Truth hurts: Bucs let one get away Jack Sheppard, The St.Petersburg Times, published 1988 Defensive end Ron Holmes slumped against the back of his corner cubicle, the Tampa Bay locker room nearly empty except for the media parade engulfing quarterback Vinny Testaverde. Naked except for a towel draped over his lap, sweat still dripping from every pore, Holmes faced the fact the Buccaneers' defense would be blamed for yet another loss - this one a 30-24 heartstopper to Phoenix that wasn't decided until the final minutes. Holmes knew the Bucs had their chance. Leading 24-23 with 5:01 to play after an impressive second-half comeback, Tampa Bay needed to stop the Cardinals one last time. One defensive stand and the Bucs would win their first non-strike home game since the 1987 season opener. One strong stand and a frenzied crowd (if 35,034 qualifies as a crowd) would go home happy for a change. One more stand, and the Bucs would go to 2-1 and be tied with Chicago and Minnesota atop the NFC Central. “All we had to do was take care of business,” Holmes said, his voice barely above a whisper. “We knew if we walked off the field without them scoring, we'd have the game won. If we kept them from scoring, we'd be over there on the sideline drinking Gatorade.” But, as we all now know, that didn't happen. On first-and-10 at the Tampa Bay 42, the Cardinals called the right play at the right time and burned the Bucs for a 42-yard touchdown. It doesn't really seem to matter that it was backup quarterback Cliff Stoudt who threw it and backup tight end Jay Novacek who caught it. The Tampa Bay defense couldn't feel any worse. “There's no excuses,” said linebacker Winston Moss. “I still don't know what happened out there. We should have won this game. I haven't seen a crowd that excited around here in a long time. That's what really hurts.” “Bottom line is we didn't get the job done,” said defensive end Reuben Davis. “We were in a position where we needed to stop them, and we didn't do it. There were a lot of breakdowns out there." The ultimate breakdown may not have been Tampa Bay's execution on the Cardinals' touchdown pass, but being caught in the wrong defense at the wrong time. The signal from the sideline set the secondary in a three-deep zone, leaving one cornerback and both safeties to supply coverage downfield. The problem was, the Cardinals sent four receivers deep. Simple math reveals three defenders cannot cover four receivers, which explains why Novacek was so wide open. “They caught us,” said cornerback Ricky Reynolds. “We could have been in a better defense for that play, but obviously didn't know they were going to run it. That was the worst thing that could have happened in the defense we had called.” The best thing, of course, would have been some defensive pressure to force Stoudt into a mistake. He admitted after the game the pass was supposed to be thrown to Roy Green, who was streaking down the left sideline. But Stoudt had enough time to look at Novacek, turn toward Green, then go back to Novacek for the touchdown. “It's called the `89-69 H-and-X Seam,' “ Stoudt said. “It's two guys up the sidelines and two guys up the seams. You hope they come out in a three-deep zone, which they did. The only reason it worked is because I had all day to throw.” Just how much time did Stoudt have? Normally, a pass to the tight end on that play is designed to gain 18-20 yards. When Novacek was 20 yards downfield, Stoudt was still holding the ball. For the tight end to make a 42-yard touchdown catch on that particular pattern means the quarterback probably had time for coffee and doughnuts. “Our pass rush didn't get it done again today,” said Davis. “And those guys (Neil Lomax and Stoudt) aren't exactly (Eagles quarterback) Randall Cunningham out there. They're not scrambling quarterbacks, and we still couldn't get them.” For a moment, the defensive line could have been heroes. Leading by a point with 7:07 to play, Holmes registered the Buccaneers' first (and so far only) sack of the season when he caught Stoudt for a 3-yard loss. The play killed a Phoenix drive and gave the Tampa Bay offense the lead and the ball with 6:24 remaining. But a Testaverde sack and an incomplete pass halted that possession, and the game was left to the defense to win or lose. Six snaps later, the Cardinals had their touchdown and their victory. “I guarantee you one thing,” Holmes said, still naked, still sweating, and still dejected. “I guarantee you this will come up again this season, and we'll do it. We'll stop them. I just have that feeling. We learned a lot out there today.” Mostly, they learned how much it hurts to lose a game they could have won.