Young Is Eager for Buccaneers to Open Up Offense

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are gaining a measure of respect around the National Football League these days. After finishing 2-14 last season, they have managed to win only one of their first five games this season but have extended two others into overtime. Their second overtime loss of the season came Sunday in Anaheim Stadium.

It also left a number of people wondering about Coach Leeman Bennett’s offensive game plan.

In the first 55 1/2 minutes of the Rams’ 26-20 victory, Bennett called just 17 pass plays. At that point, Tampa Bay had 152 yards rushing and 16 through the air.

With 4:34 left in regulation, the Buccaneers trailed, 20-17, when they got the ball on their own one-yard line. Even Ram Coach John Robinson--maybe the game’s most conservative offensive tactician--might send in some pass plays in that situation.

Bennett called for the pass 14 times on that final possession. Quarterback Steve Young completed six, had one dropped, one batted down, threw two out of the end zone on purpose, was sacked twice and scrambled twice for eight yards as Tampa Bay drove 80 yards for a game-tying field goal.

Young, the former Los Angeles Express star who is known more for his running ability than his passing prowess, looked like an old pro running the two-minute drill. He hit the open receivers, didn’t try to force the ball to the ones who were covered and scrambled enough to keep the defense jumpy.

“Steve Young is some kind of quarterback,” Ram cornerback Johnnie Johnson said. “He’s right up there with Joe Montana. Every time he runs around, something bad seems to happen on defense.”

But right now, Bennett seems more concerned about something bad happening to his offense. Of course, he saw plenty of that in the Buccaneers’ first two games when Young’s predecessor, Steve DeBerg, threw nine interceptions.

But Young is a quarterback of a different breed, the kind of player whose unpredictability frightens, and often confuses, even the best defenses.

Just the prescription for a struggling young team accustomed to being intimidated and sometimes flat-out humiliated, right? Let the other guys be embarrassed once in a while, right?

Well, Bennett doesn’t see it exactly like that. And Young, ironically, is the first to come to his coach’s defense. He wouldn’t go as far as to say he agrees with Bennett’s conservative philosophy, but at least he understands it . . . sort of.

“I talked to Coach Bennett earlier in the week (about opening up the passing game),” Young said, “but he’s doing what he thinks he has to do to keep us in games. He doesn’t want us taking ourselves out of it. His theory may be a bit conservative, but it has kept us in games so far.

“But I hope today’s two-minute drill showed some people on our team that we can get the job done if they’ll let us go. This is just my third start (this season), though, so I’m going to do what they ask me to.”

Young may not have reminded anyone of Joe Namath Sunday while completing 8 of 20 passes for 83 yards. But during the final drive he did look like a poised veteran in control of his offense.

“It was our best drive of the day and there were some very key plays by our quarterback,” Bennett said. “It was super as far as his growth goes. He’d have grown a lot more, in terms of confidence, if we could have stuck it into the end zone then.”

Nobody questions the threat Young poses as a runner--he ran 8 times for 37 yards Sunday, including a four-yard touchdown sprint--but he only spreads panic in defenses when he drops to pass and then runs.

It is his arm that has raised doubts. But Young, who completed 71.3% of his passes during his senior season at Brigham Young University to become the most accurate passer in NCAA history, has no reservations about throwing the ball. And he wishes Bennett felt the same way.

“When we’re really aggressive, when I’m running around back there, I always feel better,” he said, smiling. “I’ve always been successful in those situations.

“When we attack, we’re a much different ballclub. I hope we get into the two-minute drill more often so we can throw the ball more, take more chances and then we’ll win more ball games. I think letting this team go might be a very positive factor.”

Bennett, predictably, doesn’t think it’s quite that simple.

“At the end of the game, they (the Ram secondary) were backing off,” he said. “We threw deep a couple of times earlier and by the end they were giving us the turn-ins and quick routes. So we took them.

“But that doesn’t necessarily mean the same patterns would have been open earlier.”

Young, also predictably, is of the opinion that the Buccaneers will never know without trying. But he is sure of one thing. He wanted to get his hands on the ball in overtime.

“It isn’t fair,” Young pleaded. “If we got our hands on the ball, coach was going to let us take it to ‘em. It’s just not fair.

“I’m just not satisfied to say, ‘Oh, boy, we’re improving.’ We’ll take some good things home from this game, sure, but I want to beat some people.”

Maybe Bennett will let Young “take it to ‘em” before the last few minutes of the fourth quarter. And maybe the Buccaneers will have more to celebrate than another “almost.”