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Rick Stroud, The St.Petersburg Times, published 27 September 1999
It did not matter to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers if they won a football game and lost a beauty contest Sunday.
For the second straight week, the Bucs played a game that, frankly, needed Clearasil. They are the dog you won't pet or the blind date with a really good personality.
You can look at it this way, that way, with or without Elway. To the Bucs, it was a beautiful 13-10 win over two-time defending Super Bowl champion Denver.
"I don't care if it's a Picasso or I drew it. A win is a win," said defensive tackle Warren Sapp, who played the second half despite two broken bones in his right hand. "We took down the Super Bowl champions."
Fullback Mike Alstott rushed for a career-high 131 yards and a touchdown while the Bucs' swarming defense bottled up Denver running back Terrell Davis. The league's MVP was held to a season-low 53 yards on 19 carries.
"I think we said last week we'd be satisfied with 15 ugly wins in a row and we've got a streak going now," Bucs coach Tony Dungy said. "We'll bore them to 15 wins in a row. Hey, we threw fake goals and went for it on fourth down. We're trying to spice up the game a little bit."
The Bucs, 2-1 and tied for first with Green Bay and Detroit in the NFC Central,are over .500 for the first time since '97. The defeat sent the Broncos to 0-3 for the first time since their last losing season in '94, when they went 7-9.
It also might have Denver coach Mike Shanahan reconsidering his selection of Brian Griese to replace quarterback John Elway. The Broncos converted just 1 of 12 third downs and were 0-for-2 on fourth down. "It seemed to me in the third quarter that it was like 28-0 and we were just getting crushed," Broncos kicker Jason Elam said. "But you look up at the scoreboard and it's only 13-10."
It was redemption of sorts for quarterback Trent Dilfer, who overcame his three-interception performance in the season opener by protecting the ball and going 15-for-18 for 135 yards. He was sacked seven times. Dilfer suffered from dehydration and experienced leg cramps early in the fourth quarter, but refused intravenous fluids and brushed off Dungy's attempts to take him out of the game.
"We've got to have these games in our back pocket when it's nasty, when it's ugly," Dilfer said. "But it gets the job done. It's the same as winning 50-21. Right now, this is how we're winning games. I don't personally believe we can play offensive football like we have the last three weeks and win the rest of our games."
The Bucs scored all their points in the first half and let the defense win it for them. Alstott capped the opening drive of the game with a 28-yard touchdown run. Rookie Martin Gramatica made it 13-7 at halftime by kicking field goals of 38 and 35 yards, the latter coming on the final play of the second quarter shortly after linebacker Hardy Nickerson intercepted Griese. Denver might not have scored had it not been for two critical mistakes by the Bucs.
Jacquez Green let a punt roll through his hands and legs like a bad-hop ground ball and it was recovered by Chris Watson at the Tampa Bay 12. The mishap led to Griese's 12-yard TD pass to Ed McCaffrey - the only touchdown that has been scored on the Bucs defense in the past 16 quarters, dating to Week 15 last season. Dungy's decision to fake a field goal with 2:42 left in the third quarter backfired and nearly cost the Bucs the game.
With Gramatica lined up for a 48-yard attempt into the wind that could've given the Bucs a nine-point lead, Mark Royals took the snap and fired the ball to open tight end Dave Moore. But the fourth-and- 2 pass was a little too wide and went off Moore's hands. Instead of a first down for the Bucs, the Broncos took over at the 30 and drove for a field goal to cut the deficit to 13-10. "I think Martin could've made it," Dungy said. "But we felt we had something going there and we had the guy open, but we didn't execute."
Dilfer played smart and efficient in the first half. He completed all four of his passes on the opening drive and finished the half 10- for-11 for 100 yards.
Most of his throws were check-offs to Warrick Dunn, who finished with nine receptions for 82 yards. Six times, when his outside receivers were covered, Dilfer tucked the ball under his arm and got as much yardage with his legs as he could.
But in the second half, Dilfer had trouble spotting his 5-foot-8 running back. He was indecisive and held on to the ball too long, the reason for many of the Broncos seven sacks.
"There was some pressure at times, but I think a lot of it was Trent not wanting to make a big mistake and we ended up holding the ball back there," Dungy said.
Said center Tony Mayberry: "I'll take a sