Fire the Cannons; A Tampa Bay Bucs TL

[Jim Smitty]

Seattle(6) at Kansas City (3)

Kansas City won the division on a title breaker. Seattle was on a six game losing streak that had started with their lost to Tampa. Seattle edged out the defending Super Bowl champs Jets for the sixth seed. Many believed this game would take a back seat to the Buffalo v Tennessee game for the AFC. They would be right.

The game itself was an ugly game with mistakes on both sides. The defining moment of the game was when early in the third with the Chiefs being down two in the 9 to 7 game. Elvis Grbac was in the pocket getting ready to pass when he was sacked by Sam Adams. Grbac didn’t get up after the play. In what would latter be confirmed as an MCL tear, that play ended Grbac’s day. This brought Warren Moon into the game. The aging QB took over the game and help guide the Chiefs to victory over the Seahawks. However there were many questions around the Chiefs going into the Divisional Round.

Kansas City Advances, 17-12


Buffalo(5) at Tennessee(4)

This game was to be the highlight of the AFC Wildcard Weekend. Indeed it was but not in the way it was expected. The game was expected to be an offensive game. Instead it was a defensive grudge match with the game staying scoreless well into the third quarter when Al Del Greco kicked a 51 yard field goal. This gave the Bills the ball back at with 9 seconds left in the third. Even worse for Buffalo they were pinned inside the five at the four. What happened next would simply become known as The Drive. Over the next 13 minutes and 4 seconds the Buffalo drove the length of the field. Thurman Thomas would punch the ball through to the end zone. With the extra point the Bills took the lead for the first time all game. The Titans took the Ball back a minute 58 left in the game after the kick off. They had only one time out left. The long drive had allowed the Bills defensive to rest. The Titans were in a hurry up offensive and on a third and ten from their 31 with 1 minute 29 left on the clock Steve McNair hit Kevin Dyson around the 50. Just as Dyson was turning to run he was leveled by Henry Jones. This hit caused Dyson who would leave the game with a concussion to cough up the ball. The ball was recovered by Kurt Schulz who simply stayed on the ground after briefly looking like he would run with it.

Just as the Bills offensive was snapping the ball referee Phil Luckett called a time out challenge to the last play had been started by the booth replay team. Bills Head Coach Wade Philips was going nuts as they had already snap the ball meaning that the fumble couldn’t be reviewed. For the next seven minutes everyone was on edge in Adelphia Coliseum. Luckett then announced that Dyson didn’t fumble the ball and it was Titans first down at the Buffalo 49. The Bills were pissed at they had already snapped the ball before the review call came in. However, the Bills Defensive came back on to the field. The next play McNair was trying to hit Derrick Mason only for Manny Martin to pick off the pass at the Buffalo 32. Martin then ran back to the Buffalo 41 before running out of bounce. After which the Bills ran the clock out.

Buffalo Advances, 7-3

 

[Jim Smitty]

Dallas(6) at Washington(3)

Dallas had just sneaked into the playoffs but had a number of key players setting the game out with injuries, including Michael Irvin, Daryl Johnson, and Troy Aikman. All three would retire following the season. Washington had been led to its playoff birth by newly signed Jeff Garcia and had only edged out Dallas for the NFC East Title. This game was little more than a warm up for Washington. Dallas pulled Jason Garrett out of the game at half after he threw three interceptions and lost a fumble. Garrett was replaced by Mike Quinn who did better than Garrett but by that point it was too late.

Washington Advances, 38-13


Minnesota(5) at Green Bay(4)

This was wildly believed to be the best game on wild card weekend. Unlike the Seattle at Kansas City or Dallas at Washington game both teams didn’t had injury issues coming into the game nor suffer injuries in this game. And unlike the Buffalo at Tennessee game there were no questionable calls by the refs nor was it the defensive back and fore like that game was. The game however did come to the fourth quarter of the game.

Green Bay had just score a touchdown to make the game 23-21 with 9 minutes and 1 second left in the fourth. Minnesota got the ball back at their own 17. With Jeff George at the helm he marched the Vikings down the field and score a touchdown with 2:01 left on the clock. They however left to much time on the clock for Brett Favre and the Packers who drove down the field like they stole it and Favre hit rookie Donald Driver with 22 seconds left for another touchdown. With the score being 30-28 the Vikings could win with a field goal. Jeff George got the ball at the Vikings 31 with 19 seconds and one timeout left. With three plays and one timeout with one second left on the clock the Vikings were on the Green Bay 21 yard line and had sent out the kicking team for a 38 yard kick. This should had been a chip shot for Grey Anderson. Instead of going through the uprights, Anderson hit the upright and bounced out.

