Bucs, Rams clash tonight

Defensive lineman Tyoka Jackson of the Rams may miss his biggest rivalry.
ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Of all times to be injured, Tyoka Jackson is about to miss his biggest rivalry game.
The St. Louis defensive lineman is doubtful for tonight's game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, for whom he played for five seasons, because of a pulled left hamstring. By his count he'd missed only one practice in his career before getting hurt.
"This is a bad time for me right now," Jackson said. "I don't like missing practices and the thought of missing a game is just killing me, it's tearing my heart out -- especially against these guys."
The Rams and Bucs were two of the NFC's premier teams earlier in this decade. Tampa Bay has won the last four regular season match-ups, although the Rams beat the Buccaneers in the 1999 NFC championship game en route to their only Super Bowl victory.
Both teams have struggled early this season, although both are coming off perhaps their best game. The Rams rallied from a 17-point deficit in the final six minutes of regulation before beating the Seahawks in overtime. The Bucs, after an 0-4 start two years after their Super Bowl championship, rallied behind second-string quarterback Brian Griese to beat the Saints.
Special meaning to him
Jackson left the Bucs as a free agent in 2000 for the Rams, where he's become a team captain. So the series has special meaning to him.
But he put his odds of playing at less than 10 percent.
"I want to be out there bad, especially against my former team on Monday night in an NFC game where we really need a win to keep these good things going," Jackson said. "I want to be a part of that. If you're limping around, you can't help anyone out."
Jackson was hurt in the first quarter of the Seahawks game when Matt Hasselbeck evaded a sack.
"Hasselbeck is a strong quarterback and he's evasive and he stepped up in the pocket just as I was trying to hit him," Jackson said. "It slung me around and my leg kind of went out and I guess it put too much stress on the hamstring.
"If I make the sack, the injury is not there, so I've got really no one to blame but myself and Hasselbeck."
First start of season
The Bucs will give Griese his first start of the season after he went 16-for-19 for 194 yards and the winning score in a 20-17 victory over New Orleans. Griese started five games for the Dolphins last year after being released by the Broncos, where he was the starter for four seasons.
He'll be the third quarterback to start this year for the Bucs. Brad Johnson started the first four games before getting benched and Chris Simms made his first career start last week before leaving with a sprained shoulder.