2. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Maybe they had spent too much time in the stifling Florida
heat, but as the Buccaneers went through training camp
two-a-days this summer, they were talking like a playoff
team. If Tampa Bay, which has endured 14 consecutive losing
seasons, plans to make
its first postseason
appearance since 1982, however, the smallest man on the Bucs'
roster will probably have to lead them there.
The little man is
5'8", 178-pound
rookie running back Warrick Dunn, and as he picked through
a shrimp creole lunch in his dorm room at the University of
Tampa one afternoon during camp, he contemplated the
pressure he faces and
appeared unfazed. Before his junior year at
Florida State, Dunn took responsibility for five younger
siblings when his mother, Betty
Smothers, a police officer and a single
parent, was murdered on the job in Baton
Rouge. So while the pressure on Dunn to reverse the Bucs'
fortunes will be
immense,
it is nothing like what he has
already
known.
Tampa Bay does have a
playoff-caliber defense, which allowed less than 300 yards in eight
of its last 10 games in '96. But the Bucs had the NFL's
lowest-scoring
offense,
with 20 touchdowns in 16 games. The team
addressed its offensive shortcomings in last
spring's draft, making Dunn
(No. 12), wideout Reidel Anthony of Florida (16)
and tackle Jerry
Wunsch of Wisconsin
(37) its first three picks. All could be starting by
midseason, but Dunn will determine how far this team
goes.
"Look at our first two preseason games to see the
difference he'll make,"
second-year coach Tony Dungy says. "In the first
he carried 12 times and broke one [for 38
yards]. In the second he carried nine times and had a
16-yard run. I can see Warrick getting 12 to 14 carries and
catching four balls a game, and I think his
history tells you he's going to make a big play in most games.
That's what we missed
last
year."
The question is, How much
punishment can the little man take? Not since the Bengals
counted on
5'8" James Brooks as their every-down back from 1985 to
'91 has a club handed so much
responsibility to such a small back. Tampa Bay seems to
have a good plan. Second-year fullback
Mike Alstott will touch the ball about 15 times a game, and
workhorse fourth-year
veteran
Errict Rhett, who's listed as the opening-day starter at running
back, is a power type. But as Dunn gets more comfortable
with the offense, he'll become the
featured
back.
In the preseason Dunn carried 31 times for 159 yards, a
gaudy 5.3-yard average. He caught seven passes for 36
yards, and he showed his versatility by returning four
punts for 37 yards and two kickoffs
for another 46. Just as significant, he came
out of Tampa Bay's four
exhibition games
unscathed.
"Hopefully I won't take that much
punishment," the quiet Dunn says. "I avoid the big
hits. That's always been my running
style. I'm not crazy. I'm not going to
steamroll people. But I am going to run
effectively between the tackles. And I will last
longer than people
think."
"Florida State did a great job showing us how to use
[Dunn]," says Tampa Bay director of player personnel
Jerry
Angelo. "He'd have 20 carries in the big games,
and then in some of the other games you
wouldn't see him much. We have to learn from
that."
An effective running game will take
the pressure off quarterback Trent
Dilfer. "We're good at every position on
offense now," says Dilfer, who has talked a much
better game than he has played in his first three years in
the league. "What we have is potential, unproven
potential—myself being Exhibit A. We have to
be
better at picking up the blitz, we have to
be better in short yardage and we have
to be better at sustaining drives. We have to fix those
areas, or we're not going to be any
good.—Peter King
SCHEDULE SKINNY
We'll know after four weeks whether Tampa Bay is for real. Between home games against playoff contenders San Francisco and Miami are division games at Detroit and Minnesota. The Buccaneers were 2-6 in the division and 1-5 against playoff teams last season.
STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE
NFL rank: 21
Opponents' 1996 winning percentage: .488
Games against playoff teams: 7
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