• Questionable – DT Ryan Simms, WLB Derrick Brooks, CB Aqib Talib, K Matt Bryant
• Out – Joey Galloway
• Doubtful – Davin Joseph, BJ Askew

“We’re going to let Matt deal with this matter personally, with his family,” said Gruden. “We’ll have a kicker on Sunday, I can assure you of that. We hope it’s Matt; at the same time we’ll let him have enough time here to settle this very difficult time. We’ll support him. Whichever way we decide to go, we’ll support him.”

• The return game needs to get settled one way or the other.  Dexter Jackson has looked horrific and ranks last in the NFL with a 3 ypr average on punt returns.  He ranks 20th on kickoffs.  These numbers are not good enough.  Both things the Bucs have talked about doing this week I believe are our best choices.  Michael Clayton returning kickoffs and Ike Hilliard returning punts within the 30 or so.  Dex can return punts when we have them backed up.   Sad that we spent a second round pick on a returner/receiver that doesn’t play receiver and we’re having to gameplan around as opposed to gameplanning for. 
• WE NEED MORE SACKS.  The secondary did not play well last week by any stretch, but this defense is predicated on pressure, and there hasn’t been enough of it.  With 7 regular Dlineman, pressure should be a given. 
• CATCH THE DAMNED BALL.  We got to start pulling in passes.  That killed us last week. 
• The Packers line up in 3 WR 66% of the time, so our Nickel defense has to step up.  If Talib is healthy, I actually feel our base nickel package is stronger than our 4-3 package.  Difference between the two being in the 4-3 Derrick Brooks is on the field, and in the Nickel he is generally replaced by Talib, and Ronde moves to the nickelback.   DB I love you baby, but you’re an occasional tackling liability. 
• I think this is the game that Warrick Dunn has more touches than Ernest Graham.  We have to spread this team out towards the sidelines and Dunn is perfect for that.  Rangy LB’s Nick Barnett and AJ Hawk are about as good as they get at WLB and MLB and getting them moving towards the outside with Dunn will open things up later in the game for Ernest Graham and Michael Bennett who will be active this week in place of BJ Askew.   Jerramy Stevens for the same reasons just mentioned willlso be a key to this game,  but in the middle of the field as opposed to the sidelines.

Joey Galloway again missed today’s practice, and if I were a betting man, I’d say to not expect to see him this weekend.  There were some whispers of Galloway’s injury being a little worse than the Bucs were letting on in the preseason, and we have only seen Galloway in one full game so far this year.  With CB Al Harris from the Pack out indefinetely, this injury could have a big impact.  Galloway should have been able to open up the underneath patterns for Antonio Bryant,  leading to some solid YAC plays, something I think Bryant can excel in. 

Against the Bears, I didn’t think that Talib’s absence would have been as noticeable as it was.  Kyle Orton was throwing at CB Marcus Hamilton all day.  The Bears had a big second half passing the ball, and the lack of having that solid nickel cover man was one of the reasons.  The Packers have the 5th ranked offense in the league, and Aaron Rodgers has shown that he will throw to a myriad of guys.  Donald Driver, Jordy Nelson, Greg Jennings and Donald Lee have have all ben huge parts of the passing attack for Rodgers.  

We haven’t seen Rodgers play a big road game yet this season, with his only road game coming against the woeful Lions.  FordField is not Raymond James.  Lions fans are in a catatonic state at the stadium, which I saw firsthand last year, even as they beat us in a thrilling game.  RayJay will be loud and hot on Sunday, and Joey and Aqib returning from injury will make RayJay that much more dangerous.