Bucs Offense: No Juice, But Same Questions

By JOE HENDERSON The Tampa Tribune

Published: Apr 29, 2008

After watching the futility with which the Bucs flopped around in the playoff loss to the Giants, everyone knew - just knew - the Bucs needed major upgrades on offense. They needed help. They needed playmakers.

Jeff Garcia said as much.

So did Jon Gruden.

I thought they would make a significant attempt to fix that in the draft. I was not alone in thinking that.

I was not alone in being wrong, either.

We kept waiting over the weekend for a shipment of what Gruden calls "the juice" to arrive. It never did. They invested two of their top four draft picks for defensive players, which made Monte Kiffin happy but won't help when the Bucs need to drive 80 yards in the fourth quarter for a touchdown to tie the game.

They did add Dexter Jackson, the smurf-like receiver with blur speed from Appalachian State, in the second round but questions about him range from his size (5-foot-9), to his route-running (said to be, um, imprecise), to his hands. They added Jeremy Zuttah, a versatile offensive lineman in the third who seems like a good player but, uh, wasn't the line in decent shape anyway?

They added a quarterback, Josh Johnson, who is intriguing. He is also years away, at best, from contributing. And they took a flier on South Carolina running back Cory Boyd in the seventh.

That's it?

That's the juice? What kind?

Somebody asked Gruden how hard it was to leave so much offensive talent on the board in the first round and he quipped, "My guts are ripped out of my body right now."

Prune juice will do that to you. Maybe that's what he meant.

Always About Defense

That's not saying the players the Bucs took are bad.

Draft guru Mel Kiper Jr. gave them a "B" for the weekend. He likes top pick Aqib Talib, the Kansas cornerback. He likes Zuttah. He is intrigued by defensive tackle Dre Moore, the fourth-round pick from Maryland.

These could be good football players. Mel says so and I would never presume to debate him. He might hit me with his hair. That would hurt.

You watched the same team last year I did, though. You saw the problems. You saw an offense that averaged just 20.9 points and ranked 20th in the league. You saw a middle-of-the-pack passing game, ranked 16th at a little more than 200 yards per game. Seven times they scored fewer than 20 points.

If it wasn't for a defense that ranked third or better in points allowed, total yards and passing yards … oh wait, we always say that.

It's always about defense here.

Wasn't Gruden supposed to change that, though?

Tell me how that's going to happen next season, barring a late addition or six.

Yes, they added Warrick Dunn in free agency and that should make third down more interesting.

But Joey Galloway is another year older and Michael Clayton has yet to prove he is more than a one-year wonder. They may have to count on him now, again. They may have to dip Paris Warren's leg in healing waters. They may have to hope Maurice Stovall becomes more than just a special teams guy.

Did I just get caught in some sort of Star Trek time warp? I could have sworn we said much the same thing last year and the year before that.

Got Some Speed

To be fair, the Bucs did address one problem on offense.

Everyone said they needed more speed and Jackson will provide that. That will give opposing secondaries someone besides Galloway to watch. If they can see him, that is. At 5-9, he won't be the easiest guy to spot, especially in a crowd. But people in the Carolinas said he reminds them of Panthers' receiver Steve Smith, and that's not bad.

Is it enough, though?

They must have had their reasons for leaving Florida receiver Andre Caldwell on the board in the third round, but he would have been an interesting pick. So would Limas Sweed, a 6-foot-4 receiver from Texas who went to Pittsburgh right after the Bucs traded back in the second round.

You can't say those decisions were wrong until we see everybody play, but they are at least curious. The Bucs have the same questions now they had after the Giants' game. If you happen to see Gruden's guts laying anywhere, you'll know they haven't come up with the answers yet.