were able to get some three to four yard runs, set up some third and twos, go for it on forth-and -inches or fourth of inside one. I was surprised by that, but I though we did a better job in the second half, getting it squared away and playing better.

(On the Bucs needing to win the division to make the playoffs)
Again, if you win your division, you're in the playoffs. And every year it starts right there. New Orleans Saints, no matter what anybody says, they are a good football team. You know, Carolina has problems with now with injuries, too. Atlanta has had their share of injuries. So, there's blood in the water, I said it a couple of weeks ago, in the NFC South. Hopefully we can get some guys back and be a factor down the stretch.

(On the quarterback having a hot hand)
The way I see it, Jeff is always hot. Jeff's a heck of a player. When you get into a game like that when it's a blitzfest, you look forward to putting the game in your quarterback's hands and we want to do that every week. We consider him a great quarterback. I think he has been for the first eight weeks of the season. He's responded to a lot of change around him. It's been hard on him, it's been hard Jeff Garcia, okay? A lot of guys have come and gone and it's not like he's in his fourth or fifth year in this offense. He's reacted well, in my opinion, I think he's a great quarterback, and he's the reason why we will have a chance in the second half.

Transcription of Gruden's news conference

HEAD COACH JON GRUDEN QUOTES

MONDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2007

(On injured players)
Real quick, our injury list. It's hard to be official until I hear from the trainer after some of these guys have been examined. But Mark Jones injured his knee; he'll be out for the season. Michael Clayton is getting an MRI at this point on his ankle. We have a couple other guys that are being treated at this point, but those are the two significant injuries from yesterday's game.

(On if he was encouraged by anything he saw on offense in Detroit)
Well, there's a lot to be encouraged by. Earnest Graham had close to 100 yards rushing and 100 yards receiving in his second career start. Jeff Garcia, I don't know if he was 20-for-20 at halftime or close to it. It's hard to imagine him playing much better. He did some great things. Obviously losing Clayton on the second play of the game didn't help. Hopefully we can get the full supporting cast healthy and ready to go here for the second half of the season to help him. It's unfortunate that we weren't able to finish some drives better, and we had a couple breakdowns, obviously, in special teams that hurt us. But there were some positive things to take away from the game, there always are. But there was also, in defeat, things that make it hard to swallow.

(On if there were breakdowns on the Bucs' defense)
Well, backed-up on one of the plays we had an issue with contain and Kevin Jones got outside to set up a first down. They converted a third-and-short on a naked bootleg by inches. Calvin Johnson hurt us on a couple plays, certainly a seam post where coverage was pretty good. [Jon] Kitna made a great throw and Calvin Johnson made a great play. Then on the end-around, the 32-yard run, we didn't have the best contain but Calvin made two or three guys miss in the process. I can't fault anyone's effort. I can't say we had dramatic breakdowns, but the Lions orchestrated a pretty good drive. I give them credit.

(On the offensive line performance against Detroit)
Well, all-in-all there were some good plays. The sacks obviously put a tainted picture on what was a pretty good performance. We had four 15 or 16-play drives. We had a couple penalties that were very disappointing. False starts, I think we had a roughness penalty and a holding call in the first half. We overcame a few of those penalties in route to a score. We did have some penalties, we did have a couple issues in pass protection, but I can't just fault the offensive line. We're in this together, and we could have got some help, I think, in some situations where we normally do.

(On if there is frustration involved with losing players to injury every week)
It's frustrating. It's not baseball. It's not Major League Baseball. You can't make a trade and just put a guy in your lineup and say, 'Hey, go play right field and hit fourth. No disrespect to baseball, but you've got to know the formations, you've got to know the snap count, you've got to know the audible system, the two-minute package, all the things that you learn in training camp and OTAs and things of that nature. But when you lose three running backs and three receivers and a tight end and a left tackle, a corner, a defensive end and Sabby Piscitelli's also been out for some time, they do add up. We will be tested, certainly, this coming week with the Jaguars. They're an outstanding football team and you'll see so tonight.

