He wears no.8, and Mike Glennon is the 8th rookie QB for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to start an NFL game as a rookie for the Bucs. How have the others done? Whats their story?
1)Randy Hedberg 1977 Week 1 @ Philadelphia
A hot commodity in the preseason, Hedberg couldn’t repeat the same efforts once the real games started. Coach John McKay was hoping Hedberg would be the answer at QB as he was drafted by McKay in the 8th round from Minot St. The theme was…WHY NOT Minot.
Loss 17-3
2)Doug Williams 1978 Week 1 NY Giants
Williams was taken with the first round pick in 1978, but the Bucs actually had the top pic in the draft, traded that pick to the Houston Oilers for their NO.1 plus TE Jimmie Giles. Houston took Earl Campbell. We took Doug Williams, and he was an immediate answer to the Bucs anemic offense. His first pass of the game was returned for a TD. Then he threw a ball with the flick of a wrist and it went 70 yards downfield. No one was in the area, but he got a standing ovation. Finally, the Bucs had a QB with a real NFL arm. He lost the game, but had the Bucs playing .500 football until his jaw was broken week 9. The next year, Williams led the Bucs to the NFC Championship game.
Was never re-signed over contract dispute, left after 1982 season. The Bucs never had a winning season again until they changed uniforms in 1997.
Loss 13-19
3) Vinny Testeverde 1987 Week 12 at New Orleans
Bucs drafted a bonafide Heisman Trophy winner from University of Miami, and he got the nod week 12 at New Orleans after the season was already lost. He fumbled the snap twice in his first two possessions, but led the Bucs on a wild comeback ride that fell short. He was 22/47 369 yards with 2 TD and 2 INT in his first start. He would never lead the Bucs to a winning record and was let go after the 92 season.
Loss 34-44
4)Trent Dilfer 1994 Week 7 at San Francisco
The Bucs took Dilfer in the first round of the draft even though they had Craig Erickson. In time, coach Sam Wyche went with Dilfer on Trent’s native west coast, and he stunk up the place. 7-23 for 47 yards and a pick, the 49ers had their way with him. Erickson went back to starting and led the Bucs to a 4 game winning streak, and 4 of last 5 games as wins. Dilfer would start every game in 1995, and threw for a whopping 4 total TDs that year. And you think Josh has problems! Dilfer would have his best year in 1997 then finally the old Dilfer came back, and the Bucs moved on without him with the next rookie QB..
Loss 16-41
5) Shawn King 1999 Week 12 Minnesota MNF
Shawn King came into the game week 11 when Trent Dilfer was knocked out for the year, and led the Bucs to yet another consecutive win. He got his first start on Monday Night Football against the high powered Vikings. King was 11-19 93 yards with 2 TD and 1 int. he would win several games to finish off the year and help the Bucs make it all the way to the NFC Championship game. Only one of two rookie QBs to win first start. King would move on after free agency after the 2002 season. He was benched after a very productive 2000 season for Brad Johnson, free agent signee for 2001.
Win 24-17
6)Bruce Gradkowski 2006 week 4 at New Orleans
After Chris Simms ruptured his spleen which eventually killed his career, coach Jon Gruden went with rookie Bruce Gradkowski over veteran Tim Rattay mostly because Bruce outplayed him during the preseason. Gradkowski would go 20/31 225 yards and 2 TD 0 ints. He looked like a success, even though he lost the game. But in time, his limited arm was discovered, He was benched later in the year after the offense went games in a row without scoring a TD for Tim Rattay, who took over in second half of Bears game and led Bucs to an exciting overtime loss in which the offense scored 4 TD in second half.
Loss 21-24
7) Josh Freeman 2009 Week 8 Green Bay Packers
Freeman finally got the nod once the Bucs reached 0-8, and against the heavily favored Green Bay Packers, Josh was amazing. He won the game bringing the Bucs back from 17 points down to a 38-28 win, throwing for 3 Touchdowns. He was 14-31 205 yards, 3 TD and 1 INT. Freeman went on to have an amazing 25 TD 10 INT 2010 season, then faltered in 2011 before breaking team records in 2012.
Win 38-28
8) #8 Mike Glennon 2013 Week 4 Arizona
So what can we expect? As you can see, the Bucs have started rookies at times when the franchise has not been competative. Its no surprise the Qbs were not either. But when the Bucs have rolled out a QB in the modern era when the team can play around him, the results were always better.
We'll see Sunday, isnt that the 8th day of the week?
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