One of our players needs our prayers...
From the Buccaneers website:
Jurevicius May Rejoin Bucs Saturday
WR Joe Jurevicius missed his third straight practice on Friday as he attended to a family matter. He will not join the Bucs on their charter flight to Philadelphia in the afternoon.
"We'll see what happens here in the next 24 hours," said Gruden. "If things work out, he'll fly down some time Saturday and meet us Saturday evening. We think he's going to play but at the same time we respect his situation and we're supporting him."
If Jurevicius rejoins the team over the weekend, Gruden is not concerned that the lost practice time will affect the receivers' readiness on Sunday.
"He didn't practice but he has been in our building," said Gruden. "He was here yesterday and he picked up the information and took part in the meetings. If Joe can play, if he's able to get away to play, he's going to do everything within his power to do that. But he's prepared mentally and physically we know he's ready to go."
If Jurevicius were unavailable, Karl Williams would move up to the third receiver role and Reggie Barlow would be activated for the third time this season. The Bucs did the same thing on November 3 against the Minnesota Vikings and had one of their most prolific offensive days of the year in a 38-24 victory. QB Brad Johnson threw five touchdown passes that day, one to Williams.
"We played a couple of games earlier in the season without Keenan (McCardell) and without Joe," said Gruden. "The Minnesota Viking game was one of our best days, honestly, and it was with (Williams and Barlow in). They'd have to step up and play, obviously, a more critical role.
"But I don't want act like Joe's not playing. We support him and we're praying for him and we hope everything works out. We expect him to somehow get to Philadelphia Saturday."
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The radio stations here are reporting that the family matter aluded to is the birth of Joe's first child, born prematurely earlier this week. The baby has some serious health problems.
What a horrible conflict for someone in his profession - the team needs him, but obviously his wife and child need him too.
From the Buccaneers website:
Jurevicius May Rejoin Bucs Saturday
WR Joe Jurevicius missed his third straight practice on Friday as he attended to a family matter. He will not join the Bucs on their charter flight to Philadelphia in the afternoon.
"We'll see what happens here in the next 24 hours," said Gruden. "If things work out, he'll fly down some time Saturday and meet us Saturday evening. We think he's going to play but at the same time we respect his situation and we're supporting him."
If Jurevicius rejoins the team over the weekend, Gruden is not concerned that the lost practice time will affect the receivers' readiness on Sunday.
"He didn't practice but he has been in our building," said Gruden. "He was here yesterday and he picked up the information and took part in the meetings. If Joe can play, if he's able to get away to play, he's going to do everything within his power to do that. But he's prepared mentally and physically we know he's ready to go."
If Jurevicius were unavailable, Karl Williams would move up to the third receiver role and Reggie Barlow would be activated for the third time this season. The Bucs did the same thing on November 3 against the Minnesota Vikings and had one of their most prolific offensive days of the year in a 38-24 victory. QB Brad Johnson threw five touchdown passes that day, one to Williams.
"We played a couple of games earlier in the season without Keenan (McCardell) and without Joe," said Gruden. "The Minnesota Viking game was one of our best days, honestly, and it was with (Williams and Barlow in). They'd have to step up and play, obviously, a more critical role.
"But I don't want act like Joe's not playing. We support him and we're praying for him and we hope everything works out. We expect him to somehow get to Philadelphia Saturday."
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The radio stations here are reporting that the family matter aluded to is the birth of Joe's first child, born prematurely earlier this week. The baby has some serious health problems.
What a horrible conflict for someone in his profession - the team needs him, but obviously his wife and child need him too.