(On WR Mark Jones)
I believe it is Patella tendon, very similar injury that Carnell [Williams] suffered. When I get the final word from Todd [Toriscelli] will be sure to tell you guys on Wednesday. It is unfortunate. He was one of the top return specialists in football. Obviously, you can see where he ranks statistically yourself. Somebody will have to pick up the slack in the punt return and kickoff return aspect now.

(On where the team is)
We like our team. We are disappointed in the outcome of the game yesterday. We feel like four out of our first seven games have been played on the road. We would like to have won the ball game yesterday; we would like to have more wins than four. We are right in the thick of this thing. We have to roll up our fists and fight right now, like a lot of the other people sitting at home today. It is not easy, life is not easy. We have to overcome some dramatic loses to our football team, but we are confident we can do that. We will lean on our best players, and hopefully see the emergence of guys like Earnest Graham and Donald Penn, [as they] prove they can play in the NFL, and now they have to continue to prove it.

(On RB Michael Bennett's play Sunday)
We liked him. Obviously he got into a situation there on short notice. I don't even think he knows most of his coaches or teammates by name or number yet, but he got in and got three carries and was in on a couple of other pass action passes. I believe he played five or six plays. He's a guy that has kickoff return capabilities. I think Michael Bennett is meeting with our coaching staff right now trying to learn and get caught up in terms of our offense. We like to expand his role, clearly he's a guy with some speed and he's a great guy and a good learner and hopefully we can get him out there more next week.

Bucs have a new pressing need

In the wake of his team’s 23-16 loss Sunday to the Detroit Lions, Jon Gruden suddenly has a new pressing need – a kick return specialist.

Mark Jones, Gruden told the media at his weekly news conference at One Buc Place, is lost for the season with a knee injury. He likened it to the torn patellar tendon that sidelined tailback Cadillac Williams. Gruden added that newly acquired tailback Michael Bennett could be tapped for return duty.

Despite the missed opportunities in Detroit, Gruden found some encouraging signs, including the play of tailback Ernest Graham and quarterback Jeff Garcia.

“Ernest Graham had close to 100 yards rushing (19-for-92), 100 yards receiving (13-for-99) in his second career start. Garcia, I don’t know if he was 20-for-20 at halftime or close to it (19-for-20). It’s hard to imagine him playing much better. He did some great things. Obviously, losing (wide receiver Michael) Clayton on the second play of the game didn’t help.

"Hopefully, we can get a full supporting cast healthy and ready to go for the second half of the season. But it’s unfortunate that we weren’t able to finish some drives better and we had a couple of breakdowns obviously on special teams that hurt us. There are some positive things to take away from the game; there always are. But there’s also in defeat things that make it hard to swallow.”

Including injuries. The other noteworthy one was sustained by Clayton, who was undergoing an MRI on his ankle Monday morning. The results were not available at the time of the press conference.

-- DAVE SCHEIBER, Times staff writer

Transcription of Gruden's news conference

HEAD COACH JON GRUDEN

(On injured players)
Patrick Chukwurah has a shoulder injury. Alex Smith has an ankle injury. They both had X-rays, and the X-rays appear negative. Their status for the upcoming game will be questionable at this point. We'll just update you during the week.

(On if Alex Smith's ankle injury is similar to the one suffered by Michael Pittman)
We don't believe it's as serious as Mike Pittman's. He has a chance to play this week, as we said. All we can do is update you here in the coming days.

(On the running game)
We've had some good days running the ball and we've had some days that weren't so good, especially the last couple outings. But situationally we haven't given our runners the opportunities that we did earlier in the season. We were way behind in Indianapolis and we were in a throw-it mentality. You've got to recall we only had 40 snaps of offense. When you're down by two or three scores, you're throwing it, trying to catch up. Yesterday, we didn't have much success running the ball. We didn't have it a lot, and we felt the best way to win the game was throw. We knew we could have success throwing the football and we tried to put Jeff Garcia in position to make some plays.