Green Bay Advances 30-28

 

[Jim Smitty]

Buffalo(5) at Jacksonville(1)

For Buffalo this game was radically different than the game in Tennessee. Whereas the game in Tennessee was a game of the defensive this was an offensive shootout. It was so much an offensive shoot out that it would become known as the Madden Bowl as the offensives marched up and down the field all day. Mark Brunell would finish the game with a post season record of 502 yards passing on the day. Doug Flutie would end the game with 438 yards passing. However what made the game was a hot topic was the ending.

At the end of the fourth the game was tied 45-45. Jacksonville won the coin toss and elected to receive the kick off. On the return Jacksonville got the ball to their 29. On the next play Brunell would hit Keenan McCardell between the hash marks around mid field. McCardell then ran till he was dragged down at the Buffalo 26 by Henry Jones. Jones stopped McCardell from scoring his third touchdown on the day. However what happened next was what had a lot of fans upset. Instead of allowing the offensive to keep going Tom Coughlin ordered the kicking unit out on to the field for a 42 yard attempt by Mike Hollis. Hollis drilled the field goal and ended the game.

Jacksonville advances 48-45


Kansas City(3) at Indianapolis(2)

With Elvis Grbac out and being forced to start the aged Warren Moon put and thoughts of Kansas City of winning this game out of the question. Going into the game Vegas had Indianapolis by 13 points. If anything Vegas undersold how bad Kansas City was in this game. You could tell the Chiefs were trying at you watching the game, but Indianapolis simply and was the better team. It was only their defense that kept the game close but it was clear Warren Moon was the tried old wrestle being brought out at a local match. It wasn’t that Moon wasn’t trying it was his body didn’t have it anymore.

At half the Chiefs made the call to bring in their third string QB Todd Collins. Collins who once was the heir to Jim Kelly but did so poorly he was cut by Buffalo after only one season didn’t fair much better than Moon. Neither of the Chiefs QBs put up 100 yards passing against the Colts. Collins in what would be his final NFL game only put up a passer rating of 34.6%, four points lower than the person he replaced.

Indianapolis advances, 34-6

 

[Jim Smitty]

Washington(3) at Tampa Bay(2)

Tampa came into this game as one of the hottest teams in the league. They had the league’s top defensive and their offensive was in the top dozen teams. Even if it was the 12th offensive on the list. This game reminded everyone of that fact. The Bucs defense held the Redskins to 127 yards offensive all game, and 21 yards in the second half. Further the Bucs defense out scored the offensive in the second half with three defensive touchdowns in the game. These defensives came from a pair of pick sixes from John Lynch and Joey Porter and Aaron Smith recovering a fumble in the end zone. To put it simply Washington wasn’t even in the same league as Tampa and it showed.

Tampa Bay Advances 41-3


Green Bay(4) at St. Louis(1)

With the best defensive in the league playing the day before, St. Louis fielded the league’s best offensive. For St. Louis after last year’s defeat in the NFC Championship game they were looking to make there way to the Super Bowl. They were facing off against the Green Bay Packers and Brett Favre who was known for his last second come backs. This game was the only one this week that gave the Buffalo at Jacksonville a run for its money. If anything this was the better game.

With three second left on the clock in the fourth Ryan Longwell hit a 48 yard field goal to tie things up for Green Bay 31-31. Once again another playoff game was going to overtime. Green Bay won the toss and elected to receive the kick off. Desmond Howard took the kick off at the two and ran it all the way for a touchdown. However it was called back for a holding call on Green Bay. Favre started the drive and over the next six plus minutes drove down the length of the field. The Rams defensive stopped them from getting a touchdown. However on fourth down Longwell and the kicking team was called out for a 51 yard attempt. The snap was good however the Rams blocked the kick. The ball was recovered by Ron Carpenter who returned it for a touchdown.

