"It's different," Bucs QB Jeff Garcia said. "Sure, it is. It's a two-day trip instead of a one-day trip. You're playing at a time when normally you might be waking up on game day, so you really have to adjust quickly and hopefully, that will be somewhat of an advantage for us. But we realize that San Diego is a very explosive team and a team that's also competing for a spot in the playoffs. We're going to get their best, no matter what the situation is. They're going to come out here prepared and ready to give their best effort and make it a tough day."

--Safety Sabby Piscitelli will start in place of Jermaine Phillips, who is out for the year with his fourth broken arms since the start of his pro career.

"I think in this scheme, the strong safety has to be real involved in the run game," Piscitelli said. "Like you said, Jermaine does it as good as anybody I've seen, and I try to learn from him. But I think, just like I said, you get out there and get more experience, get in live games. You can do it in walk-through in practice all day, but when you get in a game it's different. I'd say I'm progressively learning. Last game we had a couple different formations that I've never seen, we've never practiced on, so it was a little difficult. But I feel I've got to keep growing, keep growing and putting your face in there to cap it off."

BY THE NUMBERS: 1 - Number of touchdowns the Bucs' offense scored in 13 drives against Atlanta last week.

QUOTE TO NOTE: "I thought I just got punked." -- Bucs RB Clifton Smith on the phone call informing him he had made the Pro Bowl.