Great expectations

Rain, dropped passes fail to dampen optimistic attitudes during the Bucs' opening practices.

	Click here for the main Bucs page. Click here for the Bucs forum, including the Armchair QB.

By RICK STROUD

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 25, 2000

TAMPA -- It rained, so the Bucs' first few steps toward the Super Bowl were made Monday with slow, heavy feet caked with mud and grass.

If you were looking for a metaphor for the opening of training camp, that's probably as close as it gets.

Tampa Bay may be the team to beat in the NFC, but expecting a fast start might be unrealistic.

That became obvious through the steady drops -- of footballs and precipitation -- at practice at Pepin/Rood Stadium. "It's the same fear I have for the offense," general manager Rich McKay said. "It's a new scheme, brand new terminology. We probably were offsides 15 times today. It's going to take time.

[Times photo: Toni L. Sandys] Defensive end Tyoka Jackson keeps his intensity level high while going through drills on the first day of training camp.

"I'm worried about the start of the year, that if we get off to a slow start offensively, everybody is going to get nervous about it. As a team, these guys went through '98, and I don't think we'll have the same problems. I like the expectations. It's good for the community, it's good for the town, it's good for Bucs fans. Now we've just got to live up to them."

For much of training camp and the preseason -- and maybe longer -- the Bucs will play on an uneven field. Their defense will be the same dominating force. But so much is new about the offense that it will need time to show improvement.

When the Bucs broke their first offensive huddle Monday, they had a first-year starting quarterback, four offensive linemen that didn't finish the '99 season, a new scheme and a glamor receiver who has to find a way to get the accursed ball.

"It's going to be rough," said Keyshawn Johnson, who drew more applause for his blocking drills than pass catching. "I think we'll be pretty good the first week of the regular season, but we won't be where we will be the ninth week of the regular season. It's human nature."

Monday marked the official start of training camp for Johnson with his new team after being traded in April from the Jets. He had some observations about Bucs fans.

"They're not as brutal as New York fans but pretty close," Johnson said. "You drop a pass, and it's ' Argh!' "

Not that anything could shake Johnson's confidence.

"Obviously, every receiver should think he's better than the next, and that's me," he said. "I think I'm probably the top guy going.

"I feel what the Bucs feel. I'm here now. I feel like I played with them last year. I don't feel like I played with the Jets. My goal is to get me a Super Bowl ring before I exit the game, and better now than never."

That sentiment was echoed by the estimated crowd of 2,000 that attended the morning workout despite the rain. Among the optimists were the Bucs' owners.

"It's kind of a feeling that this is the way we always thought it should be," team vice president Joel Glazer said. "We came out here on year one and thought we would have a good team. Now we are a good team. We grew up Dolphins fans, and every year we expected to win. We didn't know any different."

McKay noticed another change in the approach to the opening of training camp.

"You don't go out there and wonder if four of these rookies can actually step in there and start," he said. "We used to have those discussions, and you convince yourself that the first week or two, they can. Then you see them in the first preseason game and say, ' Yeah, they can definitely do it.' Then you see them in that first regular season game and say, ' What were we thinking?' "

Along with the offense looking a little out of sync, there were glitches. Sarting safety Damien Robinson pulled a hamstring early in the morning workout and could miss 2-4 weeks. Rookie tight end James Whalen did the same in the afternoon session. Second-year fullback Jim Kitts decided to quit the team after the first workout and was released.

But not the injuries, inclement weather or inconsistency could dilute the excitement. Sunday night, defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin played an inspirational film of the Bucs biggest hits.

"His focus is even more physical this year," safety John Lynch said. "So he showed a lot of big hits from last year. I think everyone feels the expectations, the excitement, everything that goes along with the way we finished last year and what we did in the off-season.

"But I think also this is a very focused team. That probably starts with our head coach. His whole speech was yeah, it's great to have all these expectations. But what's most important is what you have to do to attain them."

Much of the Bucs' success will depend on the development of quarterback Shaun King, who struggled with timing his receivers, as expected, but pleased coaches Monday.

"To start talking like people are talking (about King) is extremely premature," quarterbacks coach Clyde Christensen said. "It doesn't happen that fast. There's not a ton of practice before you play Washington. So to think you're going to look like a Super Bowl-bound offense, I think that's unrealistic.

"I'm not going to change expectations, but I think they're a little out of proportion and running rampant right now."

Coach Tony Dungy will keep the heat on his team, especially during the first week of practice, which concludes Friday and Saturday with joint workouts with the Dolphins at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando.

"We want to put them through a tough situation," Dungy said. "Next week, because we play on Friday, we're only going to have three practices in pads. The following week, because we play on Thursday, we're only going to have two padded practices. We fell into that trap two years ago in '98 because we had a kind of screwed-up schedule. We didn't get enough physical work early on."

As for the expectations, Dungy welcomes them with a warning.

"Everybody said Tiger Woods was going to win the British Open and it wasn't going to be close, and he did and it wasn't close," Dungy said. "That's because he went out there and did it on the course. So we've got to do the same thing."

LONG SNAPPER RELEASED: When the Bucs signed second-round Cosey Coleman on Sunday, they released long snapper Mitch Palmer. Maurice Unutoa is now the only long snapper in camp.

© St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.

Headlines

Americans Lose in 1st Round of Davis Cup

---