Place an Ad Calendars Classified Forums Sports Weather

sptimes.com Text-only News sections Arts & Entertainment AP The Wire Business Citrus County Columnists Floridian Hernando County Hillsborough Letters Movies Neighborhood Times News Update North Pinellas North of Tampa Obituaries Opinion Pasco County South Pinellas Sports State Tampa Bay TV Times World & Nation  Find your local news section Weekly sections Brandon Times City Times Homes Outdoors Perspective Personal Tech Taste Travel Weekend Xpress Special Sections Arena football Buccaneers College football Devil Rays Lightning Police reports Schools Seniority Subscriber Services Subscribe Renew Help Advertise Place an ad In print Online Market Info Join Us Internships Scholarships Times Jobs Contact us

CNN/SI is still on Keyshawn's mind

By ERNEST HOOPER and ROGER MILLS

© St. Petersburg Times, published September 26, 2000

TAMPA -- CNN/Sports Illustrated aired footage of Keyshawn Johnson making an obscene gesture during warmup exercises Friday and, although the receiver expressed regret over the incident, it likely won't be forgotten.

Johnson accused the network, its cameraman and reporter Josie Karp of going out of their way to attack him and make him look bad in the eyes of his teammates, coaches and front office staff.

"It hurts their relationship in the future," Johnson said. "When you burn me, it's going to hurt you more than it hurts me.

"Why you would do that to get a story, I don't know. Why would you do that? Are you looking for a story that desperately that you're trying to do something to No. 19? That's the way I look at it. I look at it as you're trying to tear me down."

Usually accommodating with the media, Johnson also took a shot at Karp.

"For whatever reason, this young reporter lady from CNN, I don't know who she was, I could tell by watching her interviews that she is trying to become something," he said. "It's not that important to burn somebody. ... But don't go out of your way trying to embarrass me and my team and Coach (Tony) Dungy and make a point to the league office. You keep running it over, and over, and over, and over again. The league office is going to see it." Was he fined?

"I don't know. I haven't seen my check," Johnson said.

LOOKING-BACK PAIN: The anatomy of the Jets' winning play was no less painful a day after Curtis Martin threw an 18-yard halfback pass to receiver Wayne Chrebet.

Dungy said the defensive call was to play man-to-man and try to limit the Jets to a field goal after Mike Alstott fumbled at the Tampa Bay 24 with 1:24 remaining. Dungy said he didn't want to point at specific players, but if the team was playing man-to-man, covering Chrebet was the responsibility of cornerback Brian Kelly.

But Kelly went to support the run when Martin took the pitch from quarterback Vinny Testaverde. Martin's throw, which he made without having his fingers on the laces, was just beyond the reach of free safety Damien Robinson, who raced into the picture at the last second. Initial coverage was Kelly's responsibility.

"Well, basically if you're playing man-to-man you stay with your man," Dungy said. "If you're playing zone, you cover your zone. We have rules and it's not that difficult.

"It was a good call at the time. Curtis Martin had had some success running and we were overanxious, but that's one of the things that we have been, fairly disciplined on defense. But it broke down at the end."

Martin said in New York on Monday that he made eye contact with linebacker Derrick Brooks when he was taking the glove off his right hand to throw the ball. He thought Brooks saw him, but Brooks said Monday he was simply trying to read the play.

Although Brooks did not see the glove, he got a good read on the pass and hit Martin just as he released the ball.

Brooks also got a good read on the Jets' other touchdown. He and Robinson seemed to be in position to dump Martin for a loss on a screen pass, but Martin avoided the hard-charging Bucs and scored.

"We have two of our top tacklers, Derrick Brooks and Damien Robinson, untouched at the 8-yard line," Dungy said. "They don't even make contact with Curtis Martin. I would like to say he made a nice shifty move and all that, but it didn't look like that on the tape. It looked like he was trying to get as much as he could, and we just missed him."

UPON FURTHER REVIEW: The call by the officials on Jacquez Green's 75-yard reception in the first quarter proved costly for the Bucs in their four-point loss. Green appeared to score, or at least reach the goal line, but an official ruled he stepped out at the 11-yard line.

The Bucs settled for a field goal.

Replays, negated because the official blew his whistle, seemed to indicate Green did not step out. Dungy was asked what he saw after reviewing game film.

"I saw the same things you guys saw," Dungy said. "They said that they blew the whistle. Actually, the guy who was 6 feet from the play was going to mark it in the end zone and the guy who was 50 yards (away), looking through three sets of legs, thought he had a great view of it and so he blew the whistle.

"But, they had a much better game than we had, so we don't want to blame the officials."

TRIFECTA: With Sunday's 39-yard interception return, cornerback Ronde Barber is the second Buccaneer to score a touchdown three ways in his career: punt return, fumble return and interception return. Ricky Reynolds, who played from 1987-93, scored his on a blocked punt, interception return and fumble return.

Barber is the second player in club history to score on an interception return and a fumble return in the same season. Richard Wood accomplished the feat 23 years ago.

MAMA ALWAYS SAID: Dungy opened his news conference by saying his mother told him if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all.

Pressed by reporters, he rattled off a litany of problems from Sunday's game: nine penalties, two interceptions, a fumble and an array of missed assignments and tackles.

"Other than that, it was a pretty good game," Dungy said. "You can come out and sound like the Jets didn't play well, and I don't want to say that.

"We knew it was going to be a tough game. They've played well for the last 15 weeks or so, and they played well (Sunday); but we didn't play the way I would like to see us play in the fourth quarter."

© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright

Devil Rays, baseball

Elsewhere