Every coach on every team pays lip service to the importance of special teams when the topic is brought up in interviews, but the Buccaneers’ organization has very publicly made it a primary concern this season. That springs from a 2003 season in which the team ranked 10th in the league on offense and fifth on defense but had significant troubles on special teams, particularly on field goals and in the kickoff return department.
So the team targeted several free agents specifically because of their work in the kicking game – e.g. Keith Burns, Jeff Gooch, Bidwell – and even made it one of the deciding factors on draft day. While many college players serve on special teams early in their careers but phase out of it as they go along, Buccaneer draftees like Clayton and safety Will Allen were on the kicking units throughout their careers.
“[General Manager] Bruce [Allen] had a question about every guy for the scouts: What special teams did they play?” said Special Teams Coach Rich Bisaccia. “I was fortunate enough to have an opportunity to watch a lot of those guys. So we [as coaches] had a say, and a lot of it had it to do with what special teams they played in college and what they could bring to us a ‘teams’ player.”
The Bucs believe they have dramatically improved the depth and talent of the players who will be asked to contribute on special teams.
“We’ve got some depth and we’ll have some more depth when some of these players return from injury,” said Gruden. “We’re a faster team, a bigger team in the kicking game, with the addition of all these linebackers: [Jeff] Gooch, [Keith] Burns, [Marquis] Cooper. Those guys will help us…Ryan Nece. We’ve got some linebackers who can be core players and Will Allen and some of our young guys can help us as well. And [rookie WR] Mark Jones is a threat as a return man. He’ll get every opportunity this summer.”
The Bucs have famously never returned a kickoff for a touchdown in 28 seasons of play. Last year, they routinely failed to get acceptable returns at all, costing the offense significant field position.
“We need to get some instant offense, some big plays in our return game,” said Gruden. “Hopefully we can get that done. It’s not just the returner, it’s the blockers, it’s the scheme, and we’ve got to get that done.”
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Receiver Updates: Jurevicius, Lee and SkaggsWide receiver Joe Jurevicius had surgery to repair a herniated disc in his lower back on Tuesday morning in Los Angeles. The surgery was successful, no additional damage was found in his back and he is expected to rejoin the team at camp in a matter of days.
Jurevicius will begin his rehab upon his return to camp. He could return to action in two to three weeks but might also miss as many as six weeks, according to Gruden. The team is excited, however, to have identified and corrected the problem, hopefully beginning the process that will return Jurevicius to his spot in the offense. Before a 2003 right knee injury that started all of his problems, Jurevicius appeared to be a developing star.
“It was a herniated disc, it needed to be repaired and it’s repaired now,” said Gruden. “The knee is repaired, the back is repaired and now it’s a matter of waiting for him to get ready to play football. It could be anywhere from two, three, four to six weeks. It all depends on how the rehab goes and we can only follow that closely.”
Wide receiver Justin Skaggs will also miss a significant amount of time after the hamstring injury he suffered Tuesday morning was diagnosed as fairly severe. Wide receiver Charles Lee’s hamstring injury is significant, but not as bad as Skaggs’s; Lee could be back in a week, though the team won’t push him.
“I don’t think it’s as bad as initially feared,” said Gruden. “But, again, wide receivers and hamstrings are not a real good marriage, so it will be about a week, I think, being conservative. We’ll see what happens. You have to be cautious with a receiver, in particular.”
