Conservative nature aids Bucs in transition to King

Sporting News, The, Dec 20, 1999 by Dan Pompei

As the Buccaneers continue to win with a rookie quarterback, it is becoming evident that Shaun King's inexperience really isn't any more of a handicap than Trent Dilfer's inconsistency.

When the Bucs get a team on their terms, their quarterback could be B.B. King, Don King or Billie Jean King, and it really wouldn't make much difference. The Bucs like to minimize the position to the point that their quarterback has no more impact than a receiver does for most teams. On most plays, he's a bystander. The guy not running toward the pile--that's him!

"We don't call upon our quarterback to win games," Bucs general manager Rich McKay says. "It's not the position that drives our offense."

But every so often, to the chagrin of the Buts, their quarterback has to do more. Last Sunday was one of those days. The Lions jumped ahead of the Bucs early. Then they shut down the run, with defensive tackle Luther Elliss blowing up the middle of the Bucs' offensive line and their linebackers taking away the running lanes. The Bucs were--horror of horrors--forced to pass. King threw the ball 37 times against the Lions after throwing it only 26 times in his previous game and a half.

It wasn't exactly like King was doing his Dan Fouts impersonation. A dozen of his passes were thrown at running backs. "We did a decent job of playing the run, so they kept two backs in with max pro, then chipped with the backs, dropped them off and they became outlets," Lions safety Mark Carrier said after the game.

"That's the offense we had to play," Bucs coach Tony Dungy said, when all that was left in the Tampa Bay locker room were a few players, a lot of used tape and the glow of victory. "But we still have to take the approach that we have to make people defend the running game."

The Bucs are one of only four teams that have run the ball more than they have passed it this season. Typically, this team passes only when it has a third-down gun to its head. On first down, the Bucs have rum 61 percent of the lime. For comparison, NFC teams on average run 53 percent of the time on first down. I don't intend to overstate the Bucs' commitment to the run, but if a defense had 11 circus elephants sitting side by side on the line of scrimmage, the Bucs still would line up in an Information and try to run it up the middle. They can't help themselves. It is who they are.

The Bucs' offensive goals are simple, really. They want to avoid turnovers and get first downs. In fact, the offense seems more focused on the first-down marker than the end-zone marker, which is kind of like being more focused on the dashboard than the road ahead. The Bucs don't ask their quarterbacks to air it out often. A whopping 66 percent of their pass attempts this season have been for 10 yards or fewer, and only 12 percent have been for more than 20 yards.

There is no easier offense for a rookie quarterback to execute. Four coaches who have prepared for the Bucs this season agreed that the Bucs run the simplest offense in the NFL. Says Paul Wiggin, the Vikings' pro personnel director, "They tell you, `This is No. 40. He's lined up here. He'll do this. You stop him.'"

It's an odd twist, really. The Bucs' conservative nature normally might have prevented them from being as good as they could be. But now, it's helping them maintain their level of effectiveness through a potentially daunting transition to King. It's a matter of die by the sword, live by the sword, instead of the other way around.

While King has been an accurate passer, the Bucs' offense actually may be more conservative with him behind center. Until the Detroit game, the Bucs were running more with King than they had with Dilfer. Offensive coordinator Mike Shula and his staff are cutting the width of the field in half so King doesn't have to worry about making reads from sideline to sideline.

King has improved the Bucs in some ways. He runs play-action fakes better than Dilfer, which is very significant given the Bucs' offense. Defenders rarely bought Differ's poor fake-handoff attempts and, as a result, it was more difficult for Dilfer to complete passes. King also may be more accurate on his long balls than Differ. Against the Lions, the Bucs called for six or seven downfield passes. Rollouts are another dimension of the Bucs' offense that can be exploited more with King.

It also appears King has an advantage in intangibles. We have seen much evidence of King's poise under pressure. Wiggin said King knows how to win, and he's at his best when he's needed most. Few would say that about Dilfer. King is doing something right. He was on the field when the Bucs beat three potential playoff teams--the Seahawks, Vikings and Lions.

"The offensive players seem to respond to this kid," Vikings defensive coordinator Foge Fazio says. "He has good chemistry. Players step it up a notch for him."

But no amount of chemistry can replace experience. If King remains the Bucs' starter, he will see coverages that confuse him, he will fail to read receivers properly, he will miss audible opportunities, and he will fail to pick up blitzes. A young quarterback will make these mistakes as surely as a green peach will taste tart