"I think you just see a player who doesn't necessarily approach the game like a rookie," Garcia said. "I think he's a guy who has some tremendous abilities physically, but knows how to handle things from a maturity standpoint. And I think that just more so than anything is a compliment to him and his upbringing, and what he's all about. He's doing a great job in leading that team; he's not playing like this is his first year in the league. He has a good supporting cast around him, but he makes plays, he does a great job, and I think more so than anything it was a compliment to him, and just keeping his head up. I know that it was a tough day for him against us, but obviously he's turned things around. He showed that he's very capable of leading a good team and doing great things on the field."

--The Bucs could clinch a playoff spot with a victory at Atlanta and a Dallas or Philadelphia loss on Sunday. But G Davin Joseph won't be scoreboard watching. "Well, I don't like to play the scenario game," Joseph said. "I'm just focused on this Sunday. I'm not trying to focus on what everybody else is doing. If we focus on our game we'll be fine."

--FB B.J. Askew will continue to get more looks in short yardage situations and could eventually be used in goal line situations. "Yeah, he has been thought about, and then Jameel (Cook) would obviously be the fullback if we went to a two-back set," Gruden said. "But we've had so many ball-handling combinations. Sometimes you get down there inside the one, that's a big part of it too. You can only practice so much. B.J. needs to get the looks as a fullback. Obviously he can carry the ball. He did at Michigan and he's doing a good job here. That could be in the plans."

BY THE NUMBERS 1 - The number of rushing touchdowns the Bucs gave up in their first 12 games. They yielded four to Carolina on Monday night.

QUOTE TO NOTE: "Judge him yourself. I wish people would do that." -- Bucs coach Jon Gruden on WR Antonio Bryant.