Second Stringer With Second Thoughts?

QB Chris Simms re-signed with the Bucs in December under the impression he would be able to battle an unamed veteran for the starting job. Over time, that unamed veteran became Jeff Garcia, and Simms' chance of leading the offense out against Seattle in September 2007 seemed to evaporate, barring injuries. The former Niner, Brown, Lion, and Eagle has all been all but named starter by Head Coach Jon Gruden, who like whichever QB he plays will be under pressure to perform. It's time to put up or shut up for "Boy Wonder", and the Pewter Pirates are putting all their eggs in Garcia's basket. This surely leaves fans and players alike wondering what the future holds for Simms, who dropped even further down the depth chart last week, with second-year pro Bruce Gradkowski taking reps with the 2nd team. Simms finally hinted that he's come to the realization that re-signing was an un-wise move, but he's unlikely to be cut due to the signing bonus he received, so a trade looks to be on the horizon, especially if Jake Plummer finally shows. The spleen-less wonder talked to the Sp.Times on Friday, and for those unfamiliar with this style, I will relay my thoughts here:

CRYSTAL RIVER - For more than three hours Thursday, Chris Simms was the Bucs' No. 1 quarterback again.

Luckily, it wasn't on an actual playing field.

He had just led about a dozen kids from the Children's Home on an interactive tour of Kings Bay, swimming with manatees and free-diving the deep pools of Three Sisters Spring.

Whenever a snorkel was fumbled to the sandy bottom, Simms recovered it. If someone needed encouragement, he offered it. The large creatures are protected here, but it's also a place where Simms could seek refuge.

He stood on the shore with his wetsuit unzipped to his waist, revealing the 9-inch scar from surgery to remove his spleen last September. It's the only visible sign of why Simms' career in Tampa Bay might be endangered.

How touching. Unfortunately, Simms isn't getting paid the big bucks to look at wildlife with children.

But there are other reasons. Simms is asked if he would've signed a two-year, $5-million extension with the Bucs last December had he known all that would transpire during this turbulent offseason?

"I don't know. I would've definitely re-evaluated the situation, " Simms said. ""That's an honest answer."

Surely Simms saw this coming. He had to know that Gruden would bring in the best veteran he could, and fall in love with him. After last season, he had to know that Gruden was losing his patience with him, as well as his confidence, in the Texas product.

Instead, Simms is regaining the throwing mechanics he lost after developing some "bad habits" while unconsciously trying to protect his abdomen. And the 26-year-old lefty has an uphill battle to reclaim his job from 37-year-old Eagles free agent Jeff Garcia, who has been declared the leader in the clubhouse by coach Jon Gruden.

This is a worrying thing for all Bucs fans to hear. His mechanics weren't wonderful to begin with, now they're worse... if possible, that is.

Entering his fifth pro season, Simms still is popular in the Bucs locker room and in the community. His Wild Adventures initiative, which he started last year, combines his love of children, nature and animals.

Well, the page won't load (http://www.nfl.com/stats/clubhousefavorites.html) but I'll take the Sp. Times' word for it.

Simms admits he never saw the trouble with losing his passing stroke coming.

"When you're just out there throwing by yourself, it's a little easier than when you've got live action and real routes being run and everything like that, " Simms said. "It's not something I saw happening, as far as the mechanical thing. But it's not something I'm really worried about, either."

Nice to hear he's not worried. For a guy that played so poorly last season, he's coming off as quite arrogant, as if he can easily win the starting job.

"I was trying to guard my torso, so I was throwing all with my arm and just short-arming it. I put myself in a bad position to throw the football."

Worse yet, Simms may enter training camp behind Garcia, Bruce Gradkowski and perhaps Luke McCown, at least based on reduced reps in the offseason.

Can't say I'm shocked. Some vets wanted Grads to start last season, and Gruden has had nice things to say about McCown in the past. Garcia, Gradkowski, and McCown are quite similar to each other, which means that if one must be subsituted for the other, less changes have to be made, in terms of play-calling. Simms could be traded if Luke shows anything in camp.

"It's tough. Of course I want to be out there and taking all the reps, " he said. "That's part of being an athlete and being a competitor. But the time will come. I know when July comes, nobody is going to be begging for more reps."

Simms smiled. He glanced at the boat that was shoving off for lunch at a nearby restaurant. A manatee surfaced nearby.

For the moment, neither seemed endangered.

"Oh, I see myself battling for No. 1, " Simms said. ""Without a doubt. No doubt."

At least he's hungry. He has the physical tools to be a Franchise QB, but it may be too little too late from a player whose "potential" we have heard all too much about.

Expanding My World

Well this will be the first post I make (A day daddy) and we’re going to look at the Buccaneers and their off-season changes in a new way, no I’m not going to bore you with a thousand words on why Jeff Garcia is better than Chris Simms. I won’t stun you with my extensive history of the past, I will occasionally make a humorous line, I won’t over do it since I’m not that funny to carry my writing based just on that. So what do I bring? Stats! And not just basic stats, but that complicated crap, I am after all; a baseball writer first and foremost.

So today we’ll look at the quarterback position using Football Outsiders ‘DPAR’ statistic. DPAR stands for Defensive-adjusted Points Above Replacement level, and it’s the football counterpart to Baseball Prospectus’ VORP, Victories Over Replacement Player. I won’t get into what they consider replacement level because, well, I’d rather not confuse you too much on my first post, and I’m also going to let Football Outsiders’ website describe the adjusted level:

“This number represents the total number of points scored due to plays where this QB passed or carried the ball, compared to a replacement-level QB in the same game situations.”

