Never give up the ship: Winless Buccaneers will try and ground the Eagles Sunday

October 9, 7:48 PMTampa Bay Sports ExaminerTed Fleming

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Bucs' head coach Raheem Morris would just like to reach
out and grab a win. (AP/David Duprey)

As if the Buccaneers didn’t have enough woes they will have to travel to Philadelphia with Donovan McNabb waiting for them with open arms.

The Eagles’ quarterback is listed as “probable” on the Friday injury report and the thought of having him and Michael Vick on the field at the same time would send shivers up the spine of anyone. Tampa Bay will be the first to see what that duo can accomplish in the regular season.

Oh, there is another little threat called Brian Westbrook, the running back whose ankle has healed sufficiently to join McNabb as “probable.”

With a goose-egg in the win column after the first four games, Raheem Morris must guard against his team giving up even with a dozen games left on the schedule. It’s called having faith in the system, a new one that mostly comes with a change at head coach.

Some click right away, others do not.

"The faith part has to happen in the meeting rooms and what they're learning in the progression of deals where they're getting better,” Morris said. “Last week versus Washington, without a win, that's what people mean, I guess, about moral victories even though there's no such thing. They see themselves getting better on defense. They see themselves go out there and have the opportunity to have production, make plays. On offense, you've seen yourself go out there and you executed. You did everything you should have done. You had an opportunity to win the game. You lost it, missed two field goals. So you had a chance.”

Doing everything you can does not necessarily translate into victories so Morris can only hope they have that same chance against the Eagles. It means the Buccaneers will be around at the end with a chance to log their first victory.

Morris will have to deal with C Jeff Faine (triceps) and DE Kyle Moore (knee) missing the game altogether with DE Gaines Adams (ankle), WR Antonio Bryant (knee), CB Torrie Cox (ankle) and RB Earnest Graham (hamstring) currently listed as probable.

It’s not all gloom and doom in Bucs' Land as Tanard Jackson returns to his safety spot after a four game suspension for violating the league’s substance abuse policy.

"Tanard's playing,” said Morris. “Tanard's going to play. How much will be determined by the coaching staff at some point here, how often. He looked good this week, came back [and] looked like he was in shape. He's been doing the right things, obviously. He had no problem with the heat. It was great. We got a record-breaking week [of temperatures] for him so it was good to get him out there and run him around."

A roster spot will have to be opened for Jackson to play and Morris said he will get together with GM Mark Dominik to decide how to go about things for Sunday. No decision has been made if he will start though.