How Real Are The Bucs? Now It's Time To Find Out Martin Fennelly, The Tampa Tribune, published 31 December 2007 No more starters in ball caps wandering the sideline. No more exhibitions. Now it's for real. The Bucs concluded their pre-postseason Sunday with a 31-23 loss to Carolina at Raymond James Stadium. "Obviously, we're disappointed in defeat," Jon Gruden said. Obviously? Now it gets obvious. It doesn't get more obvious than the New York football Giants in your house, fresh from pushing the perfect Patriots to the limit. Mouth, consider yourself smashed. "I've got goose bumps," Chris Hovan said. After nine wins, five losses and two abstentions, it's real. Just how real are the Bucs? What Does It Mean? They can beat the Giants. They can beat the Cowboys. There's just something about this bunch. Or they could lose to either team. We just don't know. We don't know what the regular season means, though it was wonderfully meaningful to the Bucs at times, the way all these names and faces rallied as one. But what does it mean if the Bucs don't win this week? What does it mean that the Bucs won a division in which they were easily the only team with a winning record? What does it mean that they beat only two teams with a winning record all season? Well, the Giants beat only one team with a winning record. What does it mean to lose three of your last four games heading into the playoffs? What does it mean when you shut it down while your playoff opponent tries to beat the best? Who has momentum here? "If we were playing New England at home in nationally televised football, we might have taken a different approach, no disrespect to Carolina ..." Gruden said. "Would we like to play our regulars, go hell-bent to win, you bet. ... You think I wanted to sit these guys? It hurts. It's hard. It's difficult to say the least." By the way, did anybody see Cowboys quarterback Tony "Why the hell was he in the game?" Romo get nailed, hard, throwing a meaningless pass in Sunday's meaningless (for Dallas) game in Washington? Bet Jonny G. did. To hell-bent with momentum. "Momentum is making the playoffs," Gruden said. "When you run out of the tunnel, and there's 80,000 fans going crazy, you're going to have momentum. ... Momentum is having a quarterback who is your starter healthy and walking around and feeling good. That has a lot do with momentum. And seeing Joey Galloway running as fast as he can run, that's what we see as momentum." Obviously. The Bucs have the defense to win a playoff game. Two years ago the defense surrendered only 120 yards to Washington in a playoff game. The Bucs lost. What does it mean? Ike Hilliard understood Gruden sitting starters, particularly Jeff Garcia. "Our success depends on No. 7," Hilliard said. Garcia has been the difference this season and might be the difference in the playoffs. Two years ago, Chris Simms threw an early pick to set up a Redskins playoff touchdown. Then Cadillac Williams fumbled. The late Sean Taylor ran it in. It was 14-0. Hey, isn't this Earnest Graham's first playoff game as a featured back? You get the feeling Garcia won't make those mistakes. In his last playoff game here, Garcia threw three interceptions in a blowout loss to the eventual Super Bowl champion Bucs. What does it mean? Giants quarterback Eli Manning has never won a playoff game. What does that mean? If Garcia leads the way and stays upright, the Bucs can win. If the Bucs stop the Giants' running game, they can win. If the Bucs get inside Eli Manning's head, they can win. The Giants looked damn good against New England. Eli included. The Giants are 7-1 on the road this season. The Giants led the NFL in sacks. The Giants play Bucs ball pretty well themselves. What does it all mean? Everything. Nothing. Obviously. "Momentum is a sea of red," Hovan said. Gentlemen, start your goose bumps.