TAMPA, Fla. (AP) -No more deadlines on choosing Tampa Bay’s starting quarterback. Byron Leftwich and Luke McCown will get another chance to prove who’s the best choice to lead the Buccaneers into the regular season.
First-year coach Raheem Morris said Monday the race is too close to call and dropped a self-imposed mandate to determine who’s No. 1 before the third preseason game.
Leftwich and McCown each will play a little more than a quarter Thursday night against Miami.
Morris hopes giving them an opportunity to play an equal number of snaps with the starting offense will produce a clear-cut winner.
“We want to get it right,” Morris said. “We’ve been saying we want that guy to jump up and take the torch. After the (last) game, you can go either way.”
Leftwich appeared to have the edge heading into Saturday’s 24-23 victory at Jacksonville. McCown closed the gap by taking advantage of a 75-yard kickoff return and excellent field position on another possession to throw two touchdown passes against the Jaguars.
uarterbacks arrived at work Monday expecting Morris to select the starter. Instead, they learned they have more time to bolster their cases.
“Just another week to evaluate us. That’s fine with Byron and myself,” said McCown, who’s 1-6 as a starter in five seasons with Cleveland and Tampa Bay.
“We’re going to keep competing, keep pushing each other to get better. Whatever direction coach goes, we feel we’re going to have a good football team.”
Leftwich is 24-22 as a starter in six seasons with Jacksonville, Atlanta and Pittsburgh, where he was Ben Roethlisberger’s backup last season.
“It’s nothing you can do about it. I’m here to help this team,” Leftwich said. “If I’m the guy, I’m the guy. If I’m not the guy, I’m not the guy. But you want a decision to be made shortly.”
The seventh-year pro doesn’t foresee the race lingering through the final preseason game.
“They’ll have to make a decision because I’ve never seen a team have success going into Week 1 trying to figure out who their quarterback is going to be,” Leftwich said, adding it’s important for the eventual winner to begin building chemistry with the other starters.
“That’s the only way you’re going to get one guy to lead a bunch of guys. Right now, I’m sure a lot of the guys are wondering, who’s going to be the guy. We’re wondering the same thing.”
ion, including performance during voluntary and mandatory practices during the offseason.
Although McCown has completed a higher rate of passes (58.8 to 46.2) in the preseason, Morris said “you can’t just pick up a stat sheet and go, there’s our guy.”
Neither quarterback has thrown an interception, and Leftwich has produced 13 points to McCown’s 14.
“It’s still going to come down to a body of work. Everything they’ve done to this point is not null and void,” said Morris, who stressed the competition is a “good problem” for the Bucs.
“We’re not sitting and looking at two guys who just went 2 of 14. We’re looking at two guys who had pretty good games, threw some pretty good throws,” the coach added. “We’re excited about it. … It’s like man, would somebody choke.”
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