Bucs/NFL

Thunder & Lightning

Five years after parting ways, Warrick Dunn has blossomed while Mike Alstott's career winds down.

By JOANNE KORTH
Published September 17, 2006

Their careers have taken vastly different courses since Dunn left as a free agent after the 2001 season.

Alstott, 32, won a much-cherished Super Bowl with the Bucs the following season but has seen his role reduced in recent years by two serious injuries and coach Jon Gruden's more traditional use of the fullback.

Dunn, 31, still yearns for a Super Bowl ring but has become the featured back he always longed to be, churning out consecutive 1,000-yard seasons at an age when most running backs decline.

Yet some things are unchanged.

Each is grateful for the other's impact. Each is proud of the other's accomplishments, then and now.

Alstott: "I know it was frustrating at times here. It was frustrating for all of us trying to get that running game going and, obviously, both of us splitting carries and stuff. But I'm happy for him. He stuck in there. He worked hard. He's a positive kid and a good friend. To see someone be with a team for five years and then change teams and have success, it's a tribute to him and how mentally strong he is."

And Dunn: "We complemented each other well and had each other's backs. We built a friendship. We were both about winning, not about selfishness. Some games, he carried more than me, and some games, I carried more than him. We both wanted the ball, but I'm thankful now because it helped prolong my career. I can always look back on my career and say things happen for a reason."

The Bucs years

Alstott was a second-round draft pick out of Purdue in 1996, Tony Dungy's first season as coach and so long ago that he wore orange as a rookie. Initially, Alstott shared the backfield with Errict Rhett, but the dynamic changed the next season, when Tampa Bay drafted Dunn in the first round out of Florida State.

Their first season together, Dunn rushed for 978 yards and Alstott for 665. The team went 10-6, its first winning season in 15 years, and made the playoffs. It was the first of many productive seasons for the running back tandem.

"They had different styles of running. At that time, Warrick was more of an outside runner and Mike was, and still is, a downhill runner," said Bucs linebacker Derrick Brooks, who had a sideline view. "They did a tremendous job of sharing the load at the time, and they really took advantage of it because neither one of them got beat up."

In 1998, Dunn rushed for 1,026, Alstott 846.

In 1999, Alstott rushed for 949, Dunn 616.

And so it went. Game after game, season after season. From 1997-2001, Alstott went to five Pro Bowls and Dunn two as the Bucs made four playoff appearances under Dungy.

"We taught each other about the game, to be pros and always bring you're A game," Dunn said. "Mike was always on. It was good just to be around that. He went out and sacrificed his body for me, so I'm going to go do it for him. We always tried to leave our games on the field. We went out and played hard for one another."

For most of three quarters, Alstott cleared a path for Dunn, who cut through defenses and spun away from tacklers. Then when it came time for the Bucs to protect a fourth-quarter lead, Alstott got the ball and the tough yards.

Sometimes, Dunn got 100 yards. Sometimes, Alstott got 100. Once, both did. In a 27-24 victory against previously unbeaten Minnesota in 1998, Alstott rushed for 128 yards and one touchdown on 19 carries and Dunn for 115 yards and one touchdown on 18 carries.

The perfect combo.

"It takes a long time to jell and figure out how you can use both backs," Alstott said. "But we stuck together, and we didn't get on each other. We knew what the situation was, and we went out and won games and helped change an organization."

Alstott and Dunn quickly became fan favorites in Tampa Bay, on and off the field.

When Dunn was 18, his mother, Betty Dunn Smothers, a police officer, was killed during a robbery while working a second job as a security officer, leaving Dunn to raise five younger siblings. As a rookie in 1997, Dunn established his Homes for the Holidays program, which helps single mothers become first-time homeowners by making the down payment on new, fully furnished homes.

Dunn has assisted 59 mothers and 139 children and dependents in Atlanta, Tampa Bay and his hometown of Baton Rouge, La.

Alstott won the hearts of fans with his gritty running style, nose for the end zone and presence in the community.

