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Sunday, January 21
Irony not lost as Dilfer returns to Tampa
By John Clayton
ESPN.com
OWINGS MILLS, Md. -- Trent Dilfer is more in the center of the Super Bowl XXXV media hype than even the national press realizes. His $1 million-plus dream house was built on Harbour Island, just across the waterway from the Super Bowl media headquarters at the Tampa Marriott Waterside.
|  | | Trent Dilfer's passing style is good enough for Baltimore. |
"We built our dream house, and put a lot into it," Dilfer said.
"We started building it right after my Pro Bowl year (in 1997). The best
part of it was my office. I had a hand-painted 17th-century map. I had
cherry ceiling beams. The office was in such a great spot. It looked over
the water. I used to do my film study up there."
This week, Dilfer returns to Tampa Bay, to the city where he started his professional career after the Buccaneers drafted him sixth in the 1994. He plays in the same stadium where he quarterbacked the Bucs up until late last season, including leading Tampa Bay to its first-ever undefeated November in 1999.
But by the playoffs, Dilfer was hurt and Shaun King was the quarterback. By the offseason, Dilfer was an unrestricted free agent. By March, he was with Baltimore.
Next Sunday, he returns to Raymond James Stadium -- as the starting quarterback in the Super Bowl.
"I thought I was going to be in Tampa for a long time," Dilfer
said. "That's what I was being told. I had redone my contract after the Pro
Bowl year. They wanted me to do an eight-year extension. But this time last
year, I'd figure I'd be gone, seeing what Shaun King was doing. The city
took on the personality that it wanted me out."
So he sold the house, loaded up the truck and moved on to Baltimore,
signing a $1 million, one-year contract that was less than the value of his
Harbour Island home.
When he takes his first Super Bowl snap, Dilfer joins Doug Williams, Chris Chandler and Steve Young as ex-Bucs quarterbacks to start a Super Bowl. Another, Vinny Testaverde, made it to the AFC Championship with the Jets but he kept a home near Tampa.
The moral to the story: Tampa is a great place to live. Just don't play quarterback -- and expect to get to the big game -- while you're there.
"Tampa is a place that is very special for me," Dilfer said.
"People can say what they want, but they were six of the better years of my
life. I appreciate what I learned from my experiences there. I have a ton of
people that I am very close to and look forward to playing in front of
them."
Dilfer returns to Tampa minus one element of his game that used to dog him.
Six years of Tampa Bay criticism and scrutiny has left him numb and almost
carefree coming into the biggest game of his life.
He knows the history. He left a franchise that had a Super Bowl-caliber defense, but felt compelled enough to add three Pro Bowl players -- Keyshawn Johnson, Randall McDaniel and Jeff Christy -- to its offense. He knows that in Baltimore, the talent may or may not be better than the Bucs'.
But Ravens head coach Brian Billick instilled a mentality within Dilfer that he doesn't have to worry
about being the main playmaker. With the Ravens, he's only asked to be the
distributor. Come up with one or two big plays instead of 10 or 12.
"That more fearless approach to the game has freed me from having
to worry about what everybody else is doing around me," Dilfer said. "In
Tampa, I thought I had to control what everybody else was doing around me. I
didn't trust my players as much as I should. I was wrong for that."
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That more fearless approach to the game has freed me from having
to worry about what everything else is doing around me. In
Tampa, I thought I had to control what everybody else was doing around me. I
didn't trust my players as much as I should. I was wrong for that. ” |
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— Trent Dilfer |
Dilfer is considered one of the most honest interviews in the sport. Too often, he sat around with reporters and talked openly. During those
interviews, he'd say that this player didn't do this or that player didn't
do that. Bucs players resented it. Fans choose sides, and as the years
rolled on, they abandoned Dilfer.
Now, he doesn't care what's said. For three playoff games, Dilfer
has sat within earshot of Ravens tight end Shannon Sharpe in postgame
interviews. Sharpe has indicated that the Ravens have won despite having Dilfer at quarterback.
After beating Tennessee in the divisional playoffs, for example, Sharpe said if the Ravens had a real
quarterback, they'd win by 35 or 40 points. He wasn't blasting Dilfer. The two
players developed into the best big-play combo through the playoffs and are
friends off the field.
Sharpe's point is that the Ravens are a team that spreads the
responsibility and doesn't have to have individual stars.
Dilfer doesn't listen to talk that maybe he's the worst Super Bowl quarterback ever. He knows he's completed only 23 of 48 playoff passes for 437 yards in three games.
He doesn't listen to the talk that, even if he wins the Super
Bowl, he's not guaranteed a home in Baltimore. Brad Johnson, whom Billick groomed into a playoff-caliber quarterback, is an
unrestricted free agent. So is Dilfer.
"Trent is probably closest to Brad as far as his orchestration of
the game, his arm strength and the way he is in the huddle," Billick said.
For Dilfer, life is simple now. His coach likes him (though he's not sure for how long). His teammates like him. That's all he cares about.
"I've always wanted to earn the respect of the people I play
with," Dilfer said. "I did have that in Tampa. I've had more phone calls
from ex-teammates that are truly happy for me. That's all I've ever tried to
do. In the outside world, there are going to be people that like me and
people that don't. You can't control either one. Hey, I'm surprised to be in
this football game. But I've had great people around me most of my life,
people that cared for my soul as much as they cared for my career."
That's why the people he will be looking forward to seeing in Tampa are
the Bucs' team chaplain and other individuals who offered Christian support
to the team. Dilfer is a player who has strong beliefs. He was asked what he
thought he brought to the Ravens.
"I don't know, maybe belief," Dilfer said. "I believed from the
moment I got here that there is something special about this team. When you
become the quarterback, we were in a little bit of a rough spot and hadn't
scored in a while and had lost a couple of games. I just wanted people to
know from my limited experience in the league that this was the best team I
had never been a part of and that our schedule favors us down the stretch. I
know that at the end of 16 games, we are going to win a lot of football
games."
They did, and Dilfer's not worried about the rest.
"I enjoyed not getting the attention," Dilfer said, recalling his
days early in the season when he was the backup. "But I also enjoy playing.
The attention overwhelms you at times. I'm a person that would rather sit at
home and read a book."
Reading a book in a million-dollar home in Harbour Island turned out
to be fiction. Super Bowl XXXV is reality. Dilfer just wants to enjoy the
moment.
John Clayton is a senior writer at ESPN.com
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