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Bucs' Galloway puts his playoff injury and tantrum behind him

By Stephen F. Holder, Times Staff Writer
In print: Friday, June 6, 2008

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TAMPA — Joey Galloway has lousy timing. Even he admits as much.

Take, for example, the left shoulder injury that severely limited the receiver in the Bucs' playoff game last season.

For a player who has been the team's most consistent game-breaker the past several seasons, you barely knew he played against the Giants after his one reception for 9 yards in the 24-14 loss.

Mounting frustration, he said, is what led to a blowup at the end of the game and his decision to leave the field with more than three minutes remaining.

"It would be hard for me to explain," Galloway said Thursday. "I've tried to explain it a couple of times, and I realize it's difficult. A lot of people saw the exchange between me and Coach (Jon Gruden) and sort of made that into something between me and him when it really was something between me and myself. I was really disappointed with the way it ended.

"To have to go into the biggest game of my career and not be able to have it go the way I wanted it to is sort of hard to put into words."

Six months later, Galloway has put the injury and the sideline episode behind him.

He proclaimed himself 100 percent healthy while making his first public comments in some time, indicating that surgery to repair damage to his labrum and rotator cuff was successful. That might be the biggest offseason development at receiver for a team that elected not to upgrade much at a position that lacks quality depth.

After completing the week's final offseason practice, Galloway said he believes he can continue to defy Father Time, who seemingly has forgotten he will be 37 on Nov. 20. An ambitious personal training regimen and a smart diet are perhaps the biggest reasons Galloway has turned in six 1,000-yard seasons.

"I have more than just a little gray in my beard," he quipped. "I don't know that I've avoided (the effects of age). I can't say that I've even paid attention to it. The only time my age comes up is when (the media) brings it up, and then there are certain aches and pains that come along with playing this long in the NFL. … I get up and work every single day like I always have. As long as I continue to do that, I don't know if I'll face that wall."

GARCIA CONTRACT TALKS: Jeff Garcia said in a radio interview this week that retirement is an option if his contract dispute isn't resolved.

The 38-year-old quarterback was referring to 2009 when he mentioned the possibility of retiring during an interview with Sirius NFL Radio. Garcia, who will earn $2-million in base salary this year, wants a new deal. He is under contract for this season but would be a free agent after it's over.

"It may come to not even playing football anymore," he said in the interview. "And I'd hate to even say that, but I feel like when you mistreat people, there comes a time when it doesn't matter how much money you're going to be paid. If you're not being treated the right way, it's going to lead to some drastic decisions, and those decisions may just take me away from the game."

GRADKOWSKI TO RAMS: Quarterback Bruce Gradkowski, released last week, was claimed off waivers by the Rams. St. Louis will take on the final two years of his contract. Gradkowski, entering his third season, will join quarterbacks Marc Bulger, Trent Green and Brock Berlin, the latter of whom Gradkowski is likely to compete against for the No. 3 spot.

Stephen F. Holder can be reached at sholder@sptimes.com.