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About the Author: Scott Reynolds

Avatar Of Scott Reynolds
Scott Reynolds is in his 28th year of covering the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as the vice president, publisher and senior Bucs beat writer for PewterReport.com. Author of the popular SR's Fab 5 column on Fridays, Reynolds oversees web development and forges marketing partnerships for PewterReport.com in addition to his editorial duties. A graduate of Kansas State University in 1995, Reynolds spent six years giving back to the community as the defensive coordinator/defensive line coach for his sons' Pop Warner team, the South Pasco Predators. Reynolds can be reached at: [email protected]

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FAB 3. The Fall Of Trent Dilfer

Jameis Winston is entering the fourth year of his rookie contract and Tampa Bay has already picked up his fifth-year option for 2019, which will pay him $20.922 million.

Unless he has a crash-and-burn season like Josh Freeman did during his contract year in 2013, which ultimately led to his stunning release midway through that year, Winston will become the first quarterback drafted by the Buccaneers to receive a second contract.

Former Bucs Qb Trent Dilfer - Photo By: Getty Images

Former Bucs QB Trent Dilfer – Photo by: Getty Images

For a franchise that has been around since 1976, and spent first-round picks on five quarterbacks, including Doug Williams, Vinny Testaverde, Trent Dilfer, Freeman and Winston, it’s astonishing that no drafted QB has been re-signed by the team. Winston will become the first, but it was a distinction that the Bucs had hoped to be earned by Freeman, and Dilfer before him.

I’ve chronicled the Bucs’ quirky 1998 season earlier in this week’s SR’s Fab 5, but while the disappointing of that underachieving season paid dividends for the team the next with an 11-5 record and an NFC Central division title, the lasting damage from that year was the fall of Dilfer, a first-round pick in 1994, in Tampa Bay.

Dilfer was coming off his best season in 1997, a playoff win over Detroit and his first and only Pro Bowl berth after completing 217-of-386 passes for 2,555 yards with 21 touchdowns and only 11 interceptions. The previous year saw Dilfer complete 55.4 percent of his passes and throw 12 touchdowns against 19 interceptions.

But instead of continuing to ascend, Dilfer regressed in 1998 and his penchant for committing costly turnovers almost single-handedly led to several defeats that season as the Bucs just missed out on the playoffs.

After his retirement, Bucs defensive tackle Warren Sapp would write about Dilfer in his book, “Sapp Attack.”

“Dilfer … basically was an interception waiting to happen,” Sapp said. “There were times we practically pleaded with him, ‘We know you’re not going to score a touchdown, but please, just don’t turn it over.’”

Time and time again the Bucs defense would have to bite their tongues in post-game interviews following losses where Dilfer’s interceptions would wind up preventing the team from winning more games.

“We went into every game trying to shut everybody out in 1998 and ‘99,” Ahanotu said. “We knew we didn’t have an offense. … We knew the defense was the face of the team.”

Dilfer started the fateful 1998 season completing 49-of-79 passes (62 percent) for 565 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions through the first three games of the season, despite the team’s 1-3 record. At first he looked like the quarterback that went to the Pro Bowl in 1997 as he was living up to his first-round draft billing.

Former Bucs Qb Trent Dilfer - Photo By: Getty Images

Former Bucs QB Trent Dilfer – Photo by: Getty Images

But a Week 4 game at Detroit on Monday Night Football would start Dilfer’s downward spiral in Tampa Bay, as he completed just 12-of-30 passes (40 percent) for 120 yards with one interception in a 27-6 defeat. That would be the first of five games in which Dilfer would complete less than 50 percent of his passes in 1998.

Although his completion percentage rose to 60 percent (12-of-20) the following week in a 20-3 win over the visiting New York Giants, Dilfer passed for a paltry 85 yards with one interception and no touchdowns. The Bucs would win because Danny Kanell was held to just 83 yards passing by Tampa Bay’s stifling defense, which picked him off three times, including a pick-six by free safety Charles Mincy in the first quarter.

One of Dilfer’s best games of the season came the next week in a 16-13 win against Carolina in which he completed 21-of-31 passes (67.7 percent) for 219 yards with one interception, but the former first-round pick also had a touchdown run and the game-winning TD pass late in the fourth quarter.

Dilfer’s receivers dropped a combined seven passes in a stunning 9-3 loss at New Orleans where he threw a season-high 44 passes, but had just 20 completions (45.5 percent) with no touchdowns and two interceptions.

The next week in Tampa Bay’s greatest win of the 1998 season, a 27-24 victory over the unbeaten Minnesota Vikings at home, Dilfer played caretaker of the football, completing just 11-of-22 passes (50 percent) for 132 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions, while Mike Alstott and Warrick Dunn both eclipsed 100 yards on the ground.

Three straight losses in the next three contests would ultimately doom Tampa Bay’s playoff hopes, and Dilfer didn’t play his best football. Dilfer was 9-of-23 (39.1 percent) for 189 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions in a 29-24 loss at Jacksonville.

Facing fourth-and-5 from Tampa Bay’s 35-yard line in the waning moments of the game, Dilfer rolled out and could have run for the first down and gotten out of bounds, but instead, stared down receiver Karl “The Truth” Williams and was picked off by Jaguars cornerback Aaron Beasley, who jumped in front of Williams.

Following the game, our chief photographer Cliff Welch wandered out onto the field as he normally does to take pictures of the players. He overheard Pro Bowl center Tony Mayberry have a conversation with a member of the Jaguars defense.

“Wow, you guys almost came to beat us,” the Jacksonville defender told Mayberry.

“Not with that guy as our quarterback,” said a frustrated Mayberry, as he pointed at a dejected Dilfer, who was walking to the locker room.

I had the chance to catch up with Mayberry on the phone earlier this week where we talked about the weird 1998 season and Dilfer’s downfall in Tampa Bay. I asked him if he recalled that conversation following the loss at Jacksonville, but Mayberry didn’t remember it.

“I said that? Wow, that’s awesome,” Mayberry laughed. “Hey, I was kind of funny-acting guy after games anyways. Football is an emotional roller coaster. I wouldn’t deny that, especially if that’s how it went down. My only thing is now, after being a little older and a little more reflective, I would say to my younger self, ‘Hey, Tony, why did you and your boys up front have it fourth-and-5 in the first place? Why did we put it all on the quarterback to make something special happen when we clearly didn’t do it the first three plays?’ That’s hindsight.

Former Bucs Qb Trent Dilfer - Photo By: Getty Images

Former Bucs QB Trent Dilfer – Photo by: Getty Images

“I was always amazed at how our defense would always bite their tongues after a few games like that – not just about Trent, but the whole offense. Those guys were cool as hell. They would say, ‘Uh, it was a team loss. We have to do better. We missed a lot of opportunities.’ And I would say, ‘Man, you guys got three interceptions! There were plenty of opportunities right there.’ It was pretty much all on our defense, but nobody over there really bitched and moaned. They would always say they had to do a better job, but the reality was that they were pretty much damn near perfect.”

Dilfer’s inconsistency continued as the Bucs finished 8-8 that year. Following a 31-17 win at Chicago in which he completed 59 percent of his passes for 283 yards with three touchdowns and one interception, Dilfer was just 9-of-22 (40.9 percent) with two touchdowns and one pick in a 24-22 win over Green Bay on Monday Night Football. The Bucs defense led the way that game with eight sacks of Brett Favre, who fumbled six times.

The next week saw Dilfer complete 9-of-18 passes (50 percent) for 111 yards in a rainy, 16-3 win over Pittsburgh as the Bucs got back to .500 with a 7-7 record after being in a 4-7 hole earlier in the season. But a disastrous performance the next week at Washington led to a 21-16 loss that all but eliminated Tampa Bay from playoff contention. Dilfer was 14-of-34 (41.2 percent) for 100 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions – both of which came in the fourth quarter as the Bucs were trying to mount a comeback.

Dilfer bounced back the next week, completing 10-of-16 passes for 111 yards with two touchdowns and one interception, which would give him a total of 21 TDs and 15 INTs on the year – four more picks than he had in the 1997 season. Dilfer’s uneven performances and penchant for throwing interceptions prompted the Bucs to spend a second-round pick on quarterback Shaun King in 1999.

The writing was on the wall for Dilfer, who was in a downward spiral in Tampa Bay after the 1998 season, but he hadn’t hit rock bottom just yet.

That would come in the season opener of the 1999 campaign, which was a 17-13 loss to the New York Giants. Dilfer completed 15-of-31 (48.4 percent) for 174 yards with one touchdown, three interceptions and fumbled the ball three times. The problem was that one of those fumbles was recovered by Giants defensive tackle Christian Peter, who rumbled 38 yards for a scoop-and-score to give New York an early 7-0 lead in the first quarter.

After the Bucs built a 10-7 lead at halftime, Dilfer threw three second-half interceptions in an epic meltdown that would lead to Tony Dungy pulling Dilfer in the fourth quarter and inserting backup quarterback Eric Zeier, who threw an interception himself and failed to rally the team for the win. Dilfer’s first interception was a pick-six in the third quarter, and the second touchdown he had given the Giants defense that day.

Former Bucs Qb Trent Dilfer - Photo By: Getty Images

Former Bucs QB Trent Dilfer – Photo by: Getty Images

Two more interceptions came in the fourth quarter, including a wild, ill-advised pass that Dilfer threw as he was running out of bounds. Dilfer just chucked the ball downfield and the pass was intercepted by Giants defensive back Percy Ellsworth, who had two picks that day.

What was even more devastating to Tampa Bay was that the Bucs had held New York to just 107 yards of total offense and just three points, which came in the fourth quarter following Dilfer’s second interception.

That’s right. What was actually one of the best games ever by a Tampa Bay defense, was lost due to Dilfer’s four turnovers.

“It’s a simple case of trying to do too much,” Dilfer said after the game. “I was trying to make some things happen when I probably should have thrown the ball away.”

For the past few years, the Bucs defensive players had bit their tongues when it came to discussing Dilfer’s turnovers, but the Wednesday after the loss to the Giants in the season opener, defensive end Chidi Ahanotu blasted Dilfer in front of a few media members, including yours truly, in front of his locker during the media’s open locker room time.

“Do you mean the normally quiet and subdued Chidi Ahanotu?” Mayberry recalled with a laugh. “That guy was outspoken about everything – including lunch.”

Ahanotu had the guts to say what every member of the Bucs defense – and some on Tampa Bay’s offense – was thinking.

“I’m not afraid to tell it like it is,” Ahanotu said on that Wednesday in September of 1999. “Everyone knows his performance sucked. I mean that’s not a big secret. That’s not anything that’s a big controversy.”

I asked Ahanotu point-blank if he still had faith in Dilfer following his four-turnover performance in the 1999 season opener.

“Do I have faith in Trent, or does the defense?” Ahanotu continued. “I can’t speak for the defense. Come on, man, this is no knock on Trent. But it’s [expletive] reality. I’m tired of trying to sugarcoat things. If somebody throws three interceptions and no touchdowns, no, I can’t have faith in that. The team is talking about let’s compete and let the best man win – then let’s do that. If I wasn’t playing well, I would sit me down. That’s what I would do. That’s me.”

Ahanotu’s outburst sparked a local media storm in 1999 that would have been much, much bigger had ProFootballTalk.com and Twitter been around back then, or if Ahanotu would have been filmed saying those remarks.

I spoke with Ahanotu this week and we talked about his controversial statements, which were immediately addressed by head coach Tony Dungy that afternoon.

“When I came out after the Giants game and said that about Trent, when you have four or five turnovers – whatever it was – you can’t win that way,” Ahanotu said. 
“That blew up into a big thing and I walked into the locker room and everyone was looking at me, saying, ‘Man, how could you say that?’ I said, ‘Are you kidding me? It’s the truth! You can’t win like that.’ At the exact same time Trent walked into the locker room and he heard about it. I walked over to his locker and said, ‘Hey, Trent, I didn’t mean anything personal about you. I was just saying that we can’t win that way. I was making a factual statement.’ He looked at me and said, ‘Hey, Chidi. It’s all right. I have to get better.’ And I appreciated that.

Former Bucs De Chidi Ahanotu - Photo By: Getty Images

Former Bucs DE Chidi Ahanotu – Photo by: Getty Images

“But that game was when we started thinking, ‘Okay, he’s a liability. He’s going to be a detriment to this greatness that we can accomplish.’ We already felt that way, but after that game it was already a kick in the gut.”

Dilfer completed 7-of-14 passes (50 percent) for 89 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions in a 19-5 win at Philadelphia the next week, but gave the Eagles two points when he didn’t get the snap from Mayberry and the ball went through the back of the end zone for a safety.

Dilfer completed 83.3 percent of his passes (15-of-18) the next week in a 13-10 win against Denver, but for only 135 yards as a lot of his passes were check-downs. Dilfer passed for 301 yards and two touchdowns in a 21-14 loss at Minnesota the next week, but had a fourth quarter interception that stymied the Bucs’ comeback hopes.

The Fresno State product threw for just 110 yards with one touchdown and three interceptions in a 26-23 loss at Green Bay the following week. After a fair performance the next week in a 6-3 win led by Tampa Bay’s defense, Dilfer looked like he turned a corner completing 15-of-20 passes (75 percent) for 227 yards and three touchdowns in a 31-16 win at New Orleans. The next week in a 17-10 win against Kansas City, Dilfer completed 17-of-27 passes (62.9 percent) for 270 yards with two touchdowns and one interception.

But in last full start in Tampa Bay, a 19-10 win against Atlanta, Dilfer completed 15-of-31 passes (48.3 percent) for 142 yards with no touchdowns and one interception. Dilfer would break his collarbone the next week in Seattle after completing 5-of-11 passes (45.4 percent) for 50 yards. Zeier relieved him, only to be injured and pave the way for King to take over down the stretch as a rookie.

Dilfer would complete 59.8 percent of his passes for 1,618 yards with 11 touchdowns and 11 interceptions in his final year in Tampa Bay. Dilfer’s contract expired after the 1999 season and the Bucs would not re-sign him, opting to go with King, who helped lead the team to a 5-1 record down the stretch, and home playoff win against Washington before an 11-6 loss at St. Louis in the NFC Championship Game.

I reached out to Dilfer to comment on the 1998 and ‘99 seasons, but he did not return my call or text. I’m not surprised as those were not Dilfer’s best years, and I don’t blame him for wanting to relive that disappointing period of his career.

For much of his time in Tampa Bay, Dilfer put too much pressure himself to live up to his first-round draft status. At times he was often his own worst enemy. A gunslinger at Fresno State where he put up prolific passing numbers in college, Dilfer struggled with being a game manager in Mike Shula’s run-first offense. Too often Dilfer would struggle to find his rhythm, as the Bucs would often try to use the first quarter to establish its potent ground game.

“You could tell he was pressing, but I think he was wired that way,” Ahanotu said of Dilfer. “That was his problem, and I don’t know how you treat that. He panicked a lot out there. You can’t play quarterback like that, man. You’ve got to be calm, cool and collected out there.”

Mayberry, who snapped the ball to Dilfer during the quarterback’s entire six-year career in Tampa Bay – yes, Dilfer’s rookie deal was a six-year contract – agreed.

“For Trent and as tough as he was physically, I think he felt like the pressure was on him a lot of the time,” Mayberry said. “I think he might have been gripping the ball a little too tight – as we all have.

“So goes the NFL – you’re only as good as your last roll of film you’ve put out. In your first foray into the NFL you quickly realize that the team is always trying to replace you with somebody better and younger. That’s how the league was – it’s ‘What have you done for me lately?’ And I still think it’s that way until this day. The quarterback is such a multi-dimensional position in that you need a lot of different things to come together at a certain time while you have to perform physically and mentally.”

Former Bucs Qb Trent Dilfer - Photo By: Getty Images

Former Bucs QB Trent Dilfer – Photo by: Getty Images

Mayberry never criticized Dilfer publicly or privately, and appreciated how Dilfer kept getting up and fighting even after being knocked down so many times in Tampa Bay – literally and figuratively.

“It’s tough to say at that time when you’re in it,” Mayberry said. “Your job is to do your job. We were only as good as our weakest link, but we our hands full just trying to get our stuff straight up front, especially protection-wise. We had to get on the same page with the backs, the tight ends and Trent calling the right protection, you can’t put it solely on one guy. I’m sure he has passes that he would like to have back, but at the same time, he was an extremely tough guy. Physically tough.

“Later in his career he grew to be mentally tough as far as not letting moments get to him. But he was still young and those are things you learn through experience. But his physical toughness – the ability to get back up after being hit – you think of Brad Johnson and even Jeff Garcia for as small as he was. He was unusually tough. I think Trent was in that category. He never bitched at the line even when we didn’t always do right by him.”

Dilfer would sign with Baltimore as a free agent the next season as Tony Banks’ backup, and as fate would have it, he helped lead the Ravens to a Super Bowl victory – at Raymond James Stadium of all places – against the New York Giants. Dilfer, who went 7-1 during the regular season with the Ravens, exorcised some demons with his triumphant win in Tampa over a Giants team that had previously had his number and contributed to his downfall with the Buccaneers the prior season.

“That year he won the Super Bowl with the Ravens I saw a whole different Trent,” Ahanotu said. “I guess when you get to the bottom you let go of some things. I saw a calm, cool and collected quarterback, but that’s all we really needed – that guy that the Ravens had. We didn’t need anything spectacular, throwing long touchdown passes. Just don’t lose the game for us.”

As Winston tries to do what Dilfer couldn’t, which was to get a second contract from the Bucs, it’s kind of ironic that the same is being asked of him as he tries to eliminate some of the costly turnovers that have plagued him – just don’t lose the game.

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