On the rare occasion one was injured, the other invariably rushed for more than 100 yards, proving his potential as an every-down back. But not until after the 2001 season, when then-general manager Rich McKay opted not to match Atlanta's six-year, $28-million offer to Dunn, did the backs truly discover what NFL life was like without the other.

Healthy Dunn

It's ironic, really.

Dunn continues to thrive, in part, because of the pounding he was spared while sharing the backfield with Alstott. In 2005, Dunn set career highs with 280 carries and 1,416 yards. After rushing for 132 yards in Atlanta's season-opening victory at Carolina, Dunn enters today's critical NFC South game against the Bucs at the Georgia Dome as the NFL's leading rusher.

All 5-foot-9, 180 pounds of him.

Want more irony? Dunn's general manager the past three seasons is McKay, who left the Bucs for the Falcons near the end of 2003. The next season, Dunn's career went into overdrive.

In 2004, for the first time in his career, Dunn started all 16 regular-season games. For the first time since 2000, he eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark. With bruiser T.J. Duckett injured, Dunn carried the load in the final month of the regular season and into the playoffs, rushing for a Falcons postseason record 142 yards with two touchdowns in a divisional playoff win against the Rams.

It didn't end there. In 2005, at age 30, Dunn had the best season of his career and was voted to his third Pro Bowl. This preseason, the Falcons traded Duckett and turned over the backfield to Dunn. Rookie Jerious Norwood played two series in the opener, one each half, but the rest of the snaps went to Dunn.

"He is a true professional in every sense of the word in the way he approaches his craft," Falcons coach Jim Mora said. "Warrick has done a very nice job through his career of avoiding the big hits. He understands how to get under things, how to get down when he needs to get down, get out of bounds when he needs to get out of bounds.

"Yet by saying that, I don't mean that he avoids a hit. If he needs to get the extra yards, he gets them. I think he's in a scheme here, the last two seasons and going into this season, that he understands very well. What can you say about the kid? He's an unbelievable person."

Dunn remains the Bucs' third all-time rusher with 4,200 yards.

Now he is moving up the Falcons chart, fourth with 4,253.

Injured Alstott

In Tampa, Alstott achieved the ultimate team goal when the Bucs won Super Bowl XXXVII. In Gruden's first season, Alstott's role remained much as it had before. Splitting the workload with newly acquired halfback Michael Pittman, Alstott carried 146 times for 548 yards and five touchdowns during a 12-4 regular season. In three playoff games, Alstott had 44 carries for 100 yards and four touchdowns.

Then everything changed.

Alstott's punishing style took its toll in 2003, when he sustained a career-threatening neck injury that required surgery. In 2004, his comeback was interrupted by a knee injury.

Not until 2005 did Alstott feel like he had fully regained his ability to run over would-be tacklers. Encouraged by the team's 11-5 record, a division title and his own significant contributions in the red zone - Alstott had only 34 carries and 25 catches but scored seven touchdowns and a winning two-point conversion against the Redskins - the A-Train returned for 2006.

One more season.

"If I can't play the way I know how to play and do what I've done in previous years, there's no reason to go out there," Alstott said.

"In 2005, it came to life again. Not just myself, the whole organization. When you win, a lot of the headaches and woes and the things that are negative go away."

Though his role remains limited, Alstott's legacy is secure. He is the team's all-time touchdown leader (including the postseason) with 68, 22 more than second-place James Wilder. He is second all-time with 4,919 rushing yards and fourth with 287 catches (for 2,225 yards).

Alstott was named to six straight Pro Bowls from 1997-2002, including three as the starting fullback.

"We all have to stop playing one day, but he's had a great career," Dunn said. "He won a Super Bowl and went to Pro Bowls. He's been a bruising back that people will remember around this league for a long time. He bruised people."

With Dunn on the field for nearly every Falcons play and Alstott serving as the Bucs' most productive goal-line runner, it is conceivable both could be factors today.

Just like old times.

[Last modified September 17, 2006, 00:58:11]