King had one completion negated when Jacquez Green was ruled out of bounds, another when a Green Bay challenge showed Keyshawn Johnson had dropped a ball. But on third down, King evaded Steve Warren and John Thierry and ran five yards, just enough to set up another Gramatica field goal. In other words, it wasn't the distance that was important to the way King played, it was the time. You take a quarterback's measure in the fourth period, when the game is slipping away, when the lights are hotter and the moment bigger and the defense fiercer. Great quarterbacks rise to the moment.
Bad quarterbacks shrink.
I think I'm that kind of quarterback. I always have been. That's true enough. But even last week, there was an improvement in King in the final period. The Bucs sputtered most of the day against Atlanta, then came the final period, and King hit Green on a 35-yard pass on third down.