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Bowling for players Dungy has used All-Star games to solidify roster
Updated: Tuesday April 03, 2001 7:47 PM
If Tampa Bay head coach Tony Dungy and his staff get to work one more bowl game, the rest of the NFL could be in serious trouble. Dungy and Co. may not yet have figured out how to get to the big one at the end of January, but the lesser bowls have been very profitable for the Bucs. Since getting to coach the NFC squad in the Pro Bowl that followed the 1999 season, Dungy has acquired five different players who appeared in that game: receiver Keyshawn Johnson, center Jeff Christy and guard Randall McDaniel last offseason; quarterback Brad Johnson and defensive end Simeon Rice this offseason. The year before, Dungy and his staff were tapped to lead the South squad in the Senior Bowl. The Bucs wound up gleaning players like quarterback Shaun King, kicker Martin Gramatica, defensive tackle Anthony McFarland and safety Dexter Jackson in the ensuing draft, thanks in large part to their experience with them in Mobile, Ala. But when it comes to attracting talent to Tampa Bay, Dungy has more than his winning personality to lean on. As predicted by his wacky predecessor, former Bucs head coach Sam Wyche, Tampa Bay has become the garden spot of the NFL in terms of where players want to play. At least three of those five aforementioned Pro Bowl picks signed deals that were either creatively structured or somewhat below market value in order to sign with the Bucs. McDaniel, the perennial Pro Bowl pick, took a modest deal to join Christy in Tampa Bay last season. Whether or not the Ravens would have structured his deal the same way, Johnson could have extracted a bit more money out of Baltimore this year. Also, 10 days ago Rice, in effect, rolled the dice on a one-year, $1 million contract in order to join the presumptive NFC Super Bowl favorite. It was 1993, the first season of free agency, that Wyche foresaw the day when players would take less money in order to pull on a Bucs uniform. At that point, Tampa Bay was 11 years into its NFL-record, 12-year streak of consecutive double-digit loss seasons (1983-94). That the Bucs, who were still considered the armpit of the NFL, could even land an emerging player the caliber of former Pittsburgh linebacker Hardy Nickerson via free agency was seen as reason enough to throw a parade in the Tampa Bay area. But, oh, how that trend has changed. Credit Dungy's ability to finally turn the corner and win in Tampa Bay, along with the lack of a state income tax, a superb grass playing surface, and an attractive new stadium that's jammed every game. "We've got a lot of selling points," Dungy said at last week's NFL annual meeting. "There's a lot of plusses there. But the biggest thing guys look for is the ability to win. You've got to have that. All the other things aren't going to make any difference if they don't feel you have a chance to win." Dungy is working on a four-year streak of non-losing seasons -- the longest in franchise history -- and his Bucs have been playoff qualifiers in three of the past four seasons, matching the best run in Tampa Bay's mostly sorry 25-year existence. Dungy plays down his role in enticing players to Tampa Bay, but he must be saying something right in his own quiet, soft-spoken way. You can't count off 10 paces in any direction in the Bucs locker room without bumping into a player with Pro Bowl experience. "I think [my role] can be a little overrated," Dungy said. "The chance to win is the most important thing, and the financial part of it is next. But we have gotten, I guess, five guys from the '99 Pro Bowl, and getting a chance to be around those guys was a plus. "And the Senior Bowl, that was a good thing for us, too. You get to spend a whole week with them and get to know them a little bit and see inside them a little bit. It gives you a little more confidence in taking guys."
Campo is taking one for the team this seasonGive the offseason's Iron Man award to Dallas head coach Dave Campo, who will tough it out this year despite needing left hip replacement surgery. Campo, 53, has scheduled the procedure for next off-season and needed a cortisone shot just to attend last week's NFL annual meeting in Palm Desert, Calif. Campo is on anti-inflammatory medicine and requires a new shot or cortisone every 10 days or so in order to endure the pain. "If I'm not on my feet a lot, I'm OK," Campo said. "If I'm go a week, for example at the at Senior Bowl, that was a rough deal. The only thing that bothers me is that I'm 53 years old. You just kind of say, 'Well, what the heck are you doing getting a hip at 53 years old?'"
