The Buccaneers were trailing the Panthers 10-3 with less than two minutes to go before halftime and needed a fast drive to score either a field goal or a touchdown. The problem was that Tampa Bay’s fastest player, wide receiver Joey Galloway, was on the bench on Monday night, not seeing the field for a single snap.
Galloway was healthy, having played in the last five games since returning from a broken foot in Week 2 against Atlanta that caused him to miss four games, but aside from backup quarterback Luke McCown, the 37-year old receiver was the only active Buccaneer not to step foot on the field on Monday night. Bucs head coach Jon Gruden explained why during his Tuesday morning press conference.
“Antonio [bryant] is the reason,” Gruden said. “They play the same position. Right now, that’s just the way it is. It’s unfortunate. Michael Clayton is our flanker and Joey is a split end and so is Antonio. [Those] the positions they play. Hopefully you are not holding that against me for playing Antonio Bryant.”
Bryant had an amazing night for the Buccaneers, catching nine passes for a career-high 200 yards and two touchdowns in the 38-23 loss at Carolina. On the year, Bryant has 66 catches for 936 yards (14.2 avg.) and five touchdowns and leads the team in all receiving categories.
Meanwhile, Galloway has struggled with injuries, missing the entire offseason program rehabbing a shoulder injury from the end of the 2008 campaign and then missing all of training camp and the preseason with a severe groin injury. Gruden grew increasingly agitated during August as his top receiver, who set a franchise record with three straight 1,000-yard seasons from 2005-07, was unable to return to health until the start of the season.
Galloway played in the first two games of the year before breaking his foot, and by the time he returned against Dallas, Bryant had already established himself as Tampa Bay’s starting split end and go-to receiver. But why hasn’t Galloway seen at least spot duty as the third receiver?
“There is the potential for that,” Gruden said. “Joey has been our split end. It sounds easy. It sounds achievable. Joey is not the kind of guy right now in my opinion that is comfortable coming off the bench and playing 18-20 plays a game. He’s a guy that functions better when he’s playing [every down]. Being a third receiver, being a guy that comes in and plays situationally, it’s not for everybody. It’s hard. It’s frustrating for me. We tried to mix it up early in the season with Antonio at flanker. That’s obviously not his best position. It’s obviously not Joey’s best position. We have two guys that play the same position. It’s unfortunate, but it’s reality.”
Right or wrong, Gruden has determined that Ike Hilliard is a better situational, third receiver than Galloway and the numbers seem to support that. Hilliard has 38 catches for 351 yards and was Tampa Bay’s leading touchdown producer heading into the Monday night contest at Carolina with four touchdowns. Through eight games, Galloway has only 12 catches for 134 yards (11.2 avg.).
“We’re going to play our best players, okay?” Gruden said. “We’re going to play our best players. Joey’s had a lot go on this year with his injuries. He’s missed an awful lot of time. When you play on the strong side there are a lot of things that are different than when you are on the weak side. I’ll just go back and say that we’ve missed him for a long time and we’ve kind of moved on a little bit. Obviously, it’s been tough. We’re going to play our best guys and right now, that’s what we’re doing.”
After not playing Galloway for a single snap on Monday night, it’s clear that Gruden has indeed moved on and phased him out of the offense as Galloway has not had a catch since his 22-yarder at Kansas City and has gone without a reception in four straight games.
But it is not impossible for Gruden to get Galloway and Bryant on the field at the same time. He did that on several occasions last week against New Orleans, although Galloway did not help his cause by dropping a very catchable pass on second-and-6 with 4:11 left the fourth quarter of a tied game that would have picked up a first down and moved the Bucs into field goal position.
What also hurts Galloway is the fact that he is not a very effective blocker and is certainly not in Clayton’s class in that regard, which prevents him from being the team’s starting flanker.
“Jimmy Christmas, yeah,” Gruden said about Clayton having the edge in blocking. “If you watched [Carolina’s] receivers block last night that was a huge impact on their running game. Huge. If you watch Cadillac [Williams’] touchdown, it’s all Clayton. He does an unbelievable job. You have to be not only willing, but you have to be capable and an outstanding physical football player to do the things that Clayton did and [Mushin] Muhammad did and Steve Smith did.”
Injuries and dropped passes caused Clayton to fall out of favor in Gruden’s offense for a couple years from 2005-06. It appears the same situation is happening to Galloway in 2008, but at age 37, the Bucs may not be as willing to give Galloway the time they have given Clayton to work his way back into the offense.
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