Garcia: It was an unbelievable football game. Minnesota is a pretty good football team, but boy I tell you, it wasn’t the same (Bucs) team we saw when they came out against Kansas City. Defensively, they came after Minnesota and held Peterson to 84 yards.

G: Jeff had a great game and the local newspapers, and a matter of fact, Gruden was saying this may be Jeff’s best game as a Buccaneer. He bought so much time with his legs running all over…

K: Now Jeff is 4-1 as a starter and he gets to play my team, the terrible Detroit Lions. How good does this set up for Tampa Bay the rest of the way?

G: Well, you know what, every week is a battle. You can’t overlook anybody. Even though they haven’t won a game, the thing is, they’re playing better with Daunte Culpepper. But the main thing is [the Bucs] need to come in ready and be prepared.

K: Does Jeff have any extra motivation playing against a former team that kind of made him look bad, more than it was a reflection of his skills?

G: I don’t think there’s much motivation because the guys that were responsible with what Jeff was doing are no longer there. The thing about it was it wasn’t the fans in Detroit that caused him to play the way he played, it was the whole system and all the coaches who were there, just like in Cleveland. They had no idea what they were doing. … But that was years ago and he’s with Tampa Bay. He wants to win for his teammates and he’s going to prepare as hard as he can to go in there and just look at is as a regular NFL game.

K: The Lions have been the worst team in the league over the last seven years, obviously with Matt Miller running things until the middle of this year. How dysfunctional was Detroit when Jeff played there?

G: Well, Mariucci was the head coach but the thing about it is that was not a cohesive team. They had too many guys drafted high who didn’t think it was important to work hard in practice, do the things that make you better. We’d have a conversation and he’d say, ‘Hey, dad, you can’t believe this. … You walk into the locker room and you see all these playbooks in the locker room. Nobody takes them home.’ It’s like there was no discipline, there wasn’t anything.

K: Well, he did the right thing getting out of there. You probably didn’t get a chance to watch the Niners then, but Shaun Hill played great and everyone is comparing him to Jeff because he’s the first quarterback that looks like he knows what the hell he’s doing for the first time in four or five years.

G: Yeah, well I tell you what, I’ve always like Shaun Hill. People say he’s not a starter, he’s more of a backup. Well, you know what, how do you know he’s not a starter? How do you know he can’t win? The kid can win.

They weren’t playing the best team in the world, but it doesn’t make any difference. The kid had a tremendous second quarter. That whole program, all of a sudden you change coaches, you change quarterbacks and things are happening.

K: Let’s talk about the Prune Bowl. Gilroy won 47-nothing.

G: Well, yeah, did Hollister show up?

K: They had some rough calls go against them to start and all of a sudden they were in a hole. Hollister just didn’t have it this year. They were obviously down with a lot of injuries and then the talent level.

G: Well the good thing about it is Gilroy comes back from the fiasco. … They came back and won and now they have to get ready for the playoffs.

K: Who would you predict is going to win between Gilroy and Serra?

G: I haven’t seen Serra play but I know they beat Bellarmine. So, that tells you it’s going to be a battle and it’s going to come down to whoever can execute and makes less mistakes. That’s the team that’s going to win.

K: Are you going to be out there?

G: Yeah, I’m going to put on a cheerleading outfit. I want to go out there and cheer.

K: What? (Laughing)

G: Hahaha!

K: Gavilan played their final game and came up just short, 28-24, to West Valley.

G: Ohhhh. Well, that was close. That’s good. They’ve been scoring more points the last few games. That’s good.

K: I think they started giving the ball to (Connor) Farrotte more and he looks like he could be a good player for them next year.

G: How did he do?

K: He ran for 100 yards and two touchdowns and also threw for one.

G: He’d be a perfect guy to run that outside veer because he can run the ball and throw it. That’s the same offense Jeff ran for me.