Times change, faces change; results must, too

The opening morning of training camp couldn't have gone much better for the Buccaneers. Donald Penn and Gerald McCoy signed contracts and put on pads. Smiles and good vibrations were everywhere.

"Nothing but optimism ahead," Bucs coach Raheem Morris said, although he said the same thing just about every Sunday of last season and we saw how well that went. So, for now - for the rest of us - it's nothing but caution ahead as the Bucs attempt to come back from the 3-13 meltdown of a year ago.

We have to give a nod to the lads for getting their business done, though. The Glazers found the rusty key to their cashbox and gave guarantees worth about $55 million to Penn, the left tackle, and top draft choice McCoy.

"It's the same scenario every year," cornerback Ronde Barber said with a smile. "The day before camp everybody decides, 'Hey, I kind of like football and want to play.' There's a lot of posturing before that."

Well, the gang's all here. It's none too soon for that. The Bucs seem to be bringing order to the chaos after last year's misadventure, so they didn't need any protracted holdouts or training camp drama to cloud what most analysts agree was a fine offseason.

Their draft brought comparisons to the landmark haul of 1995, when Warren Sapp and Derrick Brooks came on board and things were never the same around here after that.

You know what else happened in '95, though?

They didn't win, at least not right away. The Bucs went 7-9 and fired Sam Wyche as head coach. They lost eight of their first nine games in 1996 under a new coach named Tony Dungy. It was not unusual to see crowds in the low 30,000s at old Tampa Stadium. It took until '97 to make the playoffs.

These building projects can take some time. Everyone knows that.

The question is, how much time does this regime really have?

"This is the NFL, right?" General Manager Mark Dominik said.

Former Falcons coach Jerry Glanville made that famous quip that NFL really means "Not For Long." For most fans and some owners, patience with a rebuilding team is a week-to-week proposition.

Already, fans appear to have voiced their displeasure by keeping their wallets in their pockets. There is a likelihood of home blackouts for the first time since Raymond James Stadium opened in 1998.

"You've got to show results," Dominik said. "We understand that."

But first you have to have a plan. For this organization, that plan began last year with the drafting of Josh Freeman, Roy Miller, Kyle Moore and Sammie Stroughter. It continued in April with McCoy, Brian Price and the rest of the draft class.

"They'll make mistakes because they're young players, but the good thing about them is they'll learn from those mistakes," Dominik said. "I don't want it to be used as an excuse, but it is reality that these guys have to learn to play together.

"As a group they've got the mental maturity to handle the NFL, just like the groups we had in the '90s did. Part of the fun then was watching that whole team come together. Hopefully we'll see that again."

Will this rebuilt defensive line eventually bring the same kind of pressure Warren Sapp and Simeon Rice did? Will rookie receivers Arrelious Benn and Mike Williams crowd Michael Clayton off the opening-day roster?

It could happen. In my opinion, there are five guys ahead of Clayton now - the two rookies, holdovers Stroughter and Maurice Stovall, plus Reggie Brown, who was acquired from Philly.

Times are changing. Faces are changing. Now the Bucs need to show that things have changed sufficiently from last year. That includes solid growth by Freeman as a starting quarterback and dramatically improved play on the defensive line.

Would six wins be a positive enough result for now? Seven? Eight?

That judgment belongs to the people who buy the tickets. If they decide the Bucs are building something sustainable and competitive, a team the city can once again embrace, they might start coming back to Ray-Jay.

But if they see a sloppy, confused and scattershot approach - like we saw most of last year - the drumbeat for change at One Buc will reach deafening levels.

Smiles are good and optimism is fine, but the Bucs were 3-13 last year and talking a good game won't be enough. It was a dandy offseason, but they start keeping score now.