Clayton Playing Like Veteran The Tampa Tribune, published 25 October 2004 Michael Clayton is feeling the love - sometimes. He said it's a great feeling to know Jon Gruden has confidence in him. And why shouldn't he? Entering Sunday's game, Clayton led all rookies with 31 receptions for 443 yards. Still, despite his impressive statistics, the Bucs' first-round draft pick is subjected to some rookie taunting. ``It's something I have fun with now,'' Clayton said. ``I'm able to say I'm a big part of this offense. They don't say too much now. It's slowly decreased. It is a lot of pats on the back now, guys encouraging me. I guess it is something special in the NFL to see a young guy do well. I hear it every once in a while, but it's trash-talking with a smile.'' Clayton leads the Bucs with 37 receptions for 505 yards. He caught his second touchdown of the season near the end of the second quarter to give the Bucs a 10-0 lead. It was one of his game-high six receptions for 62 yards. ``It's something that was game- planned,'' Clayton said. ``We knew that it would be open due to a certain coverage. [QB Brian] Griese looked away from me, made an excellent read and came to me. It was a big catch and score.'' Defensive line adjustments Defensive line coach Rod Marinelli knew it was coming. He could sense Pro Bowl DE Simeon Rice would get on a sack roll and he was right. Rice added to his two-sack total for the season with two more against Chicago on Sunday. It was his first multi-sack game since last season against New Orleans (Dec. 7) where he sacked QB Aaron Brooks three times. With additional sacks by DE Dewayne White and MLB Shelton Quarles, the Bucs defense produced its second consecutive four-sack game. Losing two defensive tackles in one week forced Marinelli to reshuffle some of the backups. Both DT Damian Gregory (knee) and DT Ellis Wyms (shoulder) were placed on injured reserve after suffering season-ending surgery against St. Louis last Monday night. White lined up at nose tackle on several third-down plays, one of which resulted in his first career sack on the Bears' opening drive. DE Josh Savage, who was inactive the first six games, also got some playing time at nose tackle, relieving starter Chartric Darby on a couple of plays. ``I told those guys earlier in the week you never know how good you can be unless you have an opportunity,'' Marinelli said. ``[They] got an opportunity, now they've got to be accountable.'