Scouting Report
1 -
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Believe
it. Armed with a real, live passing attack,
the Bucs now have the arsenal to take on
Green Bay and take command of the
division
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Copeland welcomes the productive Emanuel and the promising Green to the upgraded wideout corps. (David Liam Kyle) |
It was
only the third day of training camp, and already fans in Tampa
were voicing their opinions about how to fix the
Buccaneers' passing attack. During one of the first drills
for receivers, a squeaky little voice from a few rows up in
the bleachers could be
heard yelling, "Hey, they
aren't throwing the ball to Daddy enough! Throw the ball to
Daddy!" The advice came from Sydni Emanuel, the
two-year-old daughter of wideout Bert Emanuel, whom the
Bucs lured from Atlanta in April with a four-year,
$16.4 million
deal.
Sydni
shouldn't fret. Daddy will be getting plenty of chances
this season in a vastly improved Tampa Bay passing game,
one that provides the Buccaneers the means of overtaking
Green Bay in the NFC
Central.
In the last two drafts the Bucs raided the University of
Florida for wideout speed, taking Reidel Anthony in the
first round in 1997 and Jacquez Green in the second round
this year. Not until Emanuel's arrival, however, was the
last link to the
franchise's pathetic, pastel past
erased.
Tampa Bay's last big free-agent signee at wide receiver was
Alvin Harper, who arrived from the Cowboys in 1995 with
much fanfare and a
$10.6 million contract and left town after two seasons with the
nickname Maxwell House ("good to the last drop").
Harper's departure, though unlamented,
didn't make matters much better. Despite quarterback Trent
Dilfer's breakout year—his rating of 82.8 was
18 points better than his previous career high—the team
still finished dead last in the
NFL in passing offense in '97. Anthony, whose 35 receptions
led
all Tampa Bay wide receivers, had just one catch over the
final four games of the regular season. The Bucs' top three
wideouts had fewer receptions combined (101) than Detroit's
Herman Moore
(104).
Coach Tony Dungy knows what a feeble passing attack does to
his team. He has seen game film of the Packers loading the
line with eight defenders to stop the Bucs' run, and of
Green Bay safety LeRoy Butler creeping to within two yards
of the line of
scrimmage. "When teams dare you to throw the ball like
that, you have to be able to nail a big play and make them
pay," says Dungy. "Now we've got the home run
hitters. And if we can exploit one-on-one coverage on the
outside, then maybe the last key for us
is in
place."
Emanuel may be just the man for the job. At
5'10", he is blessed with speed and silky moves; he has
averaged 71 catches and 984 yards receiving over the last
three seasons. What's more, the former quarterback from
Rice is adept at reading defenses and anticipating passes,
which gives him an uncanny
ability to come up with big grabs under
pressure.
The
5'11" Anthony, who bounced back from his
late-season slump to catch four passes for 114 yards in the
playoffs, will start opposite Emanuel. When Dungy needs
size for blocking or wants a bigger lineup, he can rotate
in veteran Horace Copeland
(6'3"), and to help keep a possession going he can call
on Karl Williams
(17.1 yards per catch on third down). As for Green, he'll see
most of his action at first on special
teams.
"A Steady Eddie passing game
isn't good enough to get this team where we want to
go," says Dilfer. "Because of our
run-oriented offense, when it's time to pass, everyone in
America knows we're going to throw the ball. So we usually
need that great
catch under pressure. Now we have the players who can do it.
This offense is ready to kick
butt."
| Schedule |
| Sept. | 6 | at Minnesota |
| 13 | at Green Bay |
| 20 | CHICAGO |
| 28 | at Detroit (Mon.) |
| Oct. | 4 | N.Y. GIANTS |
| 11 | OPEN DATE |
| 18 | CAROLINA |
| 25 | at New Orleans |
| Nov. | 1 | MINNESOTA |
| 8 | TENNESSEE |
| 15 | at Jacksonville |
| 22 | DETROIT |
| 29 | at Chicago |
| Dec. | 7 | GREEN BAY (Mon.) |
| 13 | PITTSBURGH |
| 19 | at Washington (Sat.) |
| 27 | at Cincinnati |
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The big leap for Emanuel will be to adjust to the fact that
a huge year in the Buccaneers' offense might mean only 60
catches, and that his primary job is to help prevent
opponents from loading up to stop the Bucs' run. The thrust
of the Tampa Bay
attack will again be the formidable one-two rushing punch of
Warrick Dunn, the 1997
NFL rookie of the year, and Mike Alstott, who has morphed from
a traditional fullback into a kind of bulldozer back with
speed and soft
hands.
The upgrade at wideout will benefit not only the offense
but also the Bucs'
swarming D, which held opponents to
16.4 points per game in '97. "One reason our defense plays
great is because of what the offense does for them,"
says Dilfer. "We eat up huge chunks of the clock, and
we win the field-position battles. So they go out there
rested and in good
position."
Those factors should only improve with a better passing
attack—that is, as long as Emanuel has better hands
than his kids. After a recent practice he jogged over to
see Sydni and his wife, Teri, and then handed his helmet to
his youngest daughter,
Cortni.
She promptly dropped it on her mom's
foot. —David Fleming
By the Numbers | Inside Slant | Lineup
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