Sam and Trent's final act Gary Shelton, The St.Petersburg Times, published 26 December 1995 This is how bad it has become. The coach has nothing to say, and the quarterback has heard enough. They are Sam Wyche and Trent Dilfer, and they cannot work together. If the final note of a sour song says nothing else, it at least tells us this. This is not teacher and student. It has not been that way for a very long time now. This is a coach who does not care for his quarterback, and a quarterback who cares even less for his coach. Get these two away from each other before the damage is complete. Better yet, get Wyche away from Dilfer before this has turned into Ray Perkins and Vinny Testaverde. At least with Dilfer, there is still a chance. Saturday's 37-10 loss to Detroit was the closing argument. Wyche sent Dilfer to the bench early in the second quarter, a symbolic snubbing of his nose at a quarterback who has chafed at the bit. This was the sixth game Dilfer has not finished, the fourth by Wyche's choice, and it smelled of a departing coach getting the last laugh on a player who would not walk the line. It is no secret the relationship between Wyche and Dilfer has been strained for weeks. So now, in his last chance, Wyche sits Dilfer. Is there any wonder Dilfer has not progressed further? This had nothing to do with turnovers. Wyche admitted that. He said he planned to play Casey Weldon "about a half" regardless. When Dilfer had two fumbles and an interception in the first four drives, it merely made the hook more convenient. "It was a planned thing," Wyche said. "I didn't want Casey to come back next year without playing time.' Say what? The Bucs were trying to finish 8-8, which would have been their first non-losing season since 1982, when Dilfer was 10. Didn't the other Bucs players, didn't the fans, deserve the best quarterback available? If this was not because of performance, then was it because of pettiness? Remember last year, when Wyche knew Dilfer was his quarterback for 1995? Dilfer sat the entire final game, a miserable loss to Green Bay. This year, Wyche decided Weldon deserved to play. Wyche said he decided this during the week of practice. However, he did not bother to tell Dilfer, supposedly the man he is responsible for grooming into stardom. Wyche called that "a lack of communication." According to Wyche, assistant coach Turk Schonert was told to inform Dilfer. Dilfer never heard any such thing from a coach. He did hear it "through the grapevine" and refused to believe it. Why? With so much at stake? With a quarterback who had started 15 games? Dilfer finally got the word as he sat on the bench after his interception in the closing moments of the first quarter. Wyche tapped him on his left arm with a clipboard. Suddenly, Dilfer jumped up, yelled something and walked away. A few minutes later, the two spoke on the sideline. Dilfer again walked away. "I was never informed, and I disagree totally with the decision," Dilfer said later. "I was prepared to go in there and fight for four quarters and play the best I could and never give up. I'm disappointed for my teammates, because they need a quarterback who is going to be there through thick and thin." The thing is, we still don't know if Dilfer is that guy. This year, he has been booed, bruised and battered. He has been spat on, thrown out, knocked down. He has been told the reason he was pulled from a game was because he was tired, which came as quite a surprise to him. He has been in yelling matches with coaches. Could he have handled Wyche better? Probably. Dilfer still has some maturing to do. But a coach like Wyche can play games in your head when you are 23. He can fill you with answers or questions, with confidence or with confusion. Will Dilfer be a better quarterback under a new coach? At this point, we don't know. He has the tools. There are times he throws a ball, and it slices through the air like a beam of light. And there are times he holds the ball too long, or throws an interception, and he makes you wonder. "I truly believe I have made strides this year," Dilfer said. "I didn't have as good a season as I would have liked or expected. But I want to come back next year and prove the ones who have written me off are wrong." Will he be able to? Again, we don't know. But it is apparent this union is not working. Dilfer deserves another chance. For him, that can only be with another coach.