DeBerg Is Feeling the Heat in Tampa

TAMPA, Fla. —  It wasn’t the kind of tune you’d teach your children to jump rope to, in fact it was about subtle as “Lizzie Borden took an ax . . . “

Tampa Bay quarterback Steve DeBerg heard the last chorus Sunday as the Buccaneers funneled through the tunnel leading out of Tampa Stadium.

“Steve DeBerg can go to hell, Steve DeBerg can go to hell,” bellowed a man in the stands who was clearly more a lyricist than vocalist.

DeBerg just lowered his head and walked on by, pretending not to hear.

Only moments had passed since the end of another painful day in the sun for DeBerg and the Buccaneers.

Zero and six. It hurts just to say it.

The Rams had done it again, tip-toeing their way to a 31-27 win just when it seemed the winless Buccaneers had a game tucked away in their hip pocket.

For this, Tampa Bay fans unleased their rage on DeBerg, who completed only 14 of 34 pass attempts and was intercepted four times.

Meanwhile, on the bench, sits millionaire tycoon pass charter, Steve Young.

With 5:58 left Sunday and Tampa Bay ahead by three, DeBerg threw his second touchdown pass of the day--for the Rams. This one was returned 34 yards for the winning touchdown by cornerback LeRoy Irvin.

When DeBerg returned to the huddle for the next series, still with plenty of time to be a hero and win the game, the fans let him have it.

“It was the first time I’ve ever been booed,” DeBerg said later.

DeBerg’s first pass after his interception was intercepted, again by Irvin.

And then it began, starting slowly but quickly building to a swell. “We Want Young, We Want Young. We Want Young.”

Men, women, children. They all joined in.

“I understand,” said DeBerg, who’s been chased out of town by great quarterbacks before. “I wasn’t playing well and we’ve got another real good quarterback. I take a large part of the blame. The difference in the game was two interceptions returned for touchdowns and I’m in control of that.”

And so the tension mounts in Tampa. The fans want Young, the former BYU All-American who signed with Tampa Bay a month ago after escaping from his United States Football League contract with the L.A. Express.

Young, of course, can’t sit still.

“Any athlete that dresses out wants to play,” he said.

But Buccaneer Coach Leeman Bennett isn’t biting. He says Young isn’t ready and he’s tired of talking about it.

Any thoughts of changing quarterbacks, Bennett was asked afterward?

“No,” he said, firmly. “I have no plans to make any changes. I’m not anxious to put him (Young) in the game.”

Never? Not even if you’re 0-10?

“I’ll put him in when I think he’s ready to go,” Bennett said.

End of subject.

Except for Young, who doesn’t know what to think.

“I’ve kind of been left in the cold,” he said.

It’s not that Bennett is ignoring Young--”He says ‘Hi’ to me and stuff”--it’s just that Young doesn’t appear close to playing.

He’s still listed as Tampa Bay’s third-string quarterback behind DeBerg and Alan Risher. During the week, Young runs the scout team and gets only a minimal amount of snaps with the first team.

Publicly, Young isn’t making a big deal about it. But privately he said he thinks Bennett is purposely holding him back so he isn’t tempted to use Young too soon, like Sunday, for instance.

Young said he’s boning up on the offense on his own, sneaking out at night with the Tampa Bay playbook to study the plays when no one is looking.

“I’ve been taking snaps for a month,” Young said. “But I don’t want to get too involved in this. I’ll try to avoid any problems.”

DeBerg, though, may be in a heap of trouble.

He certainly didn’t earn any bonus points with Bennett afterward.

With 1:54 left and the Rams leading, 31-27, Tampa Bay was faced with fourth and five on its own 10-yard line.

Bennett decided to punt the ball, thinking his team might get the ball back one more time. It didn’t.

“I don’t know what he was thinking,” DeBerg said of Bennett’s decision to punt. “I don’t understand it. I didn’t think we could get the ball back and we only had two timeouts left.”

And so ended another dreary day in Tampa, where, according to the sign above the stadium tunnel where the players exit the field, “The Good Life Gets Better Every Day.”

Sunday, it didn’t mean much to Steve DeBerg.