Four Downs: Defense has Buccaneers formidable again

02.10.2007 06:00 Sport and Travel - Source: USA Today

FIRST DOWN: Buc teeth

Go back to the beginnings of the franchise. Defense. Go back to the Super Bowl season of 2002. Defense.

And now? Defense. That longtime Tampa Bay tradition lives again, though with the Buccaneers featuring a new look.

Winners of three in a row, they have few of the old, familiar faces. Only four defensive starters remain from the Super Bowl team; one — cornerback Brian Kelly— was inactive Sunday. But the new guys play the same aggressive style.

They held the Carolina Panthers scoreless until the final 23 seconds of a 20-7 victory. They've allowed three touchdowns in their three victories, two to the New Orleans Saints once the Bucs had run out to a 28-point lead.

"The scheme in itself hasn't really changed that much," says cornerback Ronde Barber, one of the Super Bowl holdovers. "It's the attitude that has changed."

A 4-12 season like last year's can do that.

"A lot of people around here have a terrible taste in their mouth about last season," Barber says.

They'll need to keep that in mind (and mouth). The Bucs, who rank fifth defensively, go on the road to play the unbeaten Indianapolis Colts (and former Bucs coach Tony Dungy), who rank third in offense.

SECOND DOWN: Swagger saga

Their coach tells them they are "a force to be reckoned with." Their top wide receiver says the team has "a confidence, a swagger."

Meet the Cleveland Browns. Yeah, the Browns. Got clobbered 34-7 opening day, pulled their quarterback early and then traded him. They looked so lost. Those Browns.

Well, not these Browns. These Browns have won two division games (two more than last year), own a 2-2 record and say they will boldly go after the New England Patriots, their next opponent, and anybody else.

"We're going to attack people," says the confident and swaggering receiver Braylon Edwards.

The Browns certainly did that to the Baltimore Ravens, who have not won a division game this season. They scored touchdowns on their first two possessions, the second a 78-yarder from Derek Anderson to Edwards, and led 24-6 at halftime of an eventual 27-13 win.

"The offense is sound. When you execute it, it's easy. We have so much at our disposal, it's scary," Edwards says.

Before getting too confident and swaggering too much, the Browns should note that they managed only three first downs and 90 yards in the second half against the Ravens.

THIRD DOWN: So wasted

Give the Minnesota Vikings a big play and they'll make nothing of it. This isn't chemistry, it's alchemy, as they convert gold into lead.

They can ponder during their bye week those points and all the others they failed to score, as they mull three consecutive defeats and an inability to cross the goal line.

It's not like they didn't move the ball against the Green Bay Packers. But they did little with their explosive plays in losing 23-16 at home.

"It usually does come back to bite you," says coach Brad Childress.

Chew this over:

•Down 7-0 to the Packers, the Vikings forced a fumble and recovered at their own 8-yard line. A 55-yard run by Adrian Peterson moved them to the Packers' 32, but they settled for a 44-yard field goal.

•On their next series, starting from their own 42, quarterback Kelly Holcomb hit Bobby Wade for 40 yards. The Vikings kicked a 35-yard field goal. Length of drive: 41 yards.

•Trailing 13-6 in the third quarter, Minnesota got a 37-yard run from Chester Taylor to the Green Bay 25. Ryan Longwell kicked a 48-yard field goal. The drive: 50 yards in eight plays.

•When Green Bay went up 16-9, Peterson returned the kickoff 51 yards to the Packers' 49. The Vikings punted three plays later.

"You can't run the ball up and down the field from the 20 to the 20 and not score. We have to score touchdowns, not field goals," says Holcomb.

"Through my experience, when you are kicking a bunch of field goals, you usually lose."

Indeed. That's three in a row for the Vikings.

FOURTH DOWN: Unbearable

Think of them as the Monstrosity of the Midway. Duh Bears.

They blocked a field goal and an extra point and returned a kickoff for a touchdown against the Detroit Lions, so at least their special teams stayed special. Nothing else was remotely average as the Bears crumbled for a second consecutive week.

"We collapsed at the end of the game," coach Lovie Smith says. "We haven't done that very much."

The Bears, who led by 10, allowed an NFL-record 34 points in the fourth quarter in falling 37-27 to the Detroit Lions, the final seven coming when Casey FitzSimmons returned a late onside kick 41 yards for a touchdown. Last week the Bears allowed 31 points in the second half in a home loss to the Dallas Cowboys.

Improvement and health must come quickly. The Bears are 1-3 and going to Lambeau Field to play the 4-0 Packers. But the Bears were 1-3 in 2005 and finished 11-5 on the strength of an eight-game winning streak.

Three starters in the secondary were inactive Sunday — cornerbacks Nathan Vasher and Charles Tillman and safety Adam Archuleta— along with linebacker Lance Briggs. Kevin Payne, who started at safety for the first time, went out early with an arm injury, and defensive tackle Tommie Harris struggled through with a sprained knee.

The quarterback change? Not exactly the cure-all, with Brian Griese stepping in a little too precisely for Rex Grossman and throwing three interceptions, two in the red zone and one going the other way for a touchdown.

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