Bucs: Special-teams unit corrects its mistakes

Special-teams unit corrects its mistakes

By ROGER MILLS, Times Staff Writer

TAMPA -- Sunday's win against the Ravens was indeed a special day for the Bucs.

Not only did the defense pitch a shutout to give coach Jon Gruden his first win in a Bucs uniform, but Tampa Bay's special-teams unit, admonished for its poor play in the opener, rebounded admirably.

Special teams, which gave up a winning overtime interception to the Saints on Sept. 8, accounted for one of the team's two touchdowns Sunday, added three field goals, blocked a field-goal attempt and covered well on the punts.

Oh, and this just in, veteran punter Tom Tupa averaged 50 yards on five punts.

"What a difference a week makes in this league," Gruden said. "Last week we have a critical error in punt protection and get a punt blocked at the end of the game. And (Sunday) we got impact performances from a couple of guys.

"(Special-teams coach) Rich Bisaccia is a fine football coach and he's going to make a difference. His presence is going to be felt by our team and we're going to generate big plays from out kicking game."

Some of the impact was obvious, like Karl Williams' 56-yard punt return for a touchdown in the first quarter. Other efforts were subtle: reserves Nate Webster, Dwight Smith and Corey Ivy combined for seven tackles, which helped force the Ravens into miserable field position, and Tupa showed consistent strength and placement in his leg.

"I think as the season unfolds, you'll see some creativity out of Tom Tupa," Gruden said. "You may even see him do some things as a quarterback. Rich has some great ideas and we'll continue to explore those."

NO BIG DEAL: An apparent squabble between Gruden and receiver Keyshawn Johnson became the subject of conversation during Fox's broadcast Sunday. The only problem is player and coach said there was no such argument.

"I gave him a pep talk," Gruden said. "It wasn't a heated, screaming, yelling argument type of thing. He got held a couple times and there were some defensive pass interference calls on Keyshawn. He's a big guy and I wanted to challenge him ... I was cheering him on and trying to push him through it."

SHOULD KNOW BETTER: Never dispute the passion with which defensive tackle Warren Sapp plays the game, but after a tackle on Chester Taylor drew a 15-yard personal foul penalty, Gruden said he expects better of his All-Pro team captain.

On second and 2 at the Ravens 33, Sapp stopped Taylor after 1 yard and held on. The rookie continued churning his legs and Sapp eventually slammed him to the turf.

"In that situation, he was too aggressive," Gruden said. "He needs to know better. Warren knows better. What can I say. It was a careless foul and he knows that."

RUMBLING, FUMBLING: The defense scored one touchdown and could have had another if safety John Lynch had worked on his slide in practice. On the Ravens' first play of the third quarter, quarterback Chris Redman fumbled a handoff at Baltimore's 22 and the ball rolled back toward the end zone. Lynch tried to grab the ball and roll into the end zone but succeeded only in fumbling it onto the pylon for a safety.

"Last year in Cincinnati, I caused a fumble and laid there on the 1 and guys gave me a hard time about not trying to get into the end zone," Lynch said. "So this time, I tried to roll into the end zone and hit the pylon."

Ironically, Lynch and some of his teammates could have had another touchdown. Playing with the special teams, defensive end Ellis Wyms blocked a punt and it was scooped up by defensive end Simeon Rice. Rice ran 7 yards before being tackled and was not aware that Lynch was running at his side, expecting the lateral.

"I tell you what, we were darned close on the field-goal block to getting that thing in there," Lynch said. "Simeon was running like a running back but if he had seen there were two other guys at his side he could have pitched it out to us and we would have been gone."

INJURY UPDATE: Defensive end Rice (left shoulder sprain), tight end Ken Dilger (right triceps contusion), safety David Gibson (swelling in his left ankle), Lynch (quad contusion) and Anthony McFarland (right hip flexor strain) are probable for Monday's game against the Rams.