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Mystery in the backfield
© St. Petersburg Times LAKE BUENA VISTA -- Say this much for Michael Pittman. The guy even looks good hurt. Halfway through the first practice of training camp, and the team's new wheels had a flat. Pittman limped slightly as he walked from the field, and trainers rushed toward him to tape his swollen ankle. Given time, and tape, perhaps they also could do something about those swollen biceps. The guy looks impressive. Let us establish that from the beginning. If great running backs were judged, say, the way Miss Americas are judged, then Pittman would be Jim Brown. Call Central Casting, ask for a running back, and Pittman is what they send over. The guy looks the part. His left arm looks worth about 600 yards. His right arm looks worth about 600. There's probably another 350 or so in the legs. Yep, if you went by the sight test alone, Pittman would have a closet full of Heismans and Canton would be making reservations. Ah, but there is display, and then there is delivery. Which is why people around the Bucs cannot wait to get a load of Pittman in pads. He is the biggest mystery in camp. Solve the riddle of Pittman, and the Bucs can answer their biggest question of recent seasons: the running game. Forget the reputation of Tony Dungy's Bucs as a running team. The reality is the Bucs have been a lousy running team for a very long time. Pittman, supposedly, is the cure. By now, you have heard the considerable mythology that surrounds the guy. People talk about Pittman as if he were a preview to a movie they simply can't wait to see. You have heard about his cartoon-sized biceps -- the guy has more arms than Charlton Heston -- and the way he tucks his sleeves into his shirt in that look-at-my-pipes style. You have heard about his tattoo, the one that reads "The Real Black Superman." You have heard about his blend of power and size and hands. Somewhere along the line, it has become fashionable to accept Pittman as a proven commodity, as an established star. He isn't. He's a mass of potential. He's also a guy the Arizona Cardinals kept trying to replace every year. In other words, the Bucs think he has nice biceps. But, uh, they'd like him to flex them in an end zone. "Every year in the NFL, someone explodes onto the scene," Bucs coach Jon Gruden said. "We're hoping that Michael Pittman has the launching pad to take off." Gruden says that, then he falls into a protective mode that forces coaches to list every other tailback on the roster. But Pittman is the best bet. He's the one brought in to replace Warrick Dunn. Is Pittman the answer? Is he the every-down back the Bucs think he is? Is he that match between player and plan the Bucs want? We'll see. "In Arizona, for whatever reason, I was never the guy guy," Pittman said. "When I came in, there was Adrian Murrell. Then they drafted Thomas Jones, and I beat him out two years in a row. "It just wasn't the right offense for me. It was an offense for, say, Stephen Davis. You saw what happened when Ahman Green went from Seattle to Green Bay, right? With this offense, with Coach Gruden, I think I can take my game to a whole new level. I think I have all the tools to be a great back in this league." If you're wondering, Pittman sounds like a great player, too. His goals are higher than rent. "I want to be the best back in the league," he said. "The Pro Bowl. Fourteen hundred yards." Fourteen hundred? Consider: The past two years, Pittman has 1,565. Total. If you want to see it before buying in, Pittman says he understands that. He acknowledges he has to prove himself to his coaches, to his teammates, to his fans. You get the feeling all of them want to believe. For the past couple of years, the Bucs have looked as if they are running uphill in a mudslide. Let's see. First and 10 begat second and 11 which begat third and 9 which begat a punt. You know the phrase "a game of inches"? The guy who said it first was looking at the Bucs running game. So look at this offense. Given Gruden's success with quarterbacks, it's logical to assume someone will emerge. Given Bill Muir's track record, the offensive line will be better. Given the additions of Keenan McCardell and Ken Dilger, the receivers will be better. But can the Bucs run? We'll see. General manager Rich McKay sees something familiar in Pittman. A smaller James Wilder, he says. "He runs hard, and he isn't going to spend a lot of time trying to make you miss," McKay said. "He's not trying to make it look pretty." There are great players, and there are players who look as if they are stepping all around it. For the past couple of years, Lomas Brown, the ex-Giant, admits he has looked that way at Pittman, the ex-Cardinal. "He's such a powerful, powerful back," Brown said. "He runs hard every down. He just needs to be a little more patient, to let his blocking happen in front of him, and it's going to happen. That's what experience is. "If the offensive line comes together in front of him, I think he's going to have a great season. A thousand yards, easily." For now, however, the Bucs need to reserve judgment on Pittman. Because as good as the fit might be between player and scheme, as much as the Bucs believe Pittman might be on the verge of accomplishment, he still has some proving to do. Some players you can judge in shorts. Some you want to see run, and some you want to see dart. Pittman, you want to see in pads, blowing into the hole, bouncing off John Lynch. You want to see him in preseason games, pumping energy into the rest of the offense. In other words, you want to see him outrun the ordinary past he has in common with his new team, and run free toward a new direction. Stardom? We'll see.
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