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Friday, February 4, 2000
So close,
yet so far for
coaches of NFC,
AFC runners-up
Tampa Bay's Tony Dungy
By Paul Arnett
and Jacksonville's Tom Coughlin
are on the Pro Bowl sidelines after
missing shots at the Super Bowl
Star-Bulletin
Tom Dungy
Tom Coughlin
A week's stay in Hawaii isn't enough to dull the disappointment Tony Dungy and Tom Coughlin still feel after falling one game shy of the Super Bowl.
The two head coaches in this Sunday's 50th annual Pro Bowl would rather be back at the drawing board rearranging all those X's and O's as the free-agent portion of the season approaches.
The National Football League's all-star game is a strange assignment for these two men and their staffs. On the one hand, the consolation prize for making it to the NFL's version of the final four is the American dream destination. But on the other, it's a nagging reminder that getting close only counts in slow dances and long embraces.
"This game is a reward for these players,'' said Jacksonville's Coughlin, who will coach the AFC this weekend. "But for coaches, you'd like to be spending your time looking at the free agents to see if anybody can maybe help you get to the next level.
"What we have to do to get to the Super Bowl is to find a way to beat Tennessee. We need to figure out how to stop their defensive rush and make some plays against them. This was a good season that ended badly. We were disappointed at not being in the Super Bowl.''
In the movie "Highlander,'' the phrase of the day is, "There can be only one.'' The Jaguars looked like they were the one before three losses to the Titans proved otherwise.
Dungy is not quite in the same category as Coughlin. Unlike his Florida counterpart, Dungy and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers weren't the sure thing of the NFC, especially after quarterback Trent Dilfer went down with an injury, leaving rookie Shaun King under center.
But thanks to one of the more dominant defenses in the NFL, the Bucs were only a play away from upsetting the eventual Super Bowl champion St. Louis Rams.
"We had a very good season, we just didn't score enough points in the title game,'' Dungy said. "That's one of the best things about this event.
"You talk to people about how they played against you and what they do that works for them. I'm looking to make a change on offense. That doesn't mean we're going to use the run-and-shoot. But we need to find a way to move the ball more effectively.''
Tampa Bay didn't score a touchdown in five games under the direction of offensive coordinator Mike Shula, who was fired yesterday against Dungy's wishes. This season, the Bucs finished 28th in the NFL on offense. A marked improvement in that area could be the lift Tampa Bay needs to make it to the Super Bowl.
Dungy has yet to renew the contracts of any of his offensive assistants.
He already cut Dilfer lose, putting the pressure squarely on the shoulder pads of King.
"We're going to try to do some things that Shaun is comfortable with,'' Dungy said. "Like most teams, we're also going to look at the free agents and see if anybody can help us right away.''
Coughlin doesn't have that quandary. Quarterback Mark Brunnell and wideout Jimmy Smith are here with him this week. Smith led the league in receptions with 116 and six touchdowns. Brunnell completed 259 of 441 passes for 3,060 yards and 14 touchdowns.
"We did a lot of things right on offense,'' Coughlin said.
"Except when we played Tennessee. I don't know what it is, but for some reason we turned the ball over way too many times against them. We didn't play our game and it cost us a shot at the Super Bowl.''
As for this weekend, Coughlin is going to spend some time helping his players relax and enjoy what Hawaii has to offer. But he also plans to go hard on Sunday and try to get an AFC win.
Dungy's approach hasn't been quite as militant. The NFC practices have been light and not all that lengthy. The Tampa Bay head coach seems more interested in picking his players' brains.
Take Washington Redskins quarterback Brad Johnson as an example. Here's a guy injured a year ago whose future belonged to Minnesota. He eventually gets traded to the Redskins and is able to lead that team to the playoffs.
"I was asking him what was different about the system he runs now in Washington as opposed to what he did in Minnesota,'' Dungy said. "I asked him what he liked about it, to give me the pros and cons and things like that. What's better, what works best.
"It's really good to talk to other players because I remember being here in 1985 and talking then to Howie Long and Marcus Allen about the way they practiced and some things they did, and I took that into account when I became a head coach.''
TV: Live on KITV, Sunday, 12:30 p.m. Pro Bowl
Radio: KGU-AM (760)
Internet: Pro Bowl site
