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Will Monte Really Make A Deal?

By MARTIN FENNELLY | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 30, 2008

TAMPA - Monte, you want to leave all this?

There's a report out there - ESPN's - that says Bucs defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin will leave Tampa Bay at the end of this season to take up a job in Knoxville with his son Lane, who is about to be named head coach at Tennessee.

Players come and go, stars and non-stars, but the Bucs defense has gone on, and Kiffin, as much as anyone, is a big reason why.

Juicy offer, Rocky Top.

But, Monte, bubala, there's something going on here.

The Bucs - your Bucs - are starting to roll.

They beat the Saints on Sunday, 23-20.

Does it matter how?

They beat them with just enough of what you love: defense.

They beat them with a touchdown run around right end by: Cadillac Williams.

They beat them in and around rain drops.

Rain drops? Try the occasional kind of deluge that once made Noah scramble for hammer, wood and nails.

They beat the Saints despite that lousy illegal contact call on Ronde Barber that wiped out a Tanard Jackson interception and paved the way for a fourth-quarter Saints touchdown.

They beat them despite blowing a 20-10 fourth quarter lead, very un-Bucs defense like, very un-Monte like.

They beat them when, very Monte defense-like, they made a play: a Jermaine Phillips interception off Drew Brees that set up the winning Matt Bryant field goal.

They beat them when Phiilip Buchanon sealed it with another interception in the final two minutes.

They beat the Saints and now they're 9-3 for only the second time in franchise history.

The other times were memorable.

There was 1979. The upstart Bucs went to the NFC title game that season.

And there was 2002. That's right. The Super Bowl season.

They trailed 10-6 at halftime, as New Orleans ended a wet first half with a two-minute drill for a late touchdown.

They came back.

They scored twice, and quickly, Williams with his first touchdown in 14 months.

They scored in a blink when Jeff Garcia, reborn, hit Antonio Bryant on a long touchdown pass. Who needs Joey Galloway?

Well, the Bucs do, but that's another story.

They need Monte Kiffin, too, the architect of one of the longest sustained great defensive stands in NFL history.

Let's turn it around, though.

There's something going on here.

Oh, it might not spell a home game with Roman numerals next Feb. 1.

But there's something going on here.

The Bucs are 9-3 and 11-5 is a definite possibility. So is 12-4. Do I hear 13-3?

They don't lose at home. They're 6-0 at Raymond James after Sunday's win.

They don't lose at home.

They've never been 8-0 at home in their history.

They have a real shot, a true shot.

Not only that, they learn their lessons.

The Saints moved the ball at times, but didn't scorch the Bucs for those monster plays that haunted the Bucs in the season opener in New Orleans.

Reggie Bush made no miracles.

The Bucs made enough plays.

When they needed a big play, Caddy delivered. Or Garcia did. Or Bryant did.

When they needed a big play, the defense came through, be it on some early stands, or in the third quarter, when the Saints were driving under clear skies. Drew Brees threw for Jeremy Shockey in the right front of the end zone.

But Ronde Barber got there, as he did most of Sunday.

He tipped the ball.

Bucs linebacker Cato June snatched it out of the air for the interception.

Granted, the defense was also shredded for a touchdown on a nice catch and run by Pierre Thomas that cut the Bucs' lead to 20-17 early in the fourth quarter.

The Bucs won anyway.

They are growing into this 2008 season.

And they are winning.

It's 9-3 and counting, with a showdown next Monday night in Carolina.

I like this team's chances right now to be the No. 2 seed in the NFC.

That would mean a bye in the first round of the playoffs.

That would mean a better path to the title game.

That's way too far ahead of this story.

But it's being written as we speak.

Believers are growing.

We don't even have to ask for volunteers anymore.

No, Monte, not those kind of volunteers.