Have You Heard? Jeff Garcia Is Tough
Published: September 26th, 2007By Bucstats.com weblog
For three weeks, the talk around Tampa Bay has been Jeff Garcia's toughness. For example:
Sprinting right on a busted first-quarter play, a hand grabbed Jeff Garcia's helmet.His neck twisted.
His face mask tore his mouth, and his helmet flew off as a he ran into a pile of Rams at Tampa Bay's 7-yard line.
'When he came back to the huddle, he had blood dripping from his teeth,' Bucs wide receiver Michael Clayton said. 'What did he do? He called the play, spit out the blood and said, 'Let's go.''
Am I the only one that thinks this is not extraordinary? Yes, It shows toughness and a focus on his purpose, but isn't that what professional quarterbacks are supposed to do? Can you imagine a quarterback cutting his lip and then taking himself out of the game? I can't think of any quarterback getting that kind of injury and not sticking it out. Except possibly Rex Grossman. That guy's a pussy.
Remember the blood dripping down Brad Johnson's head during the 2002 Divisional game against the 49ers? He had a pretty big gash on his head, got it sewn up and came right back. Chris Simms was bleeding internally and only got an IV before returning to the game. Doug Williams played with a broken jaw. Examples like this would be extraordinary for someone like me. Hell, I called in sick after I swallowed a fly while I was about to sneeze. You weren't there! Don't judge me! But professional athletes are expected to play through a certain level of pain.
Don't get me wrong, here. Garcia is absolutely one of the main reasons the Bucs are 2-1 now. He has been the best quarterback for the Bucs since Johnson, and if you want to know the truth, he's probably better than Johnson. But let's not go entering Garcia in any lumberjack competitions because he played with a busted lip.