In laymen’s terms this stat shows how productive an offense was behind the said quarterback, and is adjusted to the opponent, so if a team played a cupcake schedule you won’t see an advantage over the quarterback on the team that played the hardest schedule in the league. Handy.

Last year Peyton Manning lead the league in DPA, 175, followed closely by Marc Bulger, 108.8, Drew Brees, 106, Carson Palmer and Philip Rivers rounded out the top five, with Tom Brady finishing sixth, all of which makes sense; the consensus top tier of QBs are found at the top of DPAR for a reason; because they’re good, on the flip side, the quarterbacks whose defenses and running backs carried the team, or just didn’t score are on the lower end of the DPAR food chain. Or in other words the bad quarterbacks.

The turnover prone Rex Grossman’s DPAR? 4.1, Michael Vick’s was -6.3, yes negative, Chris Simms’ DPAR was a disappointing -13, but even Simms’ wasn’t as bad as Bruce Gradkowski’s, who finished as the second to last ranked QB, per DPAR, in the league with at least 100 pass attempts, with a -30.4 reading, barely ahead of Andrew Walter and his -30.6.

The Bucs didn’t sit still this past off-season to address the quarterback position, and rightfully so, adding Jake Plummer and Jeff Garcia, two veterans, but only one of whom is a significant upgrade, which one? As previously mentioned Rex Grossman’s 4.1 is amongst the lower tier of QBs, and that’s likely due to his reliance on the Bears’ running game and defense, Jake Plummer finished just slightly ahead at 4.5.

That would mean Jeff Garcia is what I would call a ‘substantial upgrade’ at the QB position; his 27.6 DPAR ranks ahead of Jake Delhomme, J.P. Losman, Trent Green, Matt Hasselbeck, and rookie of the year Vince Young. I know what you’re saying, “But Philadelphia’s offense was easily more talented than what the Bucs have, and Garcia’s great stats are an aberration of his career!”

Absolutely correct! Garcia has always been poor, right? Unt-uh!

In 2000 Garcia’s DPAR of 97.8 was good for second place, right behind Peyton Manning, he’d slip in 2001, down to fourth place with a 67.2 piece, he’d improve his number to 69 in 2002, but slip to seventh, eight points behind Brad Johnson. In 2003 Garcia’s 33.2 would only be good for 16^th, the guy in 15^th? Donovan McNabb.

Now we reach 2004, Garcia’s lone year in Cleveland, his DPAR sits at 11.2, chalk one up for the “needs talented supporting cast” crowd, right? Well yes, his 2005 DPAR would be n the negatives, this with Detroit.

So if Garcia needs a good supporting cast to be truly successful the question becomes, does he have that here in Tampa? We’ll take a look at each of the positions in the coming week, here’s the tentative schedule:

Tuesday: Runningbacks / Wide Receivers

Thursday: Tight Ends/ Offensive Line

Hope you enjoyed the first post of the ‘new writers’, MBF will have his first post on Monday, and we’ll rotate every other day.

- R.J.

Mandatory Mini Camp Set

The Bucs have four OTAs remaining in their off-season program, they are scheduled to conduct them June 19-21 in a three-day mandatory mini-camp at One Buc Place.

The first day of the mandatory min camp will have two practice scheduled for June 19, an one each of the remaining days. The team is expected to have a full 100% attendance for the mini camp as it will be there last camp before ending the off-season an taking a few weeks off before they head to training camp for a report date of July 26..

They are going to be much different,” Bucs head coach Jon Gruden said of the mandatory mini-camp compared to voluntary workouts. “These guys work hard. It’s a situational format. Every day there is a different segment of football emphasized. So it won’t be a lot different. We will have two practices on the first day, one the following two days and try to put an exclamation point on what’s been a really good off-season.”

Tickets….Tickets!!

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, On Monday announced that fan’s will be able to purchase preseason tickets at the teams annual meet and great feel good event known as “FanFest” during the event, a very limited number of game tickets will go on sale for the team’s two preseason home contest. The Buccaneers will square off against the Patriots on Friday, August 10 and the Texans on Thursday, August 30, at Raymond James Stadium. This years FanFest will mark the first opportunity for fans to be able to purchase single-game tickets for any 2007 contest. This is the first time single-game tickets have been sold during FanFest we think.

If fans want tickets for the Patriots and Texans home preseason games, tickets will be available between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. at the Buccaneers’ box office at the stadium ticket windows. They are located in the South concourse between gates C & D and are at the same locations where rabid fans will be waiting for autograph vouchers, at which point you can stand in line to try an get both game tickets & autograph vouchers if you desire both, So I suggest you bring a lounge chair and some good reading material as it could be a long wait in line. Vouchers for autographs will be distributed in a first come first serve basis at the beginning of FanFest. The gates will open for the mad dash of fans to secure their favorite player autographs, The gate keepers will surely keep you waiting past the 9;30 a.m. open time just so they can see the wild kingdom reenacted through the concourse for themselves.

Ticket prices are as follows $76, $70, $60 and $45.

Ahoy Mate!!

Welcome to the new an improved version of PewterKrew.com, With that being said we hope you stick around for some fun an exciting times this coming up football season.

As you can see the site has gone through a massive over hauling of sorts this off-season for a more user friendly environment for everyone to use.

We hope you check out the new download section as we have been able to come across real NFL playbooks of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as well as EA Sports Madden Covers for all the big gaming stations out there, as well as some really neat wallpapers with you the fan in mind.

Of course with any reconstruction that takes place like this there will must certainly be some bugs that need to be worked out.

The forums should begin their new skinning process shortly. We will try to make the forum as easy to read as humanly possible, that is on the eyes anyway.