(On if the Bucs are trying to trade for a player)
I'll let you know we are certainly investigating the possibility of a trade. Again, it takes two to tango. The trade deadline, they tell me, is approaching us, so we should know something soon.

(On the pass protection)
It wasn't stellar. It wasn't our best game pass-protecting. I'm disappointed in some of our sets and some of our stunt pick-up. There were some good downs. We've got to do a lot better. In my opinion, Jeff took some hits he shouldn't take, but when we had to protect in the end, we did a pretty good job of protecting.

(On his thoughts on the final drive)
There was a lot of clutch play-making there by a lot of guys, some really good pick-ups, as I said. Jeff's pocket presence, creating opportunities to find back-side complementary receivers; Ike Hilliard's instinctiveness, awareness -- it was a clutch drive in a situation where our back was against the wall and we needed it.

(On K Matt Bryant)
Oh yeah, it is a lot better, it is a lot better. I don't really have to worry. They had 12 guys on the field when we did kick the winning field goal. I was a little worried that someone might miss that, but I have a lot of confidence in Matt. His 62 yarder to beat Philadelphia [and] big kick yesterday; he has made some clutch kicks when we needed him. People tend to forget the kickoff that he made the last play of the game. Basically, it was well-placed and really didn't give them an opportunity for one of those Tennessee nightmare returns like they had a few years ago. We are real confident in Matt, and we consider him a strength of our team.

(On if you can win without a running game)
We won a Super Bowl here, we won a championship with one of the 26th, 27th, or 28th ranked rushing games. We would like to certainly have better success then we have had the last two weeks. We walked out of Carolina feeling pretty good about pounding it in there for a couple hundred yards. Sometimes the best way to win a game is methodically running it, defeating the clock. Sometimes throwing the football and getting some other guys involved is the thing that gives you the best chance to win, and that is what we did yesterday.

(On if the offense scaled back in the second half)
I don't think so. We have a 10-3 lead, we have the ball first down, backed up on our 12 yard-line. We threw the ball to Jerramy Stevens who was wide open. We had a pass protection break down really; we had a guy get beat. I don't know what you mean vanilla, but that is your opinion, no we didn't try to stay vanilla. We didn't have the ball outside of that series much until the final 1:17 of that game.

(On the Detroit Lions)
They are 3-2. They are a hard team to play in that dome; I have been there many times. They have a great home field advantage there; they play well in the dome. They have added a lot of defensive players. We all know that they will be well coached. Mike Martz, Rod Marinelli, Joe Barry [are] tremendous coaches. [They have an explosive offense, they have fire power, and they are committed to throwing it, it appears to me. Defensively with the emergence of [Ernie] Sims, their young linebacker and the additions they have made in their front four, it will be a tough task for us.

(On the secondary)
I can't say enough about how hard we have been playing on defense. Phillip Buchanon has been a real good addition here. You saw Ronde Barber show up and make some big plays for us. Jermaine Phillips has really been solid back there in the safety position. Clearly, Tanard Jackson is on the rise, he's going to be a really good pro. We hope to get Brian Kelly back soon and in the time being I thought Sammy Davis and Torrie Cox filled in and did a nice job. That's a credit to Raheem Morris and that group of guys.

(On being four and two and having won different ways)
I'm really proud of our team. Not to compare this team to last year, I'm not going to do that, it's not fair to these guys; we have a whole new football team honestly. We have a long way to go. We have some key injuries right now that are troublesome that we have to overcome, but we do have enough grit, enough stuff inside our building here to rise up and I know we'll be there Sunday and we'll compete. We just got to find a way to get some players healthy and in the absence of some of these guys were talking about, some guys have to step up.

(On how big of a Bulls fan he is right now)
Man I'm big and number two in the nation. That is unbelievable; I say it every week, just unbelievable. Coach [Jim] Leavitt and their organization, their athletic department, their coaching staff, support staff. I had the band right in front of me playing the National Anthem, the trombones players, even they're great, so they got it going on. I'm really fired up and I can't wait till the next game.

Gruden's news conference

A transcription of Jon Gruden's Monday news conference:

(Opening statement)

“Obviously, we’re disappointed with the defeat yesterday.”

