Gilroy’s Jeff Garcia says he’s trying to focus on what he can
control right now amidst rumors that have Brett Favre going to
Tampa Bay
Gilroy
Sometimes Jeff Garcia must feel like the Rodney Dangerfield of football. No respect.
A four-time Pro Bowl quarterback who led the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a 9-7 record and an NFC South division title in 2007 – after the Bucs went 4-12 the year before his arrival – Garcia could already be out the door this upcoming season as rumors have Tampa Bay being a possible trade partner for the Green Bay Packers’ Brett Favre.
“You know, I really just can’t even think about it,” Garcia said Saturday while attending a dinner to celebrate the 35th anniversary of Gavilan College football’s national championship team. Gavilan, a junior college in Gilroy, was coached by Garcia’s father, Bob, for 23 years.
“There are only certain things that I can control and that’s really what I want to focus upon. I can’t control what is being said in the media. I can’t control what upper management or what people are talking about or what they’re thinking about. All I know is that I have a job to do with Tampa. I have a job to build upon as to what I did last year with the team. I’m focused on myself being better, contributing more, hopefully leading this team to another division title and hopefully bigger and better things like a Super Bowl. Those are the things I really need to focus on. It’s about playing football and whatever happens outside of my ability to control is out of my hands.”
The way the Bucs have handled the hottest NFL rumor appears to be just another slight to Garcia. While Tampa Bay coach Jon Gruden has stated that he likes Garcia as his starting quarterback, Gruden also hasn’t denied that the team could have an interest in acquiring Favre.
After retiring in March, Favre recently made it known he wants to return to the Green Bay Packers this season. The Packers stated they were not interested in Favre returning to the organization as the starting quarterback, which set off speculation about which teams could be possible trade partners for his services. Despite having five quarterbacks on its roster already, Tampa Bay has been rumored to be one of the most likely landing spots for Favre.
Garcia was excused from the first two days of Bucs training camp this week to attend the Gavilan football reunion. He added that the support he has received from several of his teammates, some of whom stated to the media that Favre would be an unnecessary addition to the Bucs considering how well Garcia and the team performed last season, was all he could ask for.
“It’s very much appreciated,” Garcia said. “I feel very fortunate that those guys … see the true character of what I’m all about. They saw how I approached the game last year when I came on to the team, my focus, my leadership, my motivation – whatever it was. And those are things that I feel like I give to the team. For them to support me in that sort of way makes me feel good. And I think that’s what is so important about this game and about this team is that we do have good team chemistry. We do have good team camaraderie and it’s important to keep that together in order to have a chance to win more football games.”
