Deep thoughts excite offense

TAMPA - If you plow through their scouting reports, you eventually will notice that the one thing Bucs quarterbacks Luke McCown, Byron Leftwich and Josh Freeman all possess is the arm strength to chuck a good deep ball.

That's no coincidence.

Though the Bucs plan to build their offensive attack on a power running game, it became apparent Saturday that they also intend to use that foundation as a launching pad for a few long-range bombs.

During a pair of workouts in which the quarterbacks were among the sharpest players on the field, the script seemingly called for one deep ball after another.

Don't look for the script to change once the workouts turn to games. The Bucs believe they have the makings of an explosive passing game, and they intend to make regular use of it.

"When you're a power run team, people tend to load up the box on you," Bucs coach Raheem Morris said. "When they do that you want to get a little jump on them and exploit them, and you saw us do that today."

What fans attending the morning workout at One Buc Place and the evening practice at Raymond James Stadium saw was McCown going deep to Michael Clayton, Freeman hooking up deep with Dexter Jackson and Leftwich hooking up deep with Maurice Stovall.

And those were just some of the highlights. McCown, Leftwich and Freeman loosened up their arms on several other occasions throughout the day, as did second-year pro Josh Johnson.

"They're definitely giving us our shots," said Clayton, who should get a good chance this year to erase the belief that he's nothing more than a possession receiver whose best trait is blocking.

"Hey, he's heard all those rumors," Morris said of Clayton, who signed a five-year, $24 million contract during the offseason. "He's a blocker, he's this, he's that. He showed he's got some explosiveness today."

The entire Bucs offense showed it has some explosiveness. But maybe that was to be expected. After all, the quarterbacks, receivers and tight ends got a bit of a head start on their defensive counterparts this week.

"We got out here three days straight and we got some good work in going through the route tree and the concepts," McCown said. "It was really kind of refreshing. We got a little time in the meeting room and we looked at the film of the OTAs. It's a good way to refresh your mind on what it is, how it's called and what it looks like, and I think that helped a lot today."

What's going to help the deep passing game succeed is the running game. With Earnest Graham and Derrick Ward leading the way, the Bucs have the makings of a power rushing attack that could be among the league's best.

If that pans out, then opponents will have little choice but to crowd the line in an effort to stop the run. That in turn will create opportunities to go deep.

"We're going to be able to run the ball and once we can run the ball, then Lord knows what we can do with our play-action package and when we throw the ball downfield," Leftwich said. "I'm excited about it."

He's not alone. The big plays helped light up the crowds at the Bucs' first two camp workouts, and the prospect of making those plays has everyone in the receiving corps excited as well.

"We're laying the groundwork for a deep passing game right now, and it's good to see because it makes meetings and everything else a lot more interesting," Clayton said.

He said with the emphasis on the deep ball, "your big-play ability goes through the roof. Especially when you have guys that can come down with the ball - and we pride ourselves on coming down with the ball."