St. Louis Advances 37-31

 

[Jim Smitty]

Indianapolis(2) at Jacksonville(1)

This was the first game to be played during Championship weekend and it didn’t disappoint. This game was a beautiful blend of offensive and defensive plays by both team. It was one of those games that one of the teams sadly had to lose and it would go down to the wire. By the 3 minute mark Jacksonville had on the foot of Mike Hollis had just taken a one point lead with the score being 24-23. On the kick off Indianapolis took the touchback and started the drive at their own 20 with no timeouts left. Peyton Manning and the Colts offensive came on to the field.

To the surprise of just about of everyone instead of passing the ball, the Colts handed it off to rookie Edgerrin James who bounced off the right tackle and broke it for a 14 yard game. Manning and the Colts were in the hurry up offensive and got another play off very quickly following the run by Edge. This time they did pass which was a quick slant to tight end Ken Dilger for 6 yard pick up. That was how the whole drive when. Manning took 2 minutes and 38 seconds to march down the field with only the two minute warning stopping the play clock or a few dropped passages. But Marvin Harrison caught the 8 yard touchdown pass. With the extra point it put the Colts up by six with 14 seconds left on the clock.

Jacksonville also had no timeouts left at this point in the game. They took the touchback like Indy did and took the field with 13 seconds on the clock. There was no question what was coming next. The Jags came out in a five wide receiver look and when for a hail mary. Mark Brunell took a moment to look before throwing the ball after the snap. He should had taken another moment as he was picked off by Tyrone Poole. The Colts offensive did have to come on to the field for one more play but the game was over Indianapolis had won.

Indianapolis Advances to the Super Bowl, 30-24


Tampa Bay(2) at St. Louis(1)

The hype around this game was unreal. You had the number one defensive in Tampa going up the number one offensive in St. Louis. It was a game that some have calling the unofficial super bowl given how the two team’s seasons had been. Both teams had been going at training for this game with everything they had as they knew it was tough challenge ahead of them. St. Louis wanted to advance to the Super Bowl and put behind their painful lost to Minnesota from the year before. Tampa wanted revenge for the 1979 defeat that the then LA Rams had done at their old stadium in Tampa.

For St. Louis the Tampa II Defense run by Coach Dungy was the poison pill they could not answer for. The Tampa Defense kept them in check for the whole game keeping them to 219 yards for the whole game but more importantly only 14 points. The Tampa offensive however showed some of their problems from early in the season in the first half of the game. Even with that Tampa when into halftime only down by a point. The second half saw some changes made to the Tampa offensive but they still failed to find the end zone all game. However they walked away with field goals on three possessions in the second and that was enough it turned out. When the Bucs defense forced a turnover on down with 1:09 on the clock left they knew they had won the game.

Tampa Bay Advances to the Super Bowl, 15-14

 

[Jim Smitty]

Super Bowl XXXIV

Indianapolis Colts(2) vs Tampa Bay Buccaneers(2)

The year before both the Bucs and Colts had posted losing seasons. Yet now they were both getting ready for the Super Bowl and it was the major talking point going into the game itself. For the Bucs the key had been getting a new offensive staff that made the Bucs offensive a lot harder to game plan for along with giving long drives that would keep the defense off the field. The Colts were coming off a two year rebuild that saw the team retool.

Following them winning the coin toss the Colts elected to receive the ball. On the return they brought it out to their 24. The second play of the game however would set the tone of the game. Following a three yard game by Edge, Manning dropped back to pass the ball. He was targeting Marvin Harrison on the pass but he was picked off by Donnie Abraham who returned the pick for a touchdown. On the following drive the Colts had a total of -2 yards of total offensive following Edge being tackled in the backfield and a sack by Warren Sapp.

When the Bucs offensive came on to the field there was questions if what happened in St. Louis would follow them to Atlanta. The Bucs seem to know this, and made it a point to show that the game in St. Louis was a fluke. It took over six minutes but the Bucs drove the length of the field and capped the drive with a two yard touchdown by the A-Train who carried two Colts over the line with him as he remained upright.

Going into halftime the Bucs were up 24-0. The Colts offensive under Peyton Manning had managed to mustard only 85 yards in the first half. Further Manning had been picked off twice including the pick six by Abraham. Further Manning had been sacked four times and hurried ten times. It was clear that the Colts would have to make major changes if they wanted to over come the hole they were in.

