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Bucs Beat: Nobody's Doubting Buchanon's Skills Anymore

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 25, 2007

TAMPA - A lot of people around the league shrugged their shoulders when the Bucs signed cornerback Phillip Buchanon off the street in October 2006 - and rightfully so.

Though drafted 17th overall by Oakland in 2002, the former Miami Hurricane came to the Bucs as a two-time loser, having been dispatched by the Raiders and Texans. The reasons were many.

As a young player in the league, Buchanon guessed too much when diagnosing plays, took too many chances in pass coverage and not enough chances against the run. He avoided physical play, some scouts said, and was a liability in the red zone, where his sloppy techniques, especially as a run stopper, were exposed and targeted.

All that has changed. It has changed so much that a lot of those people who shrugged their shoulders when Buchanon signed with the Bucs may be wondering why they didn't sign him themselves.

After safety Jermaine Phillips, Buchanon might be making the biggest comeback of anyone in a Bucs uniform this year. Who at this time last year would have thought he would wind up taking snaps away from a healthy Brian Kelly?

For the past couple of weeks, that is what Buchanon has been doing. Even with Kelly back in the lineup following a bout with a sore groin, Buchanon continues to get regular playing time.

And he's making good use of it.

His 43 tackles have him on pace to surpass his career high of 59, set with the Raiders in 2004, but it's not the number of tackles that's most impressive. Far more impressive is the way Buchanon is making those tackles.

Think back to last week's game against the Falcons, to a second-and-10 play late in the second quarter. Down 7-0, the Falcons were driving when they pitched the ball to Jerious Norwood on a sweep to the left. The Bucs were in their nickel defense, meaning Buchanon was playing right corner. That means Norwood was running right into his zone of coverage. A couple of years ago, that might have been a wise move. Not this year.

Buchanon stepped into the flat, lowered his body and grabbed Norwood around the ankle, taking him down for a 1-yard loss that forced a third-and-11 play the Falcons couldn't convert.

Then there was the play when Buchanon initially missed a tackle, ran back into the play and took the runner down. That's the one that stood out to his position coach, Raheem Morris.

"One of the best plays I've seen in a while," Morris said. "I mean, he's just a guy right now who wants to make plays, a guy who's out there actually loving football."

What Buchanon loves most, he said, is that Morris and defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin have taken the pressure off by letting him know mistakes are part of the game.

"That's a totally different message than what I was getting elsewhere," Buchanon said. "Those other places, they wanted me to be Superman. I kind of wanted to be Superman, too, but they harped on the mistakes a lot."

Make no mistake, Kiffin and Morris harp on mistakes as well. They don't tolerate them any more than anyone else. But they don't base their analysis of a player on them.

Buchanon had a feeling that would be the case. He had a feeling he'd learn more playing for Kiffin and that he'd get a greater opportunity in Tampa to prove the image scouts had of him was wrong.

That's why he's here.

"When I signed here, I probably had six teams interested in me," Buchanon said. "But the first thing on my mind was, since people said I can't tackle, I had to go to a team that allowed me to show my tackling skills.

"So my first visit, I knew General Manager Bruce Allen and Coach Jon Gruden already," said Buchanon, who knew Allen since he was with the Raiders when they drafted Buchanon. "And from the start of our meeting, everything just flowed, so I said forget all those other visits."

The Bucs obviously are glad he did.

By adding the maturing Buchanon to a mix that already included Kelly and Ronde Barber, the Bucs have what is arguably their best trio of corners in years.

"I'm telling you, it's the coaches," Buchanon said. "They have a different approach to the game. They prepare the players here a lot better than they did at some of the places I've been to. They let me have fun and let me be me."

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