Fans come to the aid of their struggling offense, offering an option of drawn plays.
By JOANNE KORTH
Published October 3, 2004
TAMPA - The assignment last week was to diagram a play, preferably ingenious, to help Tampa Bay's struggling offense. Eager to respond, fans of all ages got out drafting tools, ballpoint pens and, in one case, strawberry vine stationery to answer the call.
Plays came by fax.
Plays came by e-mail.
One came postage due.
Some were meticulously drawn, others scribbled. Some came with lengthy descriptions, others with none. Many, it must be said, tested the limits of the NFL rule book, which can be nit-picky when it comes to formations.
All, however, were spirited efforts.
"We'll have to take a look at some of those," Bucs coach Jon Gruden said.
Yes, let's look.
Keith Simek of Largo diagrammed a tackle-eligible play that has 6-foot-3, 289-pound Derrick Deese making the first reception of his 13-year NFL career. In San Francisco, Deese practiced as a tight end in goal-line situations. Dennis Erickson called a pass for him last season, but the Eagles spoiled it by calling timeout.
"Oh, yeah, I got skills to do that," Deese said. "I'm an athlete. I can go deep, 20, 30 yards, whatever they need."
Nine-year-old Anthony Pack of Port Richey, who clearly worked hard to help the Bucs, sent two plays, including one three-receiver set in which the middle receiver stays at the line of scrimmage when the ball is snapped, counts to five and then goes.
"We ran a play last week just like that, I promise," quarterback Brad Johnson said. "It should have been a 30-yard play. But we did it with a running back. And he counts, "One-thousand-one.' "
Porter Downey of Largo submitted a play that almost always got a first down, sometimes a touchdown, for the 1951 Pulaski High Orioles, the Virginia state champs. With a direct snap to the tailback, it looks similar to the halfback option Cowboys coach Bill Parcells called for a touchdown against the Redskins Monday night. "It really did work and was a fast movement - so simple that it was confusion!" Downey wrote.
Art Slatic of Largo - perhaps the only person to draw a play on stationery with scalloped edges and an embossed strawberry design - put Johnson in the shotgun ... the entire game. In that, at least, he was not alone.
Rob Perry of St. Petersburg drew a four-receiver set designed to give a deep-threat look with a hard slant as the first option, not unlike Joe Jurevicius' big play in the NFC Championship Game at Philadelphia. Twelve-year-old Josh Phillippi of St. Petersburg sent a well-designed misdirection play, neatly drawn. Steven Johnson of Treasure Island drew a tight end "pushoff" for use against a 3-4 defense.
Leo Mazur of St. Petersburg didn't draw a play, but penned a lengthy letter - a lost art in the impersonal electronic age - suggesting ways to overcome an offensive line in transition. Though 88 years old and more interested in politics, he noted in a P.S. that he sent the same to Gruden.