(On Michael Pittman’s injury)
“He is getting evaluated at this point but it looks like it will be a six-to-eight-week injury. We’ll update you when we get the results of the MRI but it is a pretty good sprain, we do believe. That’s a tough blow for us.”

(On how the Bucs adjust to losing Pittman for six to eight weeks)
“Earnest Graham becomes the starting tailback and Ken Darby will be elevated. And we’ll look, obviously, to see what possibilities are out there.”

(On how he feels about the team this morning)
“I think we’re a pretty good team. I realize the scoreboard and the statistics said a lot differently yesterday, but we think we’re pretty good. We’re not the first team to go into that dome and be beaten. I just want to remind people of that. There’s a couple of plays that this quarterback makes that…hey. It’s like the guys that I know on the pro golfing tour that get to play with Tiger Woods for the first time. That ain’t fair. It just isn’t fair. The guy’s amazing. Particularly on that surface, in that noise, [it’s] his command, his expertise, his playmaking. It was a 13-7 game, we had the ball just outside of two minutes left in the first half. We had a chance, now, to make a couple plays and maybe make it interesting. But I give them a lot of credit. They’re very talented and the guy took control of the football game and made some great plays.”

(On Manning’s rank among other NFL quarterbacks)
“I don’t know how much I can say positively about Peyton Manning. I was lucky to be around Steve Young, Joe Montana, and [Brett] Favre. I think our guy (Jeff Garcia) is playing extremely well too. This guy is at the line of scrimmage almost every snap, takes it down to six or seven seconds before the 40 second clock expires. He announces the play, changes the protection, the pattern and then he makes the plays. He is just a great performer and I’m tired of talking about him. I’m ready to talk about something else.”

(On the offense only getting 40 plays)
“It has been a long time. We had a couple of consecutive three-and-outs to start the game. We had six plays in the first quarter [and] we had three plays total in the third quarter; that doesn’t happen often. I think they had six possessions offensively where they had 10 plays or more. So that was certainly a long day at the office for us. It has been a long time.”

(On the Titans’ defense)
“There is no question, they are together on defense. The emergence of this [Cortland] Finnegan, a young cornerback. The return of Albert Haynesworth, his status is certainly important to Tennessee. [Kyle] Vanden Bosch and [Antwan] Odom give them two very good defensive ends. I am very impressed with [Keith] Bullock, he keeps getting better year in, year out. They have had great continuity there with Coach [Jeff] Fisher and Coach [Jim] Schwartz. The films I have seen this morning, there is not a lot there in the Saints game, there is not a lot there yesterday, for the Falcons. They do a heck of a job on defense. They are hard to run against, I think they yield about 55 to 60 yards per game and a lot of that is garbage yards at the end of the ball game.”

(On the AFC South)
“It is a tough division. I think they are all tough. I think our division is tough, although our statistics [and] our win-loss records may not say so. They are a very good football team. Jacksonville is very good, Tennessee looks outstanding [and] the young quarterback is going to make a lot of plays. Houston had a big win yesterday. It is a tough division, from top to bottom and we certainly saw a great team yesterday.”

(On if the team has to adjust for the loss of a running back)
“You have to adjust. Cadillac was a guy that really was featured on first and second down, Pittman is a guy that has been featured on third down. Now we’ve lost both of those backs. We adjusted a little bit to a new left tackle yesterday. But we’ve had to make numerous adjustments here, that’s one thing we’re good at, to change our personnel. At this point, we will have to make some adjustments, I’m sure, and we’re looking forward to doing that.”

(On looking at Donald Penn’s performance)
“I thought he did some good things, I thought he did some really good things. There weren’t a lot of snaps to evaluate, but he did a good job, he really did. He played well [during] his first start in the NFL against Dwight Freeney and that atmosphere. I was pleased with his performance, I really was.”

(On what impressed him most about Jeff Garcia’s performance)
“His capabilities. He’s capable of throwing it, he’s capable of running it and he’s capable of making something great happen out of nothing. He is really tremendous when all hell breaks loose and he has to create. He is a tremendous athlete and he has great potential on every play.”