Riley says Flutie is no guest instructorThe buzz within the NFL is that San Diego signed veteran quarterback Doug Flutie last month at least in part to serve as Michael Vick's mentor the next two seasons. And that thinking begs the question whether Flutie, who has been known to present something of a challenge to a teammate or two, is the best example for Vick to learn from? But what if that question is wrong in its very assumption? Chargers head coach Mike Riley makes such a case, and puts the onus on Vick, his team's expected No. 1 pick, not Flutie, it's No. 1 quarterback. "We didn't get Doug because of that," Riley said. "I really think it's up to the guy being mentored to take advantage of it. It's not Doug's job to come in and do that. "You can't turn a guy off or not talk to him, and I don't see that in Doug. But at the same time it's a coach's job to help develop him and it's the young guy's job to keep his eyes and ears open. That really wasn't a consideration with Doug. We wanted to get a veteran quarterback who could help us win."
Everybody loves the backup, including HolmgrenNow that the Jon Kitna era in Seattle is over, Seahawks head coach Mike Holmgren has been asked if he can explain what went wrong. Not that long ago, Kitna looked like the future in the Pacific Northwest, and he showed signs of blossoming into one of the league's bright young passers. But that was then, this is now. Kitna moved on to Cincinnati in free agency, where he will push first-round disappointment, Akili Smith. Without saying so directly, Holmgren made it clear that Kitna couldn't handle the pressure of being a team's starting quarterback. "From a personality standpoint, some of the things that made him a quarterback in this league also kind of hurt him a little bit," Holmgren said. "He's stubborn, hard-headed, and he's young. And then there's the idea of playing four or five games a year, coming in for an injured player. Everyone loves you. The fans love you, announcers loves you. "Then you go back and sit down and the starter comes back in, and everyone boos the starter and wants you back in the game. Now all of a sudden, you're the guy and the expectation level is much higher and things are different. I suspect now after having played for two years, Jon goes into Cincinnati and he'll be really good for Cincinnati. That's what my feeling is." Which is a very polite way for Holmgren to say Kitna, in his view, didn't have what it takes.
Remember, the Titans are hurtingThe Titans' somewhat depleted defense won back a little respect last week when Tennessee traded for former NFL sack leader Kevin Carter, giving up just the 29th overall pick in the draft for the former Rams defensive end. But nobody is very fearful these days of the Titans' offense. That's because if Tennessee had to play a game today, they'd be without starting quarterback Steve McNair and franchise running back Eddie George, both of whom are still rehabilitating from recent surgery. George had a tendon repaired in his right big toe and probably won't appear in a game until the final week of the preseason, at best. McNair had an infection flushed from his throwing shoulder and isn't expected to be throwing at full strength until a June minicamp. "Steve is doing much better," Titans head coach Jeff Fisher said last week. "He has about 65 percent of his strength back and 75-80 percent of the range of motion back in the shoulder. I believe he'll be good to go before training camp." Fisher second-guessed himself and McNair for over-extending his shoulder last offseason, coming off the team's Super Bowl loss to St. Louis. "I feel like he might have thrown a little too much last year during the offseason," Fisher said. "We had the momentum going in the offseason, and all we thought about was working harder and getting better. I think we did a little too much as far as Steve is concerned physically." Truth be known, the Titans are somewhat concerned physically with George's recovery timetable. It's close enough to the regular season that any setback could be very costly. As George goes, so goes Tennessee. "Eddie is going to be in a boot and will remain that way probably for another six to eight weeks," Fisher said. "Then he'll begin running in mid-May. It's unlikely that he'll be involved in any contact drills early in camp. We'll work him into practice the last couple weeks of training camp, and hope he can play the last preseason game. It'll be close."
Did you hear that?
"Geographically with the AFC West, we're right where we should be. It's interesting. If you're going to talk about geography, we shouldn't move. You can call it the NFC West, but where's St. Louis? We're more west than Denver. If we go any more west, we're in the San Juan Islands."
"This gives us an element that we really have never had. We have never had the pure speed rusher off the right side. You add a guy people really have to worry about coming off the corner. If we can get ahead in games, we should be very formidable."
"I'm scared." Don Banks covers pro football for CNNSI.com.
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