Setting up CAMP

Sporting News, The, July 23, 2001 by Dennis Dillon, Vinnie Iyer

The Bucs' offense, the cover 2 defense and quarterback battles are among the hot topics as teams head to their summer sites and gear up for the season

THE CHANGES in Tampa Bay's offense this season will be more subtle than striking. The Buccaneers want to feature wide receiver Keyshawn Johnson, involve fullback Mike Alstott and tailback Warrick Dunn more in the passing game, and throw the ball upfield off play action.

Of course, there will be a new quarterback. That's about as subtle as a sledgehammer to the forehead.

If the Bucs finally live up to expectations--and you can't get any loftier than ours; THE SPORTING NEWS projects them as Super Bowl champions--it will be because of Johnson & Johnson. We don't mean the Band-Aid company. The passing partnership of Brad Johnson and Keyshawn Johnson should raise the offense to a level where it can stand eye-to-eye with a defense that has been one of the best in the NFL for several years.

Even TV game show hostess Anne Robinson could recognize that the passing offense has been the Buc's weakestlink. In the last six seasons, it has never ranked higher than 26th in the NFL. So the team said good-bye to Trent Dilfer after the '99 season and now is replacing Shaun King, who started 21 games in his first two seasons, with Brad Johnson.

"I think the young kid (King) did some good things for them," says Mark Hatley, the Packers' vice president of football operations, "but until you've got a quarterback who has played in this league and gotten some experience, you've got growing pains."

Brad Johnson is a seven-year veteran who has made 50 starts. He has experienced the ups and downs associated with being both a starter and a backup in Minnesota and Washington. And he is one of the most accurate passers in the league. His 61.8 career completion percentage is higher than every projected starting quarterback this season except Kurt Warner, Jeff Garcia and Daunte Culpepper.

At 6-4, 212 pounds, Keyshawn Johnson is one of the biggest wideouts in the league. Yet there were times last season when he seemed invisible in the Bucs' offense. He caught only one touchdown pass in the first seven games, produced only two 100-yard receiving games and sunk to a career low against the Jets, his former team, when he caught one pass for one yard.

K. Johnson should be more productive this season. One of the things he does best is catch balls across the middle. One of the things B. Johnson does best is throw the deep crossing pass.

The Johnson & Johnson combo is still in a merging mode. The two players didn't practice together as much as they could have this offseason. Part of the reason was that Keyshawn traveled frequently between Tampa and Los Angeles, where he owns a restaurant. K. Johnson missed eight of 14 practices during the team's final minicamp. That didn't seem to raise a red flag with the Bucs--but it should have.

"We worked out together 15 to 20 days in the spring, five (more) practices at minicamp in May and six days in June," says Brad Johnson. "I feel that's more than enough because we'll end up having over 45 practices in training camp plus four (preseason) games. So I think we're coming along at a good pace."

The Johnsons need to establish the proper chemistry for the Bucs to set a Super Bowl pace.

Pirated defense

Take a look around training camps and you'll see some defenses that resemble the Buccaneers' dominating unit. They may act like the Bucs, they may look like the Bucs, but they're not the Bucs. Pilfering the cover 2 defense from Tampa is easy; using it successfully elsewhere is the challenge.

The Rams hired former Bucs assistant Lovie Smith to install the scheme with the idea of staying simple, which is fitting for their massive turnover of defensive personnel.

Cornerback Aeneas Williams and safeties Kim Herring and Adam Archuleta are three of many newcomers on defense who will be learning the system in camp. The Rams brought in the necessary speed to make the cover 2 work, but what needs to be taught is mental quickness.

Recognizing an offensive play is half the battle; the cover 2 calls for a cushion between the linebackers and secondary. The key to success is for defenders to act fast to deflate the space. The safeties have a hard job in this respect, but the most difficult adjustment is for the corners, who must think less man-to-man and more zone after they jam receivers and fall back. The Rams' defensive backs have a tough camp ahead.

The Jets, with former Bucs assistant Herman Edwards at the helm, also have adopted the cover 2. Having former Bucs free safety Damien Robinson's savvy on the field will be a big boost in camp. He should help Edwards impart knowledge of the scheme to an experienced secondary.

Although speed is a big asset in the cover 2, it is by no means a quick-fix defense; it takes some time and practice before everything clicks. Neither the Rams nor the Jets can expect immediate results coming out of camp. It also will be impossible for the two teams to approach the Bucs' level of effectiveness. Both teams just don't have that type of talent.