The new head coach is a tough, no-nonsense guy, plucked from the college ranks to turn around a Tampa Bay Buccaneers team reeling from losses and a lack of discipline.
The oft-criticized ownership desperately wants to win back disenchanted fans.
The quarterback is the face of the franchise: a tall, talented kid who made a splash in the NFL draft and now carries the hopes and dreams of the Bucs on his strong passing arm.
Sounds a lot like today, doesn’t it?
But I’m not talking about rookie NFL head coach Greg Schiano, fresh out of Rutgers University and determined to undo the 4-12 mess of 2011 under Raheem Morris. And I’m not referring to the Glazer Family or star quarterback Josh Freeman.
Welcome to Aug. 3, 1987.
It was 25 years ago Friday that a photo of No. 1 overall draft pick Vinny Testaverde was splashed on the cover of Sports Illustrated sporting that old Buc orange, with the headline trumpeting: THE NFL’S $8 MILLION MAN.
The issue also contained a five-page feature about his life, dazzling collegiate career at Miami and new life with the Bucs.
I remember that story very well. That’s because I wrote it.
It was a time of big change for the Bucs. Owner Hugh Culverhouse had become fed up with the losing, undisciplined ways of his team under Leeman Bennett (Then again, what did he expect when he hired Bennett away from the RV dealership he ran just north of Atlanta?)
After a pair of 2-14 seasons under Bennett, Culverhouse fired Bennett (awkward, since Bennett showed up to the press conference not realizing he’d been canned) and then conducted a whirlwind search for a successor.
Bypassing an available Steve Spurrier — a hiring that would have been a huge hit with the fans — Culverhouse instead flew to his native Alabama.
He offered the job virtually on the spot to stern, steely-eyed Ray Perkins, who was serving as head coach at the University of Alabama, where he’d once played for the legendary Bear Bryant.
The disciplined-minded Perkins accepted, and Culverhouse proudly proclaimed that he had found his very own Vince Lombardi.
Yet the focal point of the new era in Tampa Bay would be Testaverde, signing for a “fortune” reserved for the top selection in the draft.
It’s amusing to reflect on how much things have changed over a quarter-century and, in some ways, so little.
At the time, Testaverde’s deal (officially, $8.2-million over six years) was a pretty decent haul at the time, behind only the salaries of top-dog quarterbacks Dan Marino with the Dolphins and Jim Kelly with the Bills.
But it pales in comparison to the more recent price tags. In 2010, the St. Louis Rams paid No. 1 pick, quarterback Sam Bradford, a cool $78 million over six years, with a record $50 million guaranteed. A year earlier, the Lions shelled out $72 million for top pick Matthew Stafford, with $41.7 million guaranteed.
Under the new collective bargaining agreement, rookies now receive considerably less.
But even so, Robert Griffin III commanded $21.12 million over four years from Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder this year, with a signing bonus worth $5 million more than Testaverde’s entire deal.
Still, back in the spring of 1987, the Heisman Trophy winner was all the rage around Tampa Bay.
He was the guy Perkins wanted more than the incumbent starter, a young quarterback named Steve Young, who was dealt to the San Francisco 49ers, just a little stop on the road to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
I’d covered the Bucs as the beat writer for the then-St. Petersburg Times during the fabled John McKay coaching era, then moved on to writing about the NFL at-large when SI editors contacted me about writing the piece on Vinny and the Bucs.
I’d done other pieces for the magazine and jumped at the chance to do this one. I flew to Long Island to spend time in his old neighborhood and hang out with Vinny's father, Al, at the QB’s favorite pizzeria during his childhood.
And I hung out with Vinny at the docks in downtown St. Petersburg, where he got to pilot a "Miami Vice"-style cigarette boat painted Buccaneer orange and white with a big No. 14 on the hull.
SI sent down a photographer to capture the scene for the issue, and all sorts people came out of the woodwork for the shoot — including, in an odd twist, former Buc quarterback Jack Thompson.
The Throwin’ Samoan, who got the cold shoulder in Tampa Bay simply for being the passer who replaced Doug Williams, presided over Tampa Bay’s 2-14 season of 1983. Now he was a businessman, welcoming Testaverde to town along with everyone else.
I remember Vinny as quiet and polite during the interview, still trying to adjust to life in the limelight — including singing on stage with the Beach Boys before 52,000 fans inside Tampa Stadium and having enough cash to buy his dad a Lincoln Town Car and his mom Josie an Oldsmobile Ciera.
At the end of our interview, he had a request. He was thirsty and didn’t have any dough on him, so he asked if I had any change for a soda in a nearby machine. I gladly obliged with the required 50 cents and headed home to write the story that would run with the headline, “Vinny’s Ship Comes In.”
Anyone who follows NFL in general or Bucs specifically knows the rest of it.
Testaverde had some dazzling moments in Tampa Bay orange, but his stay with the Bucs was marked by errors both by him and the team.
As the full-time starter in 1988, he threw 13 TDs and 3,240 passing yards but a whopping 35 interceptions. Many fans and talk-radio types were cruel, taunting him over his color blindness. And the heavy pressure heaped on him by Perkins, always in his ear, didn’t help.
During his rocky tenure as a starter, the Bucs finished 5-11 in 1988, 5-11 in ’89, 6-10 in 1990 (when Perkins was fired), 3-13 in 1991 (under Richard Williamson) and 5-11 in 1992 (in Sam Wyche’s first season at the helm).
He began to improve at the end with Tampa Bay, enjoying his best completion percentage his final season at 57.5 (with 2,554 yards, 14 TDs and 16 picks). But life in the NFL truly improved once he left behind the days of Creamsicle orange.
In the years that followed, he resurrected his career as a solid quarterback with Cleveland (1993-95), Baltimore (1996-97), the New York Jets (1998-2003), Dallas (2004), the Jets once again (2005), a very brief stint in New England (2006) and, finally, Carolina (2007).
In the end, what made his career remarkable was his longevity, with some noteworthy all-time numbers to go with it.
All told, he played 21 seasons, a true feat by any standard in the NFL, especially considering how many players are derailed by injury. He set the NFL record for most consecutive seasons with at least one touchdown pass (21) and the oldest quarterback to win an NFL game (44 in 2007).
He’s sixth on the league’s all-time list for passing yardage at 46,233 — behind an elite list that includes Brett Favre, Dan Marino, Peyton Manning, John Elway, Warren Moon and Fran Tarkenton.
He’s also fourth all-time in interceptions thrown with 267, behind Favre (336), George Blanda (277) and John Hadl (268) — and just ahead of Tarkenton (266), Norm Snead (257) and Johnny Unitas (253).
Pretty darn good company, either way you look at it. And a pretty darn good NFL career, one that began 25 years ago and was trumpeted to the world by that long-ago Sports Illustrated cover.
Now, if I could only collect interest on that 50-cent loan in ’87, I’d have it made.
