Glennon proved he’s the guy, Bucs fans Martin Fennelly, The Tampa Tribune, published 30 September 2014 This is your quarterback, Bucs fans. This is your quarterback, Lovie Smith. Mike Glennon, the QB who came in from the cold, warmed to the moment Sunday in Pittsburgh, leading, willing the Bucs to their first victory 10 days after that debacle in Atlanta. He had just 40 seconds to work with and no timeouts. No problem. Glennon to Vincent Jackson with seven seconds left to beat the Steelers. It’s just one game. But the Bucs desperately needed this — and a quarterback. “Guys really made some big-time plays there at the end,” Glennon said. “It shows you it’s never really over until it’s over.” Glennon should know. Last season, he was a rookie, the choice at quarterback after Josh Freeman and under the last head coach. Then, without Lovie coaching him for so much as one play in one practice, he lost his job to Josh McCown. But there was he on Sunday, in the second half, down the stretch, his first down-to-the-wire, final-minute win as a pro quarterback, displaying more presence than McCown ever showed as the Bucs fell to 0-3. McCown’s injured thumb created an opening. Position filled. Even if McCown comes back, position filled. This is your quarterback. “You couldn’t draw the script up any better than that for Mike,” Smith said. “No timeouts, hurry up, all the things you dream about … “ You don’t need to convince us, Lovie ... convince yourself. This is your quarterback. Then there was how Bucs rookie tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins put it: “Mike had some pretty big cajones making that throw to V-Jack, who made a phenomenal catch.’’ Um, where were we? “It was a great team win. It’s what a quarterback dreams of,” Glennon said. “When you’re in the back yard as a kid, you dream of those two-minute situations and throwing the game-winning touchdown as time expires. It wasn’t quite as time expired, but seven seconds, I’ll take it.” Glennon made mistakes, overthrows. He completed only half of his 42 passes and had only five completions in the first half for just 57 yards, though his first throw Sunday was a touchdown ball to Mike Evans. But this story, Glennon’s story, was written after halftime, when he passed for 245 yards, and particularly in the fourth quarter, when he threw for 148. By the end, he had 302 yards passing. And by the very, veryend, the Bucs had a quarterback who didn’t flinch. Then again, Glennon didn’t flinch last March, when Smith announced that McCown was the starter. “I took the mindset that I was going to keep … it’s always said … but prepare like that starter,” Glennon said. “That’s what I did. Even though I wasn’t taking reps on game day, I was still studying and preparing like I was the starter because if an opportunity arose, I wanted to make sure I was ready for it.” So he didn’t flinch Sunday, even after the Bucs fell behind, even after Glennon threw an interception as Evans pulled up with a groin injury. And even as the Bucs came away empty late in the game, four cracks from the Pittsburgh 14, with first down wasted on that lame gadget play, a halfback pass by Bobby Rainey, followed by three Glennon incompletions. But the Bucs defense held, Pittsburgh punted. And there was Glennon, with just 40 seconds, no timeouts. No worries. “He didn’t blink once,” Jackson said. “That’s normally how you judge quarterbacks, you know, based on how they finish a game,” Smith said. The big play before the winning touchdown was a 41-yard pass to Louis Murphy, who the Bucs re-signed just this week, but who teamed up with Glennon a lot in the preseason, back-up time, scrub reps in exhibition games. This was the real deal. So was Glennon. “Poised is a great word for him – poised, resilient, resolved,” Bucs GM Jason Licht said. Don’t tell us — tell Lovie. “This guy is calm and cool and collected,” Bucs offensive lineman Demar Dotson said of Glennon. “Now if only we could get him to speak up a little bit with the plays in the huddle. He’s so calm in there he whispers them.” Look, it was just one game. But Sunday said it loud and clear. This is your quarterback.