Jon Gruden and Keyshawn Johnson have forged a bond of mutual respect for what each other brings to the game.
By RICK STROUD
Published September 21, 2003
[Times photo: Jim Damaske]
Keyshawn Johnson and Jon Gruden each have developed an appreciation for the other.
Unlike the touchdown pass, Keyshawn Johnson is happy the subject was dropped.
After all, it wasn't just an ordinary bobble. It was Waterford crystal striking Mexican tile.
With no timeouts and 24 seconds left in regulation, Johnson held the game-tying pass in the end zone last weekend against the Panthers and let it slip through his fingers.
The brakes of disbelief and despair slammed hard on unbridled celebration. People who had raised their hands to signal touchdown immediately used them to cover their mouths.
"I thought, "Oh, God, I'll never have another ball thrown to me in the end zone again,"' Johnson said.
After all, when somebody loses your deposit on the way to the bank, you don't send him back with a bigger pile of money.
So what did Bucs coach Jon Gruden do?
"The next two plays, I was the first option," Johnson said. "So that just goes to show you that's the trust Gruden has. It's more than he had a year ago."
Trust. It's something that Johnson has during his second year in the offense, something quarterback Brad Johnson has in him on third down, something Gruden finally learned to have this offseason when his flamboyant receiver said he had to remain in Los Angeles to oversee a $140-million development deal.
"You can only get so much information from other people," Gruden said. "You have to have firsthand experience to improve your relationship."
As the relationship between Johnson and Gruden improves, so will the production of the Pro Bowl receiver.
One play after dropping the touchdown, Johnson went to the turf to dig out a throw slightly behind him for a 17-yard reception and a first down at the Carolina 6. It set up Keenan McCardell's tying TD, making the pit in Johnson's stomach smaller despite the Bucs' 12-9 overtime loss to the Panthers.
Johnson led the Bucs with nine catches for 102 yards. Nearly every reception came between the hash marks, where Johnson was pummeled.
"Personally, from what I've seen, I don't know if there's anyone in the league who has taken more shots than Keyshawn has," receivers coach Richard Mann said.
Johnson will be a busy man again today in the Georgia Dome. Not only will the knee injury to Joe Jurevicius force more passes his way, but he thrives against the man-to-man coverage schemes the Falcons often deploy. A year ago, Johnson's career-high 76-yard touchdown reception late in the third quarter gave the Bucs the lead in a 20-6 win over Atlanta.
The Falcons are last in the NFL in total defense and 29th against the pass, allowing 282 yards per game. With Tampa Bay's rushing attack stymied, the Johnson & Johnson combination is Gruden's most reliable option.
"His size is a factor, everything from his fingers to his arms to his legs," Gruden said of his 6-4, 212-pound receiver. "He's a big target. He is a fearless guy in there. He can go up and catch the ball away from his body with that big wing span and come down with it as well as anyone in football. He's a warrior, man."
At 31, Johnson is off to the best start ever, needing 27 catches to reach 600 for his career. The only player to have more catches since Johnson came into the league in 1996 is Marvin Harrison, who had 143 receptions last season. "Go ask Marvin if he'd like the Super Bowl ring instead of the 143 catches," Johnson said. "I'd bet he'd say I'd trade with Key any day."
At the current pace, he would shatter personal highs for receptions (120) and yards (1,480).
"You can tell that I'm running a lot faster, and it ain't because I'm getting extra work in the offseason in speed training," Johnson said. "It's because I'm more comfortable with the system, more comfortable with the plays called.
"(Gruden) told me this preseason, "I'm not going to play you. I'm going to wear your big a-- out during the season.' Whenever somebody tells me they're going to do something, that's what I believe in. If he tells me he's going to make it happen and doesn't, then I trust him never again in life. He's a liar, period. But he's yet to do that and so all I can do is go off what he says."
Contrast that with this time last season when Johnson engaged Gruden in a heated tirade on the sideline during a Monday night game against the Rams.
"He's matured a lot," Mann said. "Since we've been here with Coach Gruden, we've honed him a little bit and he listens. We got him running a little better routes and more patient."
The mark of a great NFL receiver is producing when everyone knows he's going to get the ball. What was impressive about Johnson last weekend was that six of his receptions were for first downs. In fact, Johnson anticipates Gruden's calls on third and long.
"It's something to me over the middle of the field," Johnson said. "A lot of players don't do that, they don't go across the middle and catch balls, I don't give a s--- what nobody says. They just don't do it. They'll tell you they do it. People will try to make it seem like they do it. But I'll take a guy who gets the ball in tough situations in traffic and continues to deliver before I take a guy who's going to give you two catches for 100 yards. That's been my principle all the way.
"I think (Gruden) has a better feel for what I can do. He doesn't worry about it's third and 7, should I go to him? What is he going to do? I don't think they worry about it the way they did a year ago. It was like, "What the hell is he going to give me? Does he have it in him? Is he paying attention?"'
That's what Gruden wondered a year ago when Johnson told him about the Keyshawn Capital Development, $140-million project to develop a decaying 22-acre site close to where he grew up in central Los Angeles. "Before, when I said I had to close a $140-million deal, he'd look at me like I was kidding," Johnson said. This summer, ground was broken on Marlton Square, which will include 150 homes and 250,000 square feet of retail space.
In fact, it was Gruden who excused Johnson from Friday's practice so he could attend the funeral of Yetunde Price, the oldest half-sister of tennis stars Serena and Venus Williams in Los Angeles. Price, 31, was shot to death Sunday.
"Even with Gruden, to know that I've gone out West the day before a game, a year ago he probably wouldn't have slept," Johnson said. "He'd be worried I'm not going to come back, I'm going to be tired. Now he knows, "This is who he is, this is what he does. The red-eye is nothing foreign to him.' He knows he doesn't have to deal with some guy who's not going to show up because of emotional distress. He trusts me."
