FanHouse NFL Season Preview: Tampa Bay Buccaneers - Defense and Mediocrity

Training camps are underway, the NFL season is right around the corner, and to get you ready for 2008, FanHouse previews all 32 teams, "heat index" style. We'll rate each club in 10 categories on a scale of 1 to 10, high score wins.

Quarterbacks: Jon Gruden loves his quarterbacks. The Buccaneers entered training camp with five quarterbacks, flirted with the idea of dipping their toes into the Brett Favre fiasco, and will enter the regular season with four signal callers on the roster: Jeff Garcia, Brian Griese, Luke McCown and Josh Johnson. I imagine that when the Buccaneers front office and coaching staff get together for their off-season strategy sessions, the first item on the agenda in bold faced type, size 20 font is, HOW CAN WE ACQUIRE MORE QUARTERBACKS? While they have a large quantity, the quality is up for debate. Jeff Garcia is 38, but should have another solid season in the tank. He won't carry a team anymore, but he protects the ball and doesn't throw interceptions. Griese is 33 and in his second stint with Tampa. Luke McCown was very effective in limited action last year, completing 67% of his passes and posting a 91.7 passer rating. Josh Johnson was a fifth-round pick out of San Diego this year. Heat Index: 7

Running Backs: Former No. 5 overall pick Carnell Williams will open the season on the PUP list and miss the first six weeks of the season, which means fifth-year back Earnest Graham will take over the starting job. Graham was used sparingly during his first three seasons, and saw the most action of his career in 2007 after Williams was lost for the year. He took advantage of the new found playing time as he rushed for nearly 900 yards and caught 49 passes. Warrick Dunn returns to the team he started his career with after spending the previous six years in Atlanta. He's 33 and probably has very little left, and he had a terrible season with Atlanta in '07, but then again, who didn't? Michael Bennett is the third tailback on the roster, and while he's always been really good at running in a straight line really, really fast, he's never translated that skill to success as an NFL running back. Heat Index: 5

Wide Receivers: Former first-round pick Michael Clayton had one of the better rookie seasons in recent memory for a wide receiver, but has been M.I.A. ever since. Seriously, what happened to that guy? Joey Galloway can still play a little bit, though he hasn't been on the field much in training camp or the preseason. The Buccaneers gave Antonio Bryant a look in camp, and he ended up making the team after sitting out the 2007 season. Never been a big Bryant fan. After watching him for three years at Pitt, and seeing him bounce around the NFL the previous few years, he just seems like a high maintenance malcontent with the ability to make a highlight reel, diving, one-handed catch with two defenders riding on his back on one play, and then drop the wide open pass over the middle that would easily go for a touchdown on the next. Heat Index: 5

Offensive Line: Jeff Faine comes in to anchor the offensive line after resurrecting his career in New Orleans the previous two years. It's a young group as the Bucs have used a number of high draft picks on Aaron Sears, Jeremy Trueblood, Jeremy Zuttah and Davin Joseph since 2006. Joseph was supposed to be a starting guard this year, but will miss at least the first month of the season with a foot injury. Heat Index: 6

Defensive Line: As a defense in 2007, the Buccaneers registered 33 sacks with 30 of them coming from their down lineman. Greg White led the way with eight, while also forcing seven fumbles. Gaines Adams had a slow start to his rookie season -- holdouts will do that to you -- but finished strong, picking up five of his six sacks in the teams final seven games. Heat Index: 8

Linebackers: Not much in the pass rushing department -- they recorded one sack in 2007 and that came from Patrick Chuckwurah, and he is no longer on the team -- but that's not what their purpose is in the teams system; they're out there to cover. Derrick Brooks is still a big name, and he's still good for 100 tackles, but at 35 he's not the dominating force he was earlier in his career. 2007 was the first time in his career that he didn't register at least one sack or interception in a season. Cato June is small, but very fast and a solid coverage linebacker. Heat Index: 7

Secondary: The Bucs were strong against the pass in '07, allowing the second-fewest passing yards in the NFL. The group, in theory, should get even better with the addition of first-round pick Aqib Talib who will open the season as the teams nickel back. Heat Index: 8

Special Teams: Matt Bryant is the teams kicker for now, but he's apparently on a short leash after missing five field goals during the preseason. The Bucs finally ended their infamous streak of never having a kickoff returned for a touchdown last season when MIchael Spurlock took one back for 90 yards, though, he's no longer a member of the team. Second-round pick Dexter Jackson out of Appalachian State should take over the return duties. Josh Bidwell is a quality NFL punter. Heat Index: 7

Coaching: This is the seventh year of the Jon Gruden era in Tampa Bay and it's been a mixed bag of greatness, awfulness and complete mediocrity. During Gruden's tenure the Bucs are an even 48-48, though they have won a Super Bowl, gone to the playoffs three times and won a pair of division titles... there also hasn't been a playoff win since the Super Bowl back in 2003. If I could give one piece of coaching advice to Jon Gruden it would clearly be: get more quarterbacks. Heat Index: 5

Intangibles: Jeff Garcia wasn't exactly thrilled with the teams efforts to acquire Brett Favre and he let his opinions be heard. Warrick Dunn has always been regarded as one of the nicest guys in sports and should be a nice a counter to Antonio Bryant, who can be a little on the abrasive side. Division is kind of weak as no team won more than nine games in 2007 (Tampa) while the other three all finished with losing records. Heat Index: 5

Total Head Index: 63 I see Tampa in the same situation it was in last year: a strong defense carrying a mediocre offense to nine-or-so wins. Amazingly, that could be good enough to claim another division title. If that happens it will be the first time under Gruden that the Bucs finished with back-to-back winning seasons.