Coming out of half the Bucs wanted to make sure the Colts understood their place. Taking the touch back and coming out on the 20 the Bucs offensive took over seven minutes off the clock as they once again marched down the field ending in a four yard catch by Warren Dunn for his second touchdown of the night. In the end the Colts were simply outmatch by the Bucs. Some believe that Coach Dungy took his food a bit off the gas following this drive already thinking about next season, how if true he never confirmed it. At the end of the game through Coach Dungy took the famous Gatorade Shower as he had taken his team to the promise land.

Super Bowl XXXIV Champs, Tampa Bay Bucs 37-6
Super Bowl MVP: Warren Dunn, RB, 142 Rushing Yards 1 TD, 62 Receiving Yards 1 TD


Yearly Awards

MVP: Trent Green, QB, St. Louis Rams
Coach of the Year: Tony Dungy, Tampa Bay Bucs
Offensive Player of the Year: Marshall Faulk, RB, St. Louis Rams
Defensive Player of the Year: Warren Sapp, DT, Tampa Bay Bucs
Offensive Rookie of the Year: Edgerrin James, RB, Indianapolis Colts
Defensive Rookie of the Year: Jevon Kearse, DE, Tennessee Titians
Comeback Player of the Year: Bryant Young, DT, San Francisco 49ers
Walter Payton Man of the Year: Cris Carter, WR, Minnesota Vikings

 

[Jim Smitty]

2000 Season

Going into the Draft the question of what the Bucs would do was the talk of the league. They were fresh off their first Super Bowl win in their history and they had massive Draft Capital going into the draft. They had three first round picks plus a total of seven draft picks in the first 94 picks. One of the first round picks going into the draft was the first overall pick which they had via the Saints from the Ricky Williams trade.

Going into the draft there were only a few clear needs for the Bucs. First was at wide receiver. Even with pass draft capital spent on Reidel Anthnoy, a former first round pick in 1996, and Jacquez Green, an early second round pick in 1998 neither had worked out as hoped. Bert Emanuel who had been the Bucs number one receiver on the depth charts had left via Free Agency and had signed with New England on a two year deal. Last year’s sixth round pick Tai Streets had been second on the depth charts with Reidel being third and Jacquez being fourth when Emanuel had been on the roster. They would have to find more receiving depth.

Also on the offensive was the need to replace aging Dave Moore at tight end. Finally they lost two key members of their offensive line to retirement, Tony Mayberry C, and Paul Gruber the blind side Tackle of the line. As a rookie Todd McClure did a good job in the few games he played in and was in line for the promotion to starting center, but it still left their blind side tackle in need of replacement.

The biggest question going into the draft with the Bucs was if they would trade the first pick in the draft or draft Chris Samuels the best Tackle in the class or take one of a number of top wide receivers in this class. This class had three receivers that could go in the top ten picks. When the draft day came there still wasn’t a clear answer to what the Bucs would do. Finally when Paul Taguliabue made it to the podium and announced the Bucs had traded down it became clear that the Bucs were still building for the future.

Cincinnati traded up out of fear the Bucs would draft their man and they were willing to pay to get him. This got them the first pick in the draft in return for sending the third pick in the draft to Bucs along with their first next year and the 66th pick in the third round this year for the first. Cincinnati drafted Peter Warrick.

When the Bucs came up again for the 31st pick in the draft, they decided to make a trade. They traded the pick to San Francisco in return for Terrell Owens. Owens performance had dropped off in the 99 season after the thousand yard season he had in 98. However the Niners were in rebuilding mode and had questions if Owens would last in a rebuild give his off the field stunts. So getting the last pick in the first was a deal the Niners were willing to take to get another rookie. When the second pick in the second round came up the Bucs made a package deal with the Eagles for the 62nd and 63rd picks to ship them for their first in 2001. It wasn’t till the fourth round that they made a trade again. This time it was with Cleveland. They shipped off the Dolphins Fourth along with their own seventh round pick this year with Jacquez Green in return for the Cleveland third next year.


1/3: Chris Samuels, OT, Alabama
1/12: Bubba Franks, TE, Miami (FL)
2/55: Fred Robbins, DT, Wake Forrest
3/66: Hank Poteat, CB, Pittsburgh
3/78: Damion McIntosh, OT, Kansas State
4/125: Tutan Reyes, G, Mississippi
5/130: Shane Lechler, P, Texas A&M
5/159: Mareno Philyaw, WR, Troy
5/161: Jabari Issa, DT, Washington
6/198: Tim Rattay, QB, Louisiana Tech