Bucs

Devil is in the details

Sapp seeks way to deal with Eagles.

SHELTON E-mail: Click here Archive

By GARY SHELTON, Times Sports Columnist

© St. Petersburg Times
published January 15, 2003

Imagine the devil and Warren Sapp. Some of you may have to strain harder than others to make the connection.

And so the devil, who knows a deal when he sees one, looks at Sapp and makes a proposition.

"So, Warren, I can arrange for you to win the next two games," the devil says. "But in return, I want all your money."

Sapp looked across a small, round table and grinned. "You mean the rest of this year's salary? And the $6.6-million next year? He can have it."

Ah, but how about upping the stakes? Imagine the devil were to say: "You can beat the Eagles. And you can win the Super Bowl. But in return, I want the last 10 years of your life."

Sapp laughed out loud. He cocked his head sideways, his eyes narrowing in suspicion.

"He might have it," Sapp said. "How long am I going to live? The devil might know I'm only going to live 10 more years, and I'd have to leave the day after the Super Bowl."

No, no, he is told. Assume a normal life span.

"So he wants from age 64 to 74? Oh, he can definitely have that."

Yes, but the devil spends time around agents, so he knows how to renegotiate. "You can win this game, and you can be champion of the world," the devil says. "But I want three fingers in return."

"Yeah," Sapp said. Then he stops. He holds his hands out in front of his face, as if picturing which fingers might disappear.

"I'm going to need my wedding ring finger," he said. "And I'm going to need my other ring finger if we win a Super Bowl. And if you don't have a thumb, you're not a primate. How about two fingers? Two fingers and a toe."

Sapp laughed loudly, and the noise bounced off the empty room at One Buc Place Tuesday morning. The players were off, but Sapp was there, doing television interviews, letting the juices of Sunday's NFC title game seep in.

The big guy loves this. A big personality needs a big stage, and Sapp seems to be marinating in it. Already, you had an opinion about Sapp; he forces one out of you. This week, all the knobs are turned up. If he makes you laugh, it will be louder. If he drives you crazy, the trip will be nuttier.

"The one thing we all remember was walking out of the RCA Dome in '99 and saying, 'Damn, how close can you get?' " Sapp said. "Then, to be standing here this week, facing what some would call insurmountable odds. Twenty-degree weather. A big, bad Philadelphia team we haven't beaten since Donovan McNabb learned how to play the position. ...

[Times photo: James Borchuck] Warren Sapp stalks the sideline late in a 20-10 loss Oct. 20 to Philadelphia. Despite recent history, Sapp is sure the Bucs can win there.

"I like our chances a lot. I really do. From the first day we left Celebration, there was a bounce to this team, something special. I've been around a lot of good teams, and I know what it looks like and feels like to be around people who know how to play the game.

"This is the best Bucs team I've been on. I've ridden with a lot of good players, but for me, this is the team. If there is one I'm going to war with, it's this one."

As always, it starts with Sapp. In big games, great players make great plays. And so it is that Tampa Bay looks on Sapp's familiar face.

As great as Brooks is, as wonderful as Rice has been, the Bucs defense always has started with Sapp. It is Sapp who dictates how the opposing line blocks, and if Sapp can be successful regardless, it is Sapp who allows his teammates to prosper. He's like the lion who brings down the gazelle. If he makes an impact, everyone feeds.

There have been difficulties for Sapp in Philadelphia, however. No, he hasn't been as bad as some have suggested. But he hasn't been Sapp the Destroyer, either. In the two playoff games, he has two tackles and six assists, according to the coaches' tape.

Last season, Sapp had a shredded shoulder. His play, he has said repeatedly, "made me want to slit my wrists, because I couldn't help my ballclub."

And in the other Eagles games?

"I've played all right," he said, shrugging. "I didn't play lights out. Nothing outstanding. But it's nothing I'm ashamed of. Anyone who wants to sit down and watch it with me, I'll be happy to do so. I know what I'm doing on that field. That's what I do. That's all I do."

More agitated now, Sapp leaned forward.

"Let me ask something of you guys who sit up in those high press boxes with those almighty pens and almighty knowledge of what I should be doing. Who is the first guy you would block with the Bucs?"

Sapp, of course.

"Then on what life, on what planet, do you allow that guy to make plays?"

Sapp sat back. Again, he shrugged.

"That's just the way it is," he said. "I'm the quarterback. You know how they say the quarterback gets more credit than he deserves when you win and more blame when you lose? I'm the quarterback.

"That's okay, though. If you're going to get promoed as I do, if you're going to talk the way I do, you take the love with the wins and the hate with the losses."

Sapp's an easy target, one whose charisma has made him bigger. What other defensive tackle has ever been singled out as the reason for a defeat? What other defensive tackle has been expected to register double-digit sacks?

Such is the size of Sapp, and let's be honest. He never un-invited the attention. Still, no one ever referred to the Eagles games as Brooks' losses, or John Lynch's losses, or Shelton Quarles' losses. They were Sapp's. The day after, the Philadelphia media was gleeful in pointing out Sapp's shortfall.

The Daily News, in fact, referred to Sapp this season as the Eagles' most hated opponent. Considering the Eagles play in a division with the Redskins' Steve Spurrier, the Cowboys' Emmitt Smith and the Giants' Michael Strahan, that's fairly high praise.

"Yeah, and I'm doing it without one-on-ones," Sapp said. "Strahan goes one-on-one, Spurrier goes one-on-one, Emmitt gets one-on-one. But it's never one-on-one with Sapp. Why is that? Because you could start the music. It would be a highlight tape."

For the Bucs to win Sunday, it needs to be anyway. Double teams or not, tough opposition or not, Sapp needs to find a way to make big plays.

The devil of it is, he thinks he has a shot.

"Veterans Stadium is a s---hole of a place," Sapp he said. "My mother can't even come because it's such a s---hole. But the demolition crew is on its way. We're going to close it down."