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By JOANNE KORTH, Times Staff WriterThe running back gets so much blocking, the Texans don't lay a hand on him on two scores.
TAMPA - Aaron Stecker saw the grass, every blade.
He saw the fans, the painted lines ticking off the yards down the left sideline, the bright orange pylons and two lonely referees in the corners of the end zone.
A panoramic view, not a defender in sight.
And it happened twice.
The running back scored two picture-perfect touchdowns in Thursday's 34-3 victory over the Texans, scampering in untouched from 3 and 25 yards.
Straight from the chalkboard to the playing field.
"I had two of the easier touchdowns that I've had in my career," Stecker said, smiling. "When you draw a play up on the board, that's the way you want it to happen. That's how you want to run it and that's how it's blocked. You know, it doesn't always work that way."
Certainly not lately.
The Bucs scored 10 rushing touchdowns last season, including four in the playoffs. The longest was a 17-yard run by Mike Alstott in a victory against the Browns; the rest were 4 yards or less. And on how many of those was the running back untouched?
"Not many," left tackle Roman Oben said.
"Maybe this is indicative of the things we can get accomplished this year. Maybe there's a little more confidence, a little more attitude. We still have a chip on our shoulder as an offensive line. We just want to come in and work hard and give our offense an opportunity to succeed."
Playing behind the first-team offensive line on first and goal at the 3, Stecker took the handoff and cut left to find nothing between him and the end zone. When he got to the NFL logo painted on the grass, he stopped.
Stecker got key blocks from Oben, who sealed the end, and fullback Darian Barnes, who picked up the strongside linebacker at the line of scrimmage. Right guard Cosey Coleman pulled to support the play, but there was no one left to block.
"I hit the linebacker and, all of a sudden, I saw Aaron," said Barnes, who is competing against Jameel Cook for a roster spot. "I just looked up and was like, "Wow.' He was just clean."
At the end of a long preseason, coach Jon Gruden still is tinkering with the offensive line, a much-maligned unit last season for its erratic protection of quarterback Brad Johnson and the Bucs' lackluster running game. Suddenly, Gruden has options.
Free-agent guard Jason Whittle, expected to supplant Cosey Coleman as a starter, broke his leg the first day of offseason workouts and missed the first three weeks of training camp. In Whittle's absence, Coleman played well and Gruden finds he has six capable players to fill five starting spots.
"Now it's a matter of deciding what gives us the best opportunity to win," Gruden said.
Against the Texans, Whittle played guard with the second team and starting left guard Kerry Jenkins pulled double duty, joining the unit at left tackle.
Jenkins, who played tackle his first two NFL seasons, made a key kick-out block on Stecker's 25-yard score as Whittle and a receiver sealed the middle. Stecker took the toss and headed for the wide-open hole.
"There was nothing there," said Stecker, a shifty runner with good speed. "I could have walked in, but I probably would have gotten a taunting penalty. It was a great feeling. You don't get many of those type of runs where you can run in there and nobody's there. I couldn't believe it was so wide open. It was cake."
As Stecker enjoyed the sights on his 25-yard jaunt, the rest of the Bucs chose to watch Stecker. It's not often they get to see a running back in wide-open space.
"There's nothing better than that," Jenkins said. "For an offensive lineman, run-blocking is our favorite thing to do and when you break some big runs like that it's great for everybody, running backs and offensive linemen. It adds to our confidence."