Offense: passing grade

Shaun King completes 10 of his 11 attempts, including three to Keyshawn Johnson.

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By RICK STROUD

© St. Petersburg Times, published August 5, 2000

TAMPA -- They huddled in the southwest tunnel of Raymond James Stadium, and one by one, waited for their names to be announced over the public address system. Pregame festivities included a greeting of the Buccaneers renowned defensive starting lineup.

But make no mistake about the purpose of Friday's preseason opener against the Redskins.

[Times photo: Toni L. Sandys] Bucs quarterback Shaun King attempts a pass in the first half against the Redskins.

It was the night the new Bucs offense was introduced.

Quarterback Shaun King, in an entirely new system compared with his remarkable rookie season, was in complete control of his emotions and the game plan.

King performed flawlessly in completing 10-of-11 passes for 104 yards in the first half, exceeding the expectations of offensive coordinator Les Steckel in the Bucs' 13-12 preseason victory.

"I've made the comment that Shaun has been the most pleasant surprise of training camp," Steckel said. "I've heard he's got poise, I hear he's a gamer -- those type things. And tonight, I could sense he was real excited. He likes to play, he doesn't show any sense of nervousness. Believe me, when it gets close to kickoff, their character starts to come out. So I'm really pleased with Shaun."

As with most Bucs games in recent seasons, the outcome wasn't decided until late in the fourth quarter.

A year ago, King was king of the fourth-quarter comeback in the preseason, beating Washington on a fourth-down touchdown to Darnell McDonald. Friday, that role belonged to rookie quarterback Joe Hamilton. On fourth-and-10, the former Georgia Tech star threw a 12-yardtouchdown to rookie tight end Todd Yoder with 1:43 remaining.

"I had a strong feeling the linebacker was going to jump the fake by the (running) back and Todd did a nice job of slipping him and little Joe, he showed he can play and that was good," Steckel said.

The victory also marked the splashy debut of superstar receiver Keyshawn Johnson, who quickly established himself as King's favorite target with three receptions for 33 yards.

The Shaun-to-Keyshawn combination enabled the Bucs to compile 14 first downs and a 7-3 halftime lead. King's longest pass -- a 31-yarder to Jacquez Green -- set up Rabih Abdullah's 1-yard TD run.

"We did a good job of moving the ball," Johnson said. "Any time you do that after just getting familiar with a new offense, that's a good start. Tonight I think Shaun did a great job. He hit his receivers and was on target the entire first half. I'm just excited to be a part of this offense and with all the enthusiasm surrounding tonight's game, I think we'll be all right."

In fact, the only thing missing from the Bucs offense were points on the scoreboard.

Kicker Martin Gramatica, who made 84.4 percent of his field-goal attempts as a rookie, was off-target, missing left from 46 and 28 yards.

"Martin had been a little left all week, really," coach Tony Dungy said. "But it's not something to really be concerned about."

Spoiling what would have been a perfect night for the offense were two turnovers. King was sacked by Redskins' linebacker Shawn Barber, losing a fumble that was recovered by Greg Jones at the Tampa Bay 37. And reserve quarterback Scott Milanovich had an interception returned 77 yards by linebacker Eddie Mason. Only a hustling tackle by running back Aaron Stecker prevented a touchdown.

Both miscues set up field goals by Pete Elezovic, an ex-Buc. Despite appearances, Steckel did not reveal much of the Bucs playbook. In fact, he asked his quarterbacks to write down their six favorite passing plays and stuck with them.

"I said the other day we were 200,000 miles away from home," Steckel said. "We're about 190 (thousand) now. Scratching the surface isn't the right reply, but we're still a long way away."

Defensively, the Bucs did not appear to have missed a beat during the seven-month layoff.

Tampa Bay stoned the Redskins offense, which failed to score a touchdown in its 14-13 playoff loss against the Bucs on Jan. 15, for three-plays-and-out on their initial two drives. In fact, King's fumble set up the only Redskins points in the first half.

Washington free-agent quarterback Jeff George replaced Brad Johnson in the second quarter and fared even worse. He completed 8 of 11 passes for 56 yards, but he was intercepted twice by former Florida State safety Dexter Jackson, who started in place of injured Damien Robinson.

King, whose only incompletion bounced off the hands of tight end Dave Moore in the first half, was not completely satisfied with the offense's performance.

"I think we can do better," King said. "We wanted to go out and move the ball today and that's what we did, so I can't complain. I felt pretty comfortable out there for it being the first preseason game."

The Redskins took the lead on Chad Dukes' 10-yard touchdown run with 11:13 remaining in the game. Dukes' two-point conversion run attempt failed when he was tackled by defensive end John McLaughlin.

Although the Bucs can feel pretty good about the new offense's development at this point, there were plenty of errors for Dungy and his staff to correct.

The running game never got untracked, averaging 1.9 yards per attempt.

"It was really an opportunity to evaluate some of our skill positions and quarterbacks, and I don't think we gave the running game a chance," Steckel said.

Two long kick returns were nullified by penalties. And Dungy still can't win a replay challenge.

But the good outweighed the bad and the ugly.

King was effective, Hamilton magnificent.

And not unlike their playoff 14-13 victory over the Redskins, the Bucs defense prevented any last-second heroics.

On fourth-and-5 from the Tampa Bay 35, the Redskins eschewed a 52-yard field-goal attempt that might have won the game. Instead, McLaughlin sacked Todd Husak, forcing a fumble that was recovered by Washington but nonetheless ended the drama with 21 seconds remaining.

"It was very nice, especially since I didn't have one good play all day except that one," McLaughlin said.

© St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.

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