Offense right plan for Bucs, if it comes

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© St. Petersburg Times
published September 5, 2002

Give me the points.

Give me three wides and a man in motion. Give me receivers streaming across the field and backs bursting through the holes. Give me razzle and give me dazzle.

Give me offense.

Finally.

There are, of course, a lot of excellent head coaches who think about defense first, and second, they think more about the defense. They are a crusty lot, hard men with fire in their eyes and leather in their lungs. They can tell you a great deal about field position.

And you can keep them.

All of them.

Give me a wizard. Give me a schemer. Give me a mad scientist. Give me Martz. Give me Spurrier. Give me Mariucci.

For that matter, give me Jon Gruden.

The real one.

Yep, that Gruden sure was tricky, going through an entire preseason and keeping his offense disguised as, well, every other offense the Bucs have seen. Not saying he held things back, but I swear that was Gary Huff warming up the other night. Three yards and a cloud of flags? What a kidder.

Keyshawn Johnson suggests the Bucs simply haven't unleashed their might. That's the hope. Folks are desperate to believe that Gruden only showed the table of contents of his steering wheel-sized playbook. The rest he kept under wraps, squirreled away, close to the vest. And if he has kept it hidden, give him credit. He has kept it well hidden.

Despite the slow start, however, offense has the locals all a-twitter. Just think of it. Stamping out third and 11 in our lifetime. What a concept.

Give me double reverses and flea flickers and runs up the middle for, oh, 11 yards. Give me a draw play that isn't drawn in crayon. Give me an explorer who can find a direct passage to the end zone.

Did you hear that? That's the echo of Tony Dungy's voice, reminding us, once again, that there are lots of ways to win. Usually, good old Tony was saying it after another 13-10 game in which the Bucs had rushed 27 times for 32 yards.

And, to a degree, Dungy was right. A team does have to have a good defense. Everyone knows that. Only an idiot would lessen the importance, or downplay the contributions, of defense.

Around here, we love defense. We appreciate defense. If need be, we'll take defense to the prom.

As a head coach, however?

Give me an offensive guy.

More and more, a team needs to score more and more. You could build a great argument that teams are better off hiring an offensive guru as the head guy and letting the defensive taskmaster play the role of fiery drill sergeant.

Look around the league. When the Patriots won last year's Super Bowl, Bill Belichick became the first coach since San Francisco's George Seifert in '94 whose background is on the defensive side of the ball.

Quick. Name the top 10 coaches in the NFL. My list? Mike Shanahan. Belichick. Mike Martz. Steve Mariucci. Mike Holmgren. Gruden. Bill Cowher. Andy Reid. Brian Billick, I guess. Call me crazy, because he's new, but I throw Steve Spurrier onto the list.

Consider: Everyone but Belichick and Cowher has an offensive background.

Why? Maybe it's as simple as this. Offenses act. Defenses react. Before a play begins, offenses decide for both teams what sort of play is coming, what sort of personnel will be on the field, how fast the snap count will be.

What's the old line? Dying is easy, but offense is hard?

Perhaps that's why so many good head coaches seem to come from the offensive side. Offensive coaches make owners' eyes widen. And because they're so rare, they move up the ranks quickly. A great defensive coordinator may go years without getting a head coaching offer.

A hot offensive coordinator, however, is going to be snatched up quickly. Which is why Gruden was a head coach at, what, 14? Mozart thinks Gruden was an early success.

In Tampa Bay, we're waiting to see it.

The transition has not come smoothly so far. The offensive line hasn't settled. Michael Pittman is still a concept. The end zone is still a heartache away.

Frankly, the wait has gone on for a while. In Tampa Bay, offense is a nice little concept, like interstellar travel. We've heard a lot about it. Whether it really exists is a mystery.

The Bucs -- and for that matter the Rays and Lightning -- always have been confused by offense. Playbooks have a sheet-and-a-half of hand-written paper. There is no danger, no daring and darn little activity on the scoreboard.

Back in 1984, the Bucs were 10th in the NFL. Don't scoff. That's the team record. On the other hand, the Bucs still managed to go 6-10.

Then there was '92, when Sam Wyche came into town with a great rep for offense. And in his first season, Sudden Sam got the Bucs all the way up to 16th in the NFL. Don't laugh. In the nine years since, the Bucs haven't been in the top 20.

How bad have the Bucs been lately? Clyde Christensen, last year's coordinator, once lamented that his team needed more no gains and 1-yard gains on first downs, rather the 3- and 4-yard losses it was suffering. Now, those are standards.

A rare burst of optimism here. Yes, the Bucs offense will be better. The scheme is too good, and last year's bunch was so bad, for anything else to happen. Hey, there is a reason Gruden is so well respected. Eventually, you'll see it.

So give me cannon fire and exploding scoreboards. Give me imagination in short yardage and salvation in long yardage situations. Give me mismatches, misdirection and mystery.

Give me another three days.

And give me touchdowns.

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