Do You Hear An Echo? Defense Needs Some Help Joey Johnston, The Tampa Tribune, published 13 September 2004 Defensively, the Bucs look like a 10-6 playoff team, a snarling unit that fights to the whistle. Overall, the Bucs look like a lot less. A repeat of 7-9? Worse? Maybe. Unless the defense picks up the pace. Go, defense, go. Where have we heard this before? It almost seems unfair. Tampa Bay's offense couldn't run, couldn't protect and couldn't get the ball down the field in Sunday's 16-10 season-opening loss to the Washington Redskins. The Bucs' lone touchdown was scored by omnipresent cornerback Ronde Barber, who ran in a fumble from 9 yards out. Martin Gramatica's 47-yard field was made possible by Frank Murphy's 54-yard kickoff return (the offense went three-and-out). It brings back memories of Coach Jon Gruden's first Tampa Bay season, when he challenged the defense to score nine touchdowns, a mark that was hit in the closing seconds of Super Bowl XXXVII. Anybody up for double digits? ``That's Buc Ball, bro,'' Barber said. ``We won a Super Bowl that way [by relying on the defense]. We were embarrassed by New Orleans at home in the first game [of 2002]. We went to the playoffs a lot that way. It's easy to have doubts and start pointing fingers [at the offense]. But this is the first game of a new season. We've got to stay together. It's back to the lab for us.'' Back to Professor Monte Kiffin. Back to tinkering with the Buc Ball formula. Back to crossing your fingers and hoping for a shutout. Weren't we supposed to be way past that by now? By now, the defense is caught between flustered and frustrated. If Tampa Bay's offense mounts one decent touchdown drive, the Bucs win Sunday's opener. Period. Sure, the defense had its faults. It allowed a 64-yard scoring run to Clinton Portis on Washington's third play from scrimmage, but things tightened up considerably after that. Even with the big play and too many missed tackles, it was a winning effort. But it wasn't enough. And it will never be enough, not unless the offense offers something besides 2-yard runs and pass patterns broken off in front of the first-down marker. ``Those [defensive] guys deserve better,'' said new Bucs wide receiver Tim Brown, a 17-year veteran who broke in with the Raiders in 1988. ``I'll say this. Over my career, if I would've had a defense like that? Good gracious! I mean, those guys play so hard. They can't do it themselves, and we don't want them to do it themselves. That's a big-time defense.'' Even with the departures of Warren Sapp and John Lynch - Buc Ball veterans to the core - there are playmakers all around. There's Simeon Rice, one of the game's best edge pass-rushers. There's Derrick Brooks, one of the league's best dozen players at any position. And there was Barber. Always, there's Barber, around the ball, making a big play. Barber's fumble recovery score was his seventh career TD, the sixth in regular-season play, to tie Brooks' franchise record. ``Big players make big plays,'' Kiffin said. ``Ronde will do it again.'' And again. And again. ``Scoring on defense is something we love to do,'' Barber said. ``You just have to be in the right spot. You have to be smart about it. You know me. I'm never going to test out as the fastest guy or the one who jumps the highest. But you get around the ball, pounce on every opportunity and try to make a play. That's been my motto my whole career.'' It carries through to every defensive player. Especially now. Margin of error? So far, nil. Defensive touchdowns are more necessity than luxury. ``I'm going to stay positive,'' Brooks said. ``We're going to keep our heads up. This was a big game, but there's a bigger game next week [at home against Seattle]. There's no better way to test your character than to be down.'' This is a defense with tremendous pride. It knows the job ahead. It can't count on the offense hanging up 31 points. Or 14. Or, as was the case Sunday, even a measly touchdown. ``Is that any different than any season we've had,'' Barber said. ``That's what we do.'' They aren't frustrated. They aren't even flustered. They have been here so many times before. Where else to go? Back to the lab.