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Bucs

Expecting miracles is the least we can ask

By GARY SHELTON
Published December 7, 2005

There goes Jon Gruden again, asking for too much from his defense.

Also, Monte Kiffin.

Also, the rest of us.

The Bucs gave up three points on Sunday, and it was too darned many. They intercepted four passes, and it wasn't enough. They smothered the run, they pressured the quarterback and they protected the lead.

They failed, however, to achieve world peace. Slackers.

In Tampa Bay, this is the way it works. When it comes to the Bucs' defense, one-hitters and picking up the spares are never good enough. Around here, we expect the defense to shut out the sun, squeeze out the air and hit the quarterbacks so hard their great-grandchildren will need therapy.

Is it a lot to ask? You betcha.

Is it going to continue? You betcha.

Consider Gruden's press conference on Monday, for instance, when hours after his offense scored a whopping 10 points, he talked about how the Bucs allowed too many third-down conversions. Consider the previous week's game against the Bears, when after another 10-point explosion, Gruden referred to missed turnover chances by his defense as "the story of the day."

Guess what? Given the standards, given the situation, given the stars, Gruden is absolutely right.

The Bucs defense, pretty darned good again, has to be better. What's new about that?

Yeah, yeah. It's unfair. Around here, we are perfectly happy to wait on the offense to come around any decade now (soon, Godot will show up with directions to the end zone!). The expectations are so low, they hover somewhere around the "stay out of the way, okay?" area.

On the other hand, we will nitpick the defense to death. We expect them to make every quarterback look like Ryan Leaf and every opposing running back look like Blair Thomas and every wide receiver look like Alvin Harper. Every game. Every series. Every down.

Any questions?

Even now, when the Bucs are 8-4 and the defense is No. 2 in the NFL, the questions are never far away.

Remember the Jets game? The Bucs gave up two touchdowns, one of them an 8-yard drive, and we all groused because the Bucs gave up a key third-down pass to 147-year-old Vinny Testaverde.

Remember the 49ers game? The Bucs gave up five field goals, no touchdowns, and still, there was the matter of Cody Pickett's five-minute drive in the fourth quarter.

And so it goes. There were all the yards surrendered to the Redskins and all the deep passes given up to the Falcons and that single sack against the Panthers. Where is the pass rush? Where are the turnovers? Where are the defensive touchdowns? After a while, it's like looking for zits on Jessica Alba.

Frankly, no one should apologize for any of it. The Bucs, just like everyone else, think of themselves as a great defense. Nothing feeds expectations like past excellence.

We expect the Bucs' defense to be dominating the way we expect Mount Everest to be big and nighttime to be dark. We expect it to function with the same dependability we expect of oxygen and gravity and the brakes on your automobile.

Think of it like this: If the Bucs' defense was at the Alamo, we would not have merely expected it to buy time, we would have wanted it to sack Santa Anna and force a fumble.

For the record, none of this seems to bother the players on the Bucs' defense; by now, they are used to the job requirements. Over the past decade, there has been one Buc - former safety Dwight Smith - who bristled at me when I brought up a series of late-game collapses in the 2003 season. I'll say this for the Bucs' defense: As a guy who has been known to criticize a time or three, I have never heard another Buc defender grumble that the standards were too high. A coach, either.

Around here, that's simply the way it is. The stars are aligned on defense. The grading system is harsher.

When Gruden gave his speech before the Saints game about how great players took over the month of December, he was speaking mainly to the defense of the Bucs. What? Are you going to expect a new quarterback to take control? A rookie running back?

Primarily, Gruden was talking to Derrick Brooks and Ronde Barber and Brian Kelly and Simeon Rice and the rest. Remember Brooks in the closing moments against Atlanta? Remember Barber against the Saints? That's what he was talking about.

As the season enters its fourth quarter, here come the demands again. Over the next three weeks, the Bucs will face the Panthers' Steve Smith, the Patriots' Tom Brady and the Falcons' Michael Vick. Also, Jake Delhomme and DeShaun Foster of the Panthers, Corey Dillon and Deion Branch of the Patriots and Warrick Dunn and Alge Crumpler of the Falcons. Those are a lot of lights to dim.

Around here, it's expected. Along with turnovers, sacks and a good third-down stop. Also, with big plays and key moments. And for goodness sakes, how about scoring a few more safeties?

Oh, and if you can work it in, it would also be nice if the Bucs' defenders could cure baldness.

How hard could that be?

[Last modified December 7, 2005, 00:34:15]