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BUCS 31, DOLPHINS 28

Simms Takes A Step

By ROY CUMMINGS The Tampa Tribune

Published: Aug 26, 2007

MIAMI - It was supposed to be about the starters Saturday night. This was, after all, the third of four preseason games, the one in which the starters generally get a little more playing time.

But it's never about the starters in Bucs coach Jon Gruden's preseason. Four games still isn't enough to adequately evaluate a team's young talent, he says, so even the game reserved for starters is mostly about reserves.

That's how it was Saturday. It was about the reserves. One in particular. His name is Chris Simms. If you blinked you missed him. He played all of one series, threw all of one pass (officially), completing none.

It was the first game action for Simms since he went down in Week 3 with a spleen injury last season. Afterward, the Bucs were promising it wouldn't be his last action in their uniform.

"Chris will get more playing time against Houston," Bucs general manager Bruce Allen said, referring to the Bucs' final preseason game Thursday at Raymond James Stadium.

That's good news for Simms. He's fourth on a depth chart that will probably be only three players deep when the season starts, and he did little to move up Saturday during a 31-28 Bucs victory against the Dolphins.

His lone pass, a short lob over the middle on a first-and-10 at his own 41-yard line, was on target, but tight end Keith Heinrich dropped it. His other pass was an illegal one.

It came on a third-and-8 from his own 43. After rushing out of the pocket, Simms pitched left, hitting running back Earnest Graham with a shovel pass that went for an apparent first down.

Only problem was, the officials didn't see it that way. They ruled Simms had crossed the line of scrimmage before he got rid of the ball and declared the toss an illegal forward pass.

It's been that kind of a preseason for Simms. It's been that kind of a career. One riddled by injuries and bad breaks. The question remains, though, is Simms' career with the Bucs nearly over?

Sometime after the Houston game, the Bucs will have a decision to make. They go through quarterbacks rather readily but they seldom if ever carry four, and Simms has three ahead of him.

This, however, may be the year they do. There are some within their organization who believe they've invested too much time and money into Simms to let him go now. Still he's fourth on the depth chart.

If you doubted that before Saturday you were no doubt reminded of it late in the game when Bruce Gradkowski replaced Simms and guided the Bucs into the end zone twice.

Both scores gave the Bucs leads. The second, a 1-yard toss in the back of the end zone to Paris Warren, gave them the lead for good. It was vintage Gradkowski, circa preseason 2006.

It was vintage Simms, too. Starting on his draft day, when he had to wait until the end of the third round to be selected, he's suffered through one bad break after another.

He was injured the day he got his first start; he had the biggest pass of his career, an apparent touchdown throw in a playoff game against Washington, ruled incomplete. He had his spleen ruptured.

His comeback from the last setback has been agonizingly slow. There were times in training camp when he played as if he didn't know the plays. He watched all of the first two exhibition games from the sideline as a result.

Saturday marked another step in his comeback. He wasn't the only one taking such a step Saturday. Receiver Michael Clayton as doing the same. So was fellow receiver David Boston. Neither fared a whole lot better than Simms.

Clayton, who has struggled with injuries since putting together a dynamic rookie season three years ago, caught two passes for 24 yards but also dropped one.

Boston, who has missed the last two years because of knee injuries and was arrested Thursday evening and charged with driving under the influence, didn't catch anything.

He did, however, run the ball once for 18 yards, and he was thrown several balls, though most were out of his reach, all in a reserve role. Like we said, it was mostly about the reserves Saturday.

That's how Gruden likes it, and so he spent the majority of the night looking at reserves such as tackle Donald Penn, guard Dan Buenning and middle linebacker Ryan Nece.

The latter decision was tied in large part to the loss following last week's game of Antoine Cash, an emerging middle linebacker who suffered a season-ending knee injury.

That loss sent the Bucs on a search for a veteran reserve to play behind starter Barrett Ruud. The search resulted in a tryout for former Eagle Jeremiah Trotter and former Buc Al Singleton, but neither has signed.

The Bucs appear to be leaning toward filling the hole by promoting from within and one possibility has the Bucs also working reserve weakside linebacker Jamie Winborn at that spot.

This game wasn't all about the reserves, of course. The Bucs' starters did, in fact, get a few more reps than usual and running back Cadillac Williams was among those who made good use of the extra snaps.

Williams, who had been limited to just 3 yards on four carries and was stuffed for a 5-yard loss on his first carry Saturday, had back-to-back runs of 12 and 14 yards and finished the night with 25 yards on four carries.

Quarterback Jeff Garcia improved as the night went on as well. After throwing an interception to end the Bucs' second series, he hit Joey Galloway with a 26-yard touchdown pass to finish the third.

Reporter Roy Cummings can be reached at (813) 259-7979 or rcummings@tampatrib.com.