(On making a trade for a running back)
“I’m not going to get involved in the speculation. I would say that I am very disappointed to have lost Pittman for a while, Carnell Williams, [Luke] Petitgout and [Mike] Alstott and a couple of other guys we expected to contribute.”

(On playing at home)
“We have to find a way to win. Tennessee is going to have something to say about that, they played very well and they’re on a roll right now. They turned it over five times yesterday, and when you can win a game turning it over five times, you must be playing great defense, that’s all I know. When you pick up the tape and you see the Titans walk in here, you’ll see a very big, physical football team that will be a handful, and we’re looking forward to this one.”

(On the defensive preparation for the Colts)
“If we played the Colts again, we might not play them the same way we played them yesterday. You never really get practice preparing for Indianapolis, [and] that’s one of the great credits I give Tom Moore. I’ve always said that they’re hard to prepare for because your service squad team can’t represent them like you would like to represent the Colts. The no-huddle, the changing of the plays, the point, who’s the Mike, who’s this, who’s that, it’s unbelievable the presentation of their offense, [and] it’s hard to emulate. I think if we had a chance to play them again, we’d probably do some things differently and we didn’t play extremely well yesterday, we didn’t tackle like we’ve been tackling, but we’re going to move on now.”

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Gruden expects Petitgout next week

Coach Jon Gruden downplayed Luke Petitigout's absence from Tuesday morning's walk-through and afternoon practice. Asked if the free-agent left tackle was sent to a specialist about his chronic back, Gruden replied: "I wouldn't say a speciialist. Luke is doing fine, I'm told." Gruden said he expects Petitgout to return to practice at the beginning of next week and to play in the team's second preseason game.

Plenty of space for the mind to roam

TAMPA - The players moved into the team's spacious new facility Monday, and it felt a little strange.

They practiced on a trio of beautifully manicured fields, changed clothes in a cavernous lockerroom, met in rooms with plenty of seating space and lifted weights using machines they'd never seen before.

Nope, they weren't at One Buc anymore.

“I think I actually could make it through the whole day and not see other teammates until I get on the field,”said tight end Dave Moore, who called One Buc home for 12 seasons.“We're used to being on top of each other. It's great; we have everything we need. There's no excuse for not being able to get it done.”

Well, maybe one.

On the team's first day at the new facility, the facility itself, apparently, was a distraction. Coach Jon Gruden was not pleased with practice, saying the offense wasn't sharp.

“We have to get over the buzz of the new facility,” Gruden said. “Everyone's excited, and rightfully so, but what we have to do is concentrate on football and take advantage of the facility at the same time. There's going to be some distraction here, I'm sure, the first day or so just to get familiarized with all there is in here and where to go. It's shocking to some degree. You don't feel like it's home yet, but that's part of making change.”

Times photo by Bill Serne; click to enlarge.

Gruden's ire

LAKE BUENA VISTA - If Thursday's practice sessions are any indication, coach Jon Gruden is frustrated with the lack of production by his offense in drills against the league's reigning No.1 defense.

"We had some lack of concentration today," Gruden said after the morning session. "We're not good enough today to beat anybody on offense. We had four or five visible mental errors, four or five visible snap count violations. It was not acceptable and we're not going to be a very good team practicing like that."

The starters aren't expected to play more than one or two series in Friday night's preseason opener against the Jets at Raymond James Stadium, which meant young players took center stage at practice. The afternoon session, which featured a variety of situational drills, wasn't much better. At one point, Gruden grabbed rookie receiver Maurice Stovall by the jersey after he failed to properly execute a route.

Receiver Michael Clayton did not practice because of a bruised big toe, the result of being kicked on Wednesday. Clayton said it is not a recurrence of the turf toe injury that ended his 2005 season in December.

Also, the Bucs signed tight end Leonard Stephens and released receiver Terrence Stubbs.

Times photo by Bill Serne; click to enlarge.