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Now that Jeff Garcia is healthy, ready to go, and has successfully survived the attempts of Tampa Bay's front office to acquire yet another quarterback, he made his preseason debut last night against the Jacksonville Jaguars. The initial reviews were less than stellar.

Roy Cummings of the Tampa Tribune writes that Garcia looked "corroded" in his two quarters of action, while Rick Stroud at the St. Petersburg Times describes the carnage -- or hilarity, depending on your perspective -- in great detail.

Garcia, 38, sprayed passes all over the field. He threw footballs too high. Too low. Too hard. Too soft. He threw them overhand and underhanded. His passes went behind receivers and in front of them.

One pass was floated too high to Maurice Stovall and intercepted by Reggie Nelson. He underthrew Michael Clayton in the back of the end zone. And Nelson looked like the intended receiver again, recording another interception.

It almost sounds like Garcia was playing quarterback in a Dr. Seuss book. Anyway, the numbers would seem to confirm those observations, as the 38-year old finished 11-of-18 for 79 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions.

It is very dangerous to attempt to trade for a quarterback like Brett Favre when you already have someone like Jeff Garcia coming off a Pro Bowl season as your starter. Not because Favre would hurt the team if he came in, but because if you whiff on the deal, it's egg all over your face and you have a ticked off old man running your team.

Which is what Jon Gruden has now, judging by Garcia's comments yesterday.

Garcia took another shot at Bucs Coach Jon Gruden when asked if he had any hard feelings about Tampa Bay's pursuit of former Green Bay quarterback Brett Favre.

"I'm just a journeyman according to some people. Why should I have any hard feelings? I'm thankful to have this job.

"I might pay Bruce and Jon for bringing me out here," Garcia said after Monday afternoon's practice.

That sounds so evil, but I think he means he should hand over money for the opportunity to play football. Unless -- *gasp* -- he's actually planning on muuuuuurder. (Sorry, I've been watching too much Caruso on A&E lately.)

I get that the Bucs wanted Favre, but it's not like the Jets gave up that much to pick him up -- if you're Tampa and you've already shown your cards, don't you at that point go over top and make sure you lock the guy up?

Who knows how -- or when -- this Brett Favre fiasco will resolve itself, but the Press Democrat's Matt Maiocco puts forth an interesting idea that's sure to make the current quarterbacks on the 49ers roster very sad:

If the dominoes fall a certain way - a completely logical way - it could have a great impact on the 49ers' season.

You see, if Favre ends up with the Buccaneers, that would seem to suggest Jeff Garcia's time in Tampa Bay will be over. And if Garcia is looking for a place to land, the 49ers might be interested.

Seems like the appropriate time to cue up the "Reunited" jam. Honestly, this move would make way too much sense for everybody involved that I can't see it actually happening.

Of course, this all depends on Favre and his plans, but if Garcia makes his way back to Northern California, the 49ers immediately become a much better team. Good enough, I think, to actually contend in the NFC West. The biggest issue is what to do with 2005 first-overall pick Alex Smith.

One option would be to release him if he lost the starting job -- and that seems like the right thing to do -- but we're getting a little ahead of ourselves. Still, it's ironic(ly convoluted) that Smith could be cut if Favre lands in Tampa after being forced out of Green Bay because of Aaron Rodgers, the second quarterback taken in the '05 draft.

The Tampa Tribune is reporting on its front page in today's edition that Brett Favre is on the verge of being traded from the Green Bay Packers to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The paper reports that it is very likely that the trade will take place today.

There is no word on what kind of compensation the Packers would get for trading Favre. It is also not clear what would become of Buccaneers starter Jeff Garcia, who is coming off a season in which he completed 63.9 percent of his passes, with 13 touchdowns and four interceptions.

But, from the Tampa Tribune's report, one way or another we could see Favre in Bucs training camp this week.

I know that there have been reports that Brett Favre will have the opportunity to battle Aaron Rodgers for the starting QB job in Green Bay.

Yeah, I still don't think that's happening.

I've heard radio reports today that the team has told Favre that he will be Rodgers' backup and that there is no QB competition. FoxSports.com's Jay Glazer is reporting as such:

Another agreement from the meeting was that, despite reports to the contrary, there would not be an open quarterback competition as even Favre felt this would not be in the best interests of the locker room. Thus, Aaron Rodgers is the team's starting quarterback.

And this transcript from a Chris Myers FoxNews story added to it:

I know Brett went into the meeting upset because when he arrived in Green Bay, he wasn't given the offensive play[book]. He wanted to look at those, and certain people that usually talk to Brett didn't talk to Brett. He wasn't allowed really the access that he normally would get until today. So he was kind of kept out of the picture. So he went in very, very upset, and I don't know that he trusts many people now in the Packer organization, or many of the front office people.

So it really looks as if the Favre Era in Green Bay is truly over and it is just a matter of time that he will be traded to the Minnesota Vikings, Tampa Bay Buccaneers or New York Jets. All there is left is figuring out where he will go.

Good thing Tampa has five quarterbacks in camp (and is kinda looking for a Brett Favre).

Starting QB Jeff Garcia suffered a calf injury during passing drills yesterday.

With Bucs officials initially holding their collective breath, Garcia's injury was determined to be not as serious as it appeared. While rolling out during a noncontact scramble drill, he tweaked the muscle and seemed to immediately feel discomfort.

Garcia, 38, was attended to by trainers for about 10 minutes. And when those efforts didn't lead to immediate relief, he was taken by cart to the locker room.

Coaches are expecting Garcia to miss a few practices ... which means Luke McCown and Brian Griese will step up their battle for the backup gig. The tradeable Chris Simms should also see his reps increase.

This adds onto a pile of Buccaneer starters who have been injured in camp ... a big enough pile that coaches have scaled back practices. They even cancelled this morning's practice.

Dallas has a Pro-Bowl quarterback ... and a fossil backing him up. Tampa Bay has their own 80-man roster of quarterbacks. Now, share nicely!

Those Chris Simms-to-Dallas rumors are kicking back up (via PFT) ... with Tampa wanting a third or a fourth round pick in return. Yeeeeeeah, right. Simms hasn't played since rupturing his spleen in Week 3 of the 2006 season and has thrown just 12 touchdowns to go with his 17 interceptions in his four-year career.

Simms has taken limited or no reps in seven-on-seven and team drills since starter Jeff Garcia arrived in training camp Monday.

"I understand the situation," Simms said Tuesday. "I don't know what the plan is, but I understand the situation.'

Simms, 27, has been throwing after practice with quarterbacks coach Greg Olson and rookie QB Josh Johnson. Simms is among five quarterbacks in training camp, including Brian Griese and Luke McCown.

I can see why the Cowboys would be interested in acquiring Simms. The former Texas Longhorn has always had "potential" linked to him and the team has a guru in Jason Garrett to work with him. Tony Romo's backup, Brad Johnson, will turn 40 in September.

Dallas knows -- like the rest of the league -- that Simms has no real value and are all waiting for the Bucs to waive him. Tampa has five QBs in camp, including likely starter Garcia and not including the possibility of adding Brett Favre.

Brian Griese (remember him), rookie Josh Johnson and Luke McCown are all fighting for backup roles.

Good news: Chad Pennington and Kellen Clemens don't have to spend training camp looking over their shoulders for Brett Favre -- word on the street is that he won't be coming to New York except to visit. Bad news: Clemens has struggled with fumbles during the first few practice sessions. Hardly a big deal in the scheme of things, but try telling that to this dude.

While the Jets work through their quarterback issues, the other team in the Race for Favre, the Buccaneers, appeared to be very close to pulling off a deal last night before hitting the inevitable snag, at least according to the Tampa Tribune.

Though it was believed that the Bucs and Jets had both decided to wait until Favre reported to camp to renew any trade talks with the Packers, we are now hearing of a discussion between the Bucs and Packers that supposedly took place on Saturday. And the end result may be why the Favre saga is suddenly at a standstill.

It is believed that the Bucs and Packers were close to an agreement on compensation but that the agreement fell apart sometime on Saturday.

The Tribune's Roy Cummings speculates that the hold up has everything to do with the compensation. Makes sense; some reports had the Packers wanting a first-round pick for the 38-year-old, 17-year veteran, which, for many teams is sorta steep. Particularly since Jason Taylor and

FoxSports.com's Alex Marvez thinks today's the day -- Brett Favre should be a Buccaneer before midnight. Whether that happens is another issue.

And while Tampa Bay will likely get rid of one (or more) of the five quarterbacks currently on the roster, head coach Jon Gruden is in no mood to answer your stupid questions about what the future holds for his team, particularly when it comes to Favre. So, um, beat it.

, "You can talk to Brett, yourself. If we have permission, I"m sure you do, too," Gruden said in his media huddle after the first workout. "I don't have any reports on Brett, okay. There'll be some more opportunities to write stories on this situation. It's a great story to cover. I wish I had time to cover all the things that are going on. His situation is going to handle itself."

The primary issue for the Bucs -- at least right now -- is what this all means for incumbent quarterback Jeff Garcia. Presumably, he's less excited than, say, Gruden about the possibility of Favre coming to town. No worries, though, Gruden's got a handle on it.

Now that Devin Hester has ended the shortest holdout in NFL history, the Bears can focus on finding the last piece to the Super Bowl puzzle: that's right, this team is a quarterback away from ... well, still winning four or five games.

I suppose the defense could pull a "2005" and carry Chicago back to the playoffs, but there's a better chance Rex Grossman is named NFL MVP and retroactively wins the Heisman.

Which probably explains why the front office might be interested in Tampa Bay's-not-for-long fifth-stringer, Chris Simms. I mentioned a few weeks ago that Simms had many suitors, although the Bears weren't in the running (at least publicly) at the time. And even though Simms' game might not be what it once was, he's still the most attractive option in Chicago. And there's some chance the team could try to get him.

One scenario for the Bears could be giving back the Bucs their sixth-round pick. Tampa Bay traded its 2009 sixth-rounder for Griese in March, and the Bears could simply return it, making it a trade of Griese for Simms.

The only problem with that scenario is Simms is out of contract after this season, and Griese is signed through 2010. The Bears would have to think they could re-sign Simms to swap a pick for him.

And that's the crux of the problem -- Simms or Griese, the Bears still have long-term issues at quarterback. And, frankly, that would be the case if Chicago somehow ended up with Brett Favre for 2008. Which makes you wonder (again) why the club made virtually no effort to find the next "quarterback of the future" at any point this offseason. Well, if you discount re-signing Grossman to a one-year deal.