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Rick Stroud, The St.Petersburg Times, published 16 September 1991
He could have blamed it on his duck-and-chuck offense. The defense, which collapsed down the stretch, made such an easy target. With so many penalties, he even could have accused the officials of showing their true stripes. There was plenty for Tampa Bay coach Richard Williamson to find fault with after Sunday's 15-13 loss to Green Bay by the young and reckless Bucs. But instead of pointing fingers at his team, Williamson aimed one at himself.
"We've obviously got some major problems," Williamson said, "especially on the offensive side of the ball. All the blame is mine. I'm in charge of this team. I'm in charge of making sure we get things straight that need to be straightened out, and I will get them straightened out. I just hope I haven't waited too long to get it done."
In a game that neither team deserved to win, the Bucs found a way to lose, blowing an eight-point lead in the final four minutes. Green Bay quarterback Don Majkowski rallied the Packers with an 8-yard touchdown pass to Vince Workman, then set up Chris Jacke's winning 22-yard field goal with 22 seconds left in the game. It was the Bucs' third consecutive loss this season and their fifth consecutive regular-season defeat under Williamson. They are in last place in the NFC Central Division, two games out of third after only three weeks. "I'm not concerned about myself," Williamson said. "I'm concerned about the ballclub."
With good reason. Tampa Bay had two touchdowns called back by penalties and was flagged 12 times for 86 yards. The Bucs continued to self-destruct on offense, producing just two field goals in five drives into Packers territory. Testaverde, who has been sacked so many times in the past two weeks that his offensive line should ask if he prefers paper or plastic, was dumped seven times Sunday - including once for a safety.
So distraught was Testaverde after Sunday's loss that he said he would not object to a change of quarterbacks next week against the Buffalo Bills. "Right now, I don't care what he does," Testaverde said. "If he has to take me out, take me out. That's fine with me, but I'm sick of losing. If you want to blame it on me, blame it on me. But I know when I wake up in the morning and look in the mirror, I know I gave it 110 percent."
The Bucs appeared to have put the game away on a freakish 87-yard touchdown pass from Testaverde to Willie Drewrey that could be described as an immaculate deflection. The pass, intended for Mark Carrier, was tipped off the hands of Packers cornerback Vinnie Clark and into the arms of Drewrey, who raced down the right sideline for a touchdown that gave the Bucs a 13-5 lead with 3 minutes, 59 seconds left.
"It's a close game and, all of sudden, I come up with the ball," Drewrey said. "I thought that's all we needed at the time. But it's never over until the final second. Either the defense relaxed out there I don't know. I thought that was the icing on the cake. We just had to hold them, and we'd have our first victory."
But it was not to be. Majkowski drove the Packers 76 yards in seven plays, firing to Workman for a touchdown that cut the Bucs' lead to 13-12 with 2:10 left. The Bucs needed only to pick up a first down to force Green Bay to burn their final two timeouts and run out the clock. But on third-and-7, Testaverde was sacked by Esera Tuaolo to force the Bucs to punt with 1:37 left. That was plenty of time for Majkowski, who hit wide receiver Perry Kemp on a first-down pass for 36 yards down the right sideline to the Bucs' 9 to set up the winning field goal.
Testaverde finished with modest numbers: 19-of-30 for 278 yards, a touchdown and an interception. But the sacks and penalties kept killing the Bucs. Tampa Bay took the lead 6-5 early in the fourth quarter on a 22-yard field goal by Steve Christie. But, in reality, it was another opportunity squandered. On first-and-goal from the Packers' 4, center Tony Mayberry snapped the ball between Testaverde's legs, a play saved when fullback Robert Wilson scooped up the loose ball and returned it to the line of scrimmage.
On second down, Testaverde fired an apparent touchdown pass to tight end Ron Hall, but the play was erased when Mayberry was called for holding. "It was a bad snap on my part," Mayberry said. "It's something I have to take responsibility for - the penalties that kept us from getting touchdowns."
The Bucs had another apparent score called back after linebacker Broderick Thomas blocked a Jacke field-goal attempt that was scooped up and run back by Wayne Haddix for a score. But officials ruled that Bucs cornerback Ricky Reynolds illegally had batted the ball forward, and the Packers got another try with no time left in the first half. Jacke pulled the 30-yard attempt wide left, and the Bucs went to the locker room trailing 5-0.
"It was just very frustrating," Williamson said. "It was just very depressing things that were going on and happening. There's a lot of guys that are disheartened, that are feeling bad, that are feeling sorry for themselves, wondering what the hell is going on. That's my fault. I intend certainly to start tonight, tomorrow, and get it resolved, get it worked out so we can be a respectable team and do some things that we've done in the past and make some good things happen."
But nothing good is happening for the Bucs, who found yet more ways to lose a game they could have won. "Close does not win football games," Bucs defensive end Keith McCants said. "This is the third time we've been close. Close don't cut it. We don't have no choice but to recover. It can't get no worse than it is - unless we go out there and lose again."
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