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Bucs' Defensive Energy Has Kiffin Charged Up

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By JOE HENDERSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 3, 2008

LAKE BUENA VISTA - Monte Kiffin's voice is unmistakable when he gets wound up.

The decibels rise, the speed increases, and he starts making strange circles with his hands. So when he morphed into the "Monte Zone" the other day after the Bucs wrapped up their morning practice, it quickly drew a crowd.

"I just like our attitude. It's about attitude!" he was saying. "Just stick together. Our guys have great attitudes. I just love being around here."

Kiffin, the grand ol' warhorse of Tampa Bay football, probably could get that iron bull in front of Bloomingdale High School charged up to play. This was energetic by even his high-voltage standard, though. But it has to be this way.

That's because - news flash - for all the talk about Brett Favre and Jeff Garcia, and for all the angst over receivers and running backs, the basic truth of the Bucs remains unchanged: If they're going places this year, the defense will have to take them there. If Garcia's leg injury turns out to be something that lasts more than a couple of days, you know what they'll fall back on to keep things stable.

Maybe it will always be that way. Maybe that's the basic attitude of this franchise, because strip away the hype and chatter and it still about defense here. So while the circus plays out in Green Bay and the hot lights shine on places like Dallas, these Bucs tune it out and go about their business.

"We're just glad it's not our distraction," linebacker Derrick Brooks said.

"This time of the year, teams are glad they're not the team being talked about because it's time to go to work. It's more important to be talked about going into December as a playoff contender, a division winner getting ready for the Super Bowl tournament, than now."

Outside Talk Couldn't Penetrate

Well, it was their distraction for a while - or at least it seemed to be.

For sure, we certainly tried to make it their distraction.

There was so much talk about Farve as camp opened and so many questions about the quarterback position, but it looks like it was never more than just chatter to pass the time in training camp.

Talk show hosts talked. Writers wrote. Questioners questioned.

Didn't matter. It all just seemed to ping off the hide of these guys. The talk never seemed to penetrate the meeting rooms and on the practice field.

When the talk died down, you saw basically the same ol' Bucs with the same ol' approach.

The same ol' Monte Kiffin.

The same ol' Derrick Brooks.

Strong. Passionate. Steady. Reliable. Focused.

"We've tried to become a deep football team, and right now we're very competitive," Brooks said. "There is fierce competition for the 53 spots, because you know if you win the job, you deserve to be where you're at.

"I like the growth process we're going through. We're a very single-minded football team. We're just concentrating on getting better every day, one snap at a time. That's how we set our goals to get to the big goals - one snap at a time."

That's how it went last year, you'll recall. The focus was on Garcia, the new quarterback in town. When people talked about the defense at all, it was to fret that it had slipped. It was a premature burial. Middle linebacker Barrett Ruud became a standout. Outside backer Cato June was solid in his first year with the team. The secondary became a strength.

Stepping Right In

"He's just getting better and better," Kiffin said of Ruud. "We had Hardy Nickerson in here one time and Shelton Quarles did a great job. Shelton was a great mentor for two years and now Barrett took over last year. He's like the quarterback on defense."

And Cato June?

"It was all new to him last year. He was more or less like a rookie in our system," Kiffin said. "He's a heck of a football player and he loves football. He's got a great attitude."

Attitude.

There's that word again.

Kiffin was finished by now, whirling off to another meeting during an interminable training camp. The effect of his words remained, though.

You can talk all you want about quarterbacks. You can wish for speed at receiver. You can dream about breakaway running backs.

That's not how it works here, though. It's all about defense.

Same as always.

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