Manning Solid, Garcia Rusty As Giants Advance Past Bucs

Jan 06, 07:20 PM

Meanwhile, Jeff Garcia, his opposite number in this 24-14 wild-card victory over Tampa Bay, seemed rusty and confused, and here we go again with one of those late-season philosophical arguments about momentum.

The Giants had it Sunday. The Bucs did not, and while coach Jon Gruden continued, after this disheartening loss, to defend his decision to rest Garcia in the final two games of the regular season, it's going to leave a lot of Tampa Bay partisans wondering if he made a lethal tactical error.

Garcia had missed games 12 and 13 with injury, played all of Game 14 as the Bucs clinched a playoff berth, then retired at halftime of Game 15 and sat out all of last week. He had thrown only 45 passes in the last five weeks going into this game.

Meanwhile, Giants coach Tom Coughlin, firing his players up for the undefeated Patriots, went after them full-bore, even though, like Gruden, he had clinched a playoff berth, and the Giants led by 12 points in the second half before losing 38-35.

"I wanted to play the Patriots. We all did," said Giants defensive end Justin Tuck. "You get into a rhythm and you don't want to get out of it."

The Giants weren't nearly as brilliant as they were for most of that memorable game with New England, but they didn't have to be. The Buccaneers, with an uncharacteristically poor performance by Garcia, were very flat on offense.

It wasn't an easy day to throw long with the Bucs secondary playing deep and safe, but Manning was murderous on the short throws, finishing with 20-for-27 for 185 yards, no interceptions and touchdown passes of five yards to running back Brandon Jacobs and four yards to wideout Amani Toomer.

Down 7-0 after Tampa's second possession, New York scored the next 24 points while consistently pressuring Garcia, who was sacked once, knocked down on a half-dozen rushes, hurried 11 times and threw two interceptions.

Was the Giants defense that good, or was this Garcia, dripping rust from an enforced rest while Tampa Bay lost to San Francisco and Carolina at the end of the season.

"In all fairness to Jeff, the pass protection at times didn't allow him to find complementary receivers and things of that nature," said Gruden.

"People can question it," Gruden said of his decision to give his starters last week off, and particularly Garcia. "Here I am and I'll answer any more questions."

Gruden explained that it was imperative he get significant performances from No. 1 receiver Joey Galloway and from rising star Arron Sears, his left guard _ both of whom had been hurt. "The best way to do that was to get them an opportunity to rest and heal," said Gruden.

But that didn't address Garcia, who seemed as perplexed at a post-game press conference as he was for much of this game.

"I can't put my finger on it," he said of his shoddy accuracy and lack of chemistry, especially with Galloway. "I'll probably go home and stare at a wall a couple of days."

Garcia completed 23 of 39 attempts, but much of it came on a fourth-quarter touchdown drive in which the Giants eased off, played safe deep and gave ground slowly in an effort to force the Bucs to use time. Before that drive began, Garcia was only 16-for-30.

In the third quarter, trailing only 17-7, the Bucs running game had New York on its heels. And then, on second-and-7 from the 27, Garcia threw an interception in the end zone to cornerback Corey Webster, who had shadowed Galloway all afternoon, holding him to one catch for nine yards. Webster not only was stride for stride with Galloway, but had inside position. It was a terrible decision to throw that ball.

The Giants, with their first playoff win since the 2000 season, are off to Dallas this weekend for a third match with the division rival Cowboys, who swept them in the regular season, scoring 76 points.

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