TAMPA, Fla. (AP) -Playing mostly zone in the Tampa 2 system for the past 12 seasons, cornerback Ronde Barber was able to torment quarterbacks in obvious passing situations, trusting his instincts to anticipate plays and move on the football.
More often than not, he guessed right. It showed with 37 interceptions, 23 sacks and 13 touchdowns in his career, including 11 on fumble and interception returns – tied for third-most in NFL history.
A new scheme will require him to play more bump and run coverage than in Monte Kiffin’s defense, and at age 34 and coming off a sub-par season, Barber is determined to prove he’s still a top-flight NFL corner.
“It’s completely out of my control what people say about me,” Barber said. “I just go out and do my job. Hopefully that speaks for itself.”
le recoveries.
Like Barber, first-year Bucs coach Raheem Morris rejects the notion that the corner owes his success to the Bucs’ version of Cover 2.
“He’s out to prove you guys wrong,” said Morris, who’s worked with Tampa Bay’s secondary for six of the past seven years, including 2008 as defensive backs coach.
“He’s not a system corner. If he’s a system corner, then I don’t know any other Cover 2 corners out there that have those kinds of numbers,” the coach added. “Keep producing those system corners and maybe you can call him that.”
Kiffin is now at the University of Tennessee and Morris has taken over after briefly holding the title of defensive coordinator. The Bucs are learning a system installed by defensive coordinator Jim Bates, which calls for more man-to-man coverage and blitzing.
“It’s a deny defense. You take away part of the offense’s game plan and hope to succeed. A lot of it is deny and run. It’s not so much I’m playing man-to-man every snap,” Barber said. “But it’s different. It’s something I’m certainly getting used to, but I think it’s something we can handle. I think it’s something that’s good.”
Under Kiffin, Tampa Bay ranked in the top 10 in total defense 11 of the past 12 seasons. Neverthless, Morris was not willing to stand on that.
eneral manager Mark Dominik wanted to go younger.
Barber, who struggled at times last season, survived the purge and is now one of three players – along with kicker Matt Bryant and punter Josh Bidwell – in training camp who are older than the 32-year-old Morris, the youngest coach in the NFL.
The twin of former New York Giants running back Tiki Barber embraces the challenge of learning Bates’ system.
“Coming to training camp the past eight or nine years, it was almost second nature. I was going through the motions. I knew exactly what I needed to do. Come game time, I could start gearing it up,” Barber said. “But this training camp for me is a lot different, trying to figure out where I can make plays.”
The 13th-year pro expects this edition of the Bucs defense to be faster and more physical.
“I can already feel that. … We just have a youthful exuberance in the locker room. It’s different. We were definitely a team run by our veterans in the past, and that’s all well and good when you drive from the top down,” Barber said.
“But really really good football teams are driven from the bottom up. We’re only as good as the 53rd guy. If he’s got an attitude, and he’s carrying that with him, we can be a good football team.”
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