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Phillips Is Relaxed, Focused And Hitting Hard

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By Roy Cummings, The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 23, 2007

TAMPA - Jermaine Phillips still hasn't done what the Bucs once thought he would do. He still hasn't made anyone forget about John Lynch.

Phillips still hasn't made anyone forget about last season, either. But in that area, he is making progress.

Phillips, the starting strong safety, wasn't his team's best defender the first two weeks of the new season (that honor goes to Barrett Ruud); he was, however, their most improved defender.

A year ago, Phillips already was being maligned for poor play in the deep secondary. His near-flawless play so far this year has been nothing short of exemplary.

'Right now, he's focused,' secondary coach Raheem Morris said. 'He's getting a lot of premium looks in practice and doing the job there, and he's taking it to the field on Sunday and doing a great job there.'

Phillips is never going to be the best cover safety in the league, because he doesn't react well enough to the ball in the air. What Phillips does well is tackle and throw his body around. He'll leave a good-sized dent if he hits you, and that's what has made him a standout player so far this year.

'He's had two weeks now where he's just been running around smashing people, and that's what Jermaine Phillips does,' Morris said. 'He's not a guy you want to get in the same lane with and run into.'

Phillips laid out Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck with a sack while running a blitz in the opener, and he laid out Saints running back Deuce McAllister early in last week's game.

Overall, he has 20 tackles (second on the team to Ruud's 28), and he says the difference in his play is the result of a more relaxed approach.

'This year, when things go wrong, I'm not pressing,' Phillips said. 'I'm not worrying about it; I just go out and play the game the way I know how to play it.

I think as long as I don't let concerns over injuries and mistakes creep in, I'm fine. I mean, you just can't worry about stuff. Last year, I was worrying about little things too much, whereas this year I'm just playing my game.'

HAUNTED HISTORY: The football-shaped glass house that serves as the lobby at the new One Buc Place is starting to look like a museum.

The Lombardi Trophy isn't there, but some old Bucs jerseys and helmets are under glass and there are some larger-than-life-size pictures lining two side walls.

There is also a sculpture called 'The Moment of Victory' that depicts the moment the clock ticked down to zero in the Bucs' Super Bowl XXXVII triumph against the Oakland Raiders.

The sculpture is the lobby's latest addition and its life-size images, including one of Jon Gruden wearing a headset and pumping his fist, shook up the coach when he first ventured to see it a few days ago.

'I saw it and felt like I died,' Gruden said. 'It felt a little morbid seeing myself that way. I got a little freaked out. But it's cool, because that's a great memory to have.

'It will go down in my life as one of the great moments ever, and to share that with players such as Warren Sapp, Derrick Brooks and Mike Alstott, is really neat. I mean, you can relive that experience by just walking downstairs.'

BACK IN THE DAY: Bucs DL Kevin Carter was playing on the other side of the ball for the Rams when they were known as the Greatest Show on Turf.

He says the offense the Bucs will face today is a lot like the one the Rams had back then, except for one subtle difference.

'These guys aren't quite as vertical as the Greatest Show on Turf was,' Carter said. 'Back then, it seemed like everybody was always running go routes.'

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