Pound the Rock: Earnest Graham and Warrick Dunn

Jon Gruden loves to pound the rock. By this, he means "run the football." It is something of a mantra in the Tampa Bay locker room.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are 4-2, six weeks into the 2008 season. They are tied for first place in the NFC South.

A big reason for their early success is a tough defense that leads the league with 11 interceptions. But another reason is the Bucs' strong running attack that ranks sixth in the NFL.

This year, Tampa Bay feature two versatile backs in Earnest Graham and Warrick Dunn.

Warrick Dunn has returned to Tampa after six years with the Atlanta Falcons, and is apparently the same player as when he left in 2002. Dunn is incredibly patient at the line of scrimmage, and has 386 yards from 75 carries, around 5.1 yards per attempt. He has one touchdown this season and it came against his former team, Atlanta. Against the Carolina Panthers, he gained 115 yards.

In the words of Gruden: "Warrick Dunn’s pretty good. He’s a heck of a football player. And Earnest Graham, he made my Pro Bowl yesterday as a back. He played fullback, halfback, played in space."

Until last season, Graham had been the third back on the depth chart, affectionately nicknamed "Mr. August," before injuries pushed him into starting action. His smash-mouth style and ferocious stiff-arm left him with just under 1,000 yards and 10 touchdowns.

This season, Graham has 404 yards in 72 attempts, averaging 5.6 yards a carry. He has three touchdowns, one for 68 yards. He even stepped in as an emergency fullback against Carolina.

Tampa Bay have not been nationally televised at home since 2003. This Sunday, October 19th, the Buccaneers will face the Seattle Seahawks at Raymond James Stadium in the 1976-expansion-bowl, live on NBC (minus John Madden.)

The Seahawks are a perennial playoff contender in the NFC West, but injuries to Matt Hasselbeck and his receiving corps, coupled with the resurgent Arizona Cardinals, have made life difficult for the 'Hawks. Things are unlikely to get any easier on Sunday night.

Seattle's defense are giving up around 355 yards and 30 points per game, leaving them with a 1-4 record.

However, Coach Jon Gruden is not counting Seattle out. They have an excellent ground game of their own and 13 sacks.

"[Lofa] Tatupu and Julian Peterson are great players. [Marcus] Trufant is a top-shelf corner. They’ve got a very good defensive team. [Patrick] Kerney is still a force. I think he led the league in sacks a year ago. They’ve got a very good defense." Gruden said. 

"Mike Holmgren is a tremendous coach. Their back is against the wall. We’ll get everything they have and they’ve been a real handful for us to deal with.”

A handful indeed. But, with stability at the quarterback position and the possible return of Joey Galloway, the Bucs have the talent to show the NFL exactly how good they are.

Pound the rock, Jon Gruden.