Dunn finds fast path to success Hubert Mizell, The St.Petersburg Times, published 8 September 1997 Warrick Dunn doesn't expect to be the next Barry Sanders. "His style is his style," Tampa Bay's mercurial rookie said of Detroit's well-aged and extraordinary runner. "My style is my style." Sunday showcased both NFL art forms, but it was the tough, wiry little knocker from Baton Rouge who was shyly but confidently smiling as Silverdome hostilities ended. "I'm just having fun, enjoying running for my life," Dunn said in that rarest of NFL space, a winning Bucs locker room on the road. "People have always said I was too small. During the draft last spring, it was widely doubted that I could ever carry 20 times a game in the pros." Dunn quickly became lethal Michigan lightning during an afternoon of mounting Lions gloom. Darting, ducking and wiggling for 130 yards on 24 journeys. Getting 116 in the first half. Escaping on a 6-yard touchdown run by sneaking under a hard but high tackle as safety Van Malone grasped nothing but red-zone air. So much is changing. Tony Dungy's improving, disproving little Tampa Bay team keeps breaking through barriers. Outdoing muddling Bucs of the past. They went up 17-0 against Detroit and then executed a professional, efficient hold-on. Despite typically dazzling Sanders moves on a late 66-yard touchdown, Pewter Power rose to a 2-0 record. This wouldn't be big news in Green Bay, Dallas or San Francisco, but it's hugely different for Tampa Bay, where failures have been constant for 14 consecutive seasons. Bucs had lost eight straight on fields of NFC Central Division rivals. They were on an 0-5 swoon against the Lions and an 0-4 skid in the Silverdome. That's why 2-0 is XXXL. Next exam will be at Minnesota. Just once in their tattered 22-season history have the Bucs achieved a 3-0 start, in 1979 when John McKay coached a glittering but short-lived rise to the NFC Championship Game. That time, Tampa Bay made it to 5-0. Maybe it's Doug Williams at last lifting The Curse. After those 14 losing seasons. Because the long-ago Bucs quarterback doesn't loathe the Glazer family as he did erstwhile owner Hugh Culverhouse. Because old No. 12 is a Dunn pal who craves glory for the 178-pound wonder from Florida State. Late, late Saturday night in Los Angeles, after the Dunn-less 'Noles had outlasted Southern California 14-7, FSU coach Bobby Bowden grinned and sent a message to his departed ace Warrick. "Tell him to have a great game against Detroit," Bowden said. "Tell the little guy that we miss him at Florida State." Dunn, hearing the message Sunday in Pontiac, busted into an even larger grin. "I miss Coach Bowden too," he said. "I almost didn't ever want to leave the Seminoles. But it was time to move on." Sunday, he did move on. In the second year of the Dungy coaching generation, his Bucs defense has accrued an armload of respect around the National Football League, but the doubters of quarterback Trent Dilfer and the Tampa Bay offense remain in a long, nasty queue that snakes through most of the 50 states. It's shortening, but slowly. City by city, the Trent Gang keeps neutralizing if not lavishly convincing the Dilfer naysayers. Nobody is comparing today's No. 12 to Brett Favre or Troy Aikman, but at least the Trent critics are beginning to back off in saying the Fresno State fellow may be the league's next Gino Torretta or Andre Ware. Sunday was heavy pluses. Scott Mitchell passed for 331 yards, including two Detroit touchdown grenades, the short pitch that Sanders took long and a 73-yard stunner to Johnnie Morton. But it was Dilfer who played the more efficient, more purposeful game. On a third and 8, the Tampa Bay quarterback did a sharp little thing by flicking to Dunn on a screen play that would gain 11. In a more critical moment, Dilfer met a third-and-6 challenge with an 18-yard rocket to Horace Copeland. Stakes kept on rising. On third and 19, the Bucs surprised the Lions with a high-arc Dilfer missile toward Copeland at the goal line. It warms the soul. That throw by Dilfer was not completed, but High C drew a penalty on Detroit's No. 1 draft pick, cornerback Bryant Westbrook. Good for 45 yards, setting up a Mike Alstott 1-yard smack for what became the winning TD. "When you've got Dunn back there with big, tough Mike," said Tony Mayberry, an eight-year vet, "it adds a new dimension. Keeps opposing defenses more honest. Makes us offensive linemen know that, if we fight to hold our block another split second, Warrick might find a crack to go whistling through." Bucs were anything but perfection. "We did a lot of good things," Dungy said, "but we still haven't nearly played up to our capabilities." Still, unlike in their bruised past, the new pewters were making the plays they absolutely needed, offensively and defensively. On to Minnesota.