Kiffin, Defense Make Quite A Comeback

DETROIT - Don't say it's like the old days, because it's not. In the old days, the Bucs had their front four humming and the players opposing quarterbacks feared most were defensive linemen Warren Sapp and Simeon Rice.

These Bucs don't have anyone up front who scares you. Not yet, anyway. Instead, they have two players in the back who scare you.

No one in his right mind wants to cross paths with safeties Jermaine Phillips and Tanard Jackson.

No one really wants to cross paths with the Bucs' linebackers, either. That's why it does seem a lot like old times here again. Those issues with the pass rush aside, the Bucs' defense is back.

It's still not where it wants to be, but it's ranked 11th overall in the league and it's a testament to coordinator Monte Kiffin that after last season's slip down the rankings it's back in the league's upper third again.

Next to Phillips, who became the poster child for all that went wrong with the Bucs defense last season, no one is making a better comeback this year than Kiffin.

There were some who actually began to wonder last year if maybe the game hadn't passed Kiffin by. Offenses were starting to pick apart his Tampa 2 defense, and he couldn't seem to stop the momentum.

Now look at his defense. Kiffin still doesn't have the pass rush he was missing last year, and his charges aren't stopping the run all that well, but he's making it work. And he's doing it with a whole new support staff.

Not one of the top assistants who helped him coach the Bucs to a first overall ranking in 2005 is here, and of the 11 players who started for Kiffin that year, only six remain. And one of those (cornerback Brian Kelly) is hurt.

'I think this is as good a job as Monte's done as a coach,' said Doug Graber, a former Bucs defensive coordinator who now works as an analyst for college football and the 'Bucs Bonus' pregame show on WFLA, Channel 8.

'He's got a defense without egos and without a lot of stars, and it's playing with a fanatical effort that is rare in the NFL these days. That's all a tribute to Monte and his staff.'

Graber and others will tell you that in order to run a truly successful Cover 2 defense, a coach needs a trigger man up front and a hammer in the back.

This Bucs unit only has the hammer.

The trigger man may eventually emerge. Greg White seems to have the ability to be that player, and the Bucs bet a first-round draft pick on the widespread belief that Gaines Adams will become such an element.

As of now, though, the Bucs don't have one. What they do have is at least six hard-working, always-hustling front-line players whom Kiffin has consistently and effectively rotated in and out of the game.

'There's really not a great player in the group,' Graber said of the defensive front. 'Greg Peterson, come on. Kevin Carter, people thought he was done. But Monte's rolling those guys so come the fourth quarter, they're still strong.

'But it's not just them. That whole group has played well. The linebackers are really good and the safeties are hitting guys. Everyone up front is disciplined in his gap and their secondary is very disciplined.'

Lions coach Rod Marinelli is one of those coaches Kiffin has lost. As Kiffin's line coach, he used to provide Kiffin with that trigger man he needed. He's not surprised Kiffin and the Bucs defense have bounced back.

'It doesn't surprise me, because he works so hard at it,' Marinelli said. 'You just know he's going to bring out the best in each player. He's going to put them in good position.'

That ability to put players in the right position and to consistently make the right calls in critical situations is why Bucs linebacker Ryan Nece believes the Bucs defense is excelling again this year.

'He knows when to call a particular defense at a particular time in a particular situation, and it always seems to work,' Nece said. 'He just knows how to counter an offense.

'I mean, it's easy to know X's and O's, but it's hard to call those X's and O's and to put everyone in a position where there's going to be success. Coach Kiffin does a great job of that. That's why he is who he is.'

And that's why the Bucs defense is back on the rise.