McCown Pees On Territory as Bucs Starter

Luke McCown attempted to stake his claim verbally to the starting quarterback job with the Bucs in 2009, saying, "This is my first real opportunity to be the starter, to be the guy. And I look at it as mine and you're going to have to shoot me."

That choice of words brings to mind the timeless quote from John McKay, the Bucs first coach, who, when asked what he thought of his team's offensive execution, said, "I'm all for it."

McCown's competition for the starting job in Tampa is not exactly stiff. He's competing with veteran castoff Byron Leftwich, rookie Josh Freeman and Josh Johnson. Brian Griese is expected to be released. Handicapping the field, you'd have to figure McCown's got the edge with Leftwich nipping at his heels pending training camp performance.

Meanwhile, McCown gave insight into the approach of head coach Raheem Morris, saying, "Raheem ...shoots you straight. He's going to tell you what's going on. When I re-signed ...he brought me up into his office, showed me the board and said, "this is what the depth chart looks like. Here's the competition you're going to be in. We've got the 19th pick. Who knows? All the experts say we're going to draft one (quarterback). Maybe we do. All you can do is go out, compete, and worst case scenario, you perform well and we have to make a decision whether to keep you or trade you."