Tampa Bay Finds Recipe Dungy, Youngsters Combine To Turn Around Buccaneers

The last time the Tampa Bay Bucs started 3-0 was 1979. They went to the NFC title game that season, the first and last highlight for a franchise that for the past 15 seasons has led the NFL in futility.

Things seem to run in threes this season for Tampa Bay.

The Bucs’ 28-14 win over the previously unbeaten Vikings on Sunday was just their third in 14 years in Minneapolis.

The impetus for their revival is three young draft choices - Warrick Dunn, Mike Alstott and Warren Sapp. Plus, of course, Tony Dungy, the coach who drafted Dunn (supposedly too small) and Alstott (supposedly too slow).

Dunn, who weighs around 180 pounds, has gained 268 yards on 48 carries, a 5.6 average. He’s beginning to look like Barry Sanders; on Sunday, he turned a 4-yard loss into a 52-yard touchdown run.

“I handed off and I thought ‘Oh my gosh,”’ said quarterback Trent Dilfer. “Then he made one move that was unbelievable.”

Alstott, who blocks like Daryl Johnston and probably runs better, has 132 yards and two TDs, and last year led the team with 56 receptions. On Sunday, he had a TD run that is one of the few 1-yarders to make all the highlight reels - he went into the pile, was stuffed, bounced back outside and rolled left, carrying two tacklers into the end zone.

Those two have made life easy for Dilfer, who was too often asked to win games the last two seasons. He has thrown 70 passes without an interception and his quarterback rating of 100 is 35 points better than it was last season.

Sapp, allegedly too slow and too troubled off the field, leads the team with 3-1/2 sacks. Like Dunn, he went lower in the first round than his college record should have indicated. Alstott, a workhorse at Purdue, was a second-rounder last year.

How did the Bucs, losers of 10 or more games in 13 of the last 14 seasons, find these guys? By looking at college achievement rather than 40-yard dash times and vertical leaps.

The Bucs are unlikely to finish ahead of the Packers this year. But finally, Tampa Bay is coming.