Bucs defense draws criticism

Tony Dungy is unhappy his first team allowed so many rushing yards against the Dolphins, but he won't place all the blame on Jamie Duncan.

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By RICK STROUD

© St. Petersburg Times, published August 12, 2000

TAMPA -- Two games into the preseason, the moaning has begun. All it took was for an average running back invited to camp by the Miami Dolphins to find daylight in the middle of Tampa Bay's defense.

If Bucs fans want to make a snap judgement about linebacker Jamie Duncan based on Thursday's performance, it is this: He's hardly Hardy Nickerson.

Coach Tony Dungy wasn't pleased after watching Dolphins running back Lamar Smith rush for 72 yards on 17 carries in the first half Thursday. But he said blaming Duncan for most of the mistakes on defense was unfair.

Duncan, who is trying to replace five-time Pro Bowl middle linebacker Nickerson, whiffed on a quarterback sack and missed a few other tackles that resulted in big gains.

"He wasn't overly sharp," Dungy said. "He was very good last weekend. This weekend, he just played an average game. But yeah, he's going to have to take that.

"But when the Raiders run for 260 yards, nobody says, "Well, it's Hardy Nickerson.' These guys ran for (116) and it's Jamie Duncan. That just kind of goes with the territory."

Though the first-team defense has yet to yield a touchdown in the preseason, it allowed Miami to control the ball for more than 18 minutes in the first half.

Most of the Dolphins' yardage came on runs up the middle by Smith, who is third on the depth chart at running back.

The Dolphins' longest pass completion of the game -- a 37-yarder to Bert Emanuel -- came after Duncan had a direct shot at quarterback Damon Huard but failed to put him on the ground.

"We weren't sharp; we weren't ready to go," Dungy said. "When you had your turn to make a play, for some reason we didn't make it. That's always been the cornerstone of our defense. When you were up and it was your play to make, you made it. (Cornerback) Floyd Young looks bad because Jamie Duncan is scott free and doesn't sack the quarterback. Another guy looks bad because someone misses the tackle. Another guy looks bad because we call a defense the wrong way and everybody is out of position. It was just one of those things where obviously we weren't ready to play.

"We kind of look at our performance and not look at the scoreboard or who we're playing against or that type of thing. We look at the number of mistakes we make and how we're doing things. (Thursday) was just not a good day, regardless of how many points they got. We had some turnovers, which is a good thing to get, but we can't count on that all the time."

The rushing defense also might have been hurt by the loss of Pro Bowl safety John Lynch, who was forced to leave the game in the first quarter after bruised his ribs. Free safety Dexter Jackson, who was starting his second game in place of injured Damien Robinson, sprained an ankle on the first play and will miss about four weeks.

"It was just missed tackles, just guys free in the hole and not making the tackles," Dungy said. "The first week, we had some blitzes and some different things where our gaps broke down. But this week, Lamar Smith, when they look at the tape, they'll say it was a great run. He's there with somebody to tackle him, and they don't tackle him. So I guess it all depends on how you look at it. "A guy comes scott free on a blitz and doesn't get the quarterback down. Everybody thinks he's going to tackle the quarterback, so they stop playing, and it ends up being a 37-yard gain. It seemed like it was one thing after another like that and we weren't playing well as a team."

Duncan figured to be in the spotlight after Nickerson signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars as an unrestricted free agent, ending a seven-year stint as the anchor in the middle of the defense.

Dungy defended Duncan's play Friday but said he wants to see more consistency from the third-year linebacker from Vanderbilt.

"Jamie is doing well. He played well against Washington and didn't play as well last night against Miami," Dungy said. "What he's got to do is play well every week. But we should've played much better than we did, and it wasn't all Jamie. But he had some misses and things that broke down a little bit. Overall, I'm not concerned about him. I think he's going to be fine."

But unless Duncan improves, he could be looking over his shoulder by this time next season.

That's because the Bucs are excited about the future of rookie middle linebacker Nate Webster, a third-round draft pick from Miami. Replacing Duncan against the Dolphins, Webster had four tackles and forced a fumble.

"Nate is a tremendous athlete. He's got instincts for the ball; he makes a lot of plays," Dungy said. "He plays a lot like Derrick Brooks and probably plays the way I imagine Derrick played his first year, where he might not do everything right but he ends up making the tackle.

"He's going to be a very good player. He's around the ball a lot. When he really learns what we're doing, he's going to be good."

Dungy said the Bucs might continue to devise ways for Webster to see playing time this season.

"We had a couple three-linebacker deals in nickel where we had some blitzes yesterday that were pretty effective," Dungy said. "That's what we've always tried to do with the young guys is give them a couple different roles and at least they get in the game a little bit."

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