Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
© St. Petersburg Times, published November 21, 2001
TAMPA -- The Bucs defense is designed to prevent big plays, but it has been vulnerable to them this season.
More confounding is that the players involved in the breakdowns are mostly veterans.
All three touchdowns Sunday from Bears quarterback Jim Miller to Marty Booker involved mistakes by the secondary, among the most experienced units on the team.
Coach Tony Dungy said he is surprised by the number of mistakes by veterans this season.
"You think you're making progress and we should be better in those areas. We've got some new players playing, but for the most part, we've got a lot of veteran guys, a lot of guys who have been with us. That's been confounding, as you say."
THE DEAD ZONE: The Bucs have been able to drive the ball, but when it comes to putting the ball in the end zone they're a little deficient.
Three first-half drives against Chicago resulted in three field goals. But Dungy insists he is satisfied with the play-calling in the red zone.
"I think our plan has been good," Dungy said. "But you have to put it together and you have to execute and you have to do it. We've probably had some plays that we would call over or call differently knowing the defense that was going to be there. But we had some shots at the end zone and didn't take advantage of it.
"(The Bears) hit three long passes and never had to put one in inside the 10. But we did, we squandered a lot of good field position in the first half and came away with nine points."
MURPHY'S LAW: Receiver Frank Murphy will continue to serve as the kickoff returner in St. Louis on Monday night. He averaged 28.8 yards on four kickoff returns against the Bears, including a 39-yarder.
"He runs hard," special-teams coach Joe Marciano said. "Sometimes he doesn't catch them in practice, which makes me nervous. As a former running back, I'd think he'd have better vision running the ball. But he runs so hard it makes it hard for him to cut."
Murphy's longest return came on a fake throwback.
"It was well blocked," Marciano said. "But he saw the kicker and ran away from him instead of going right at him and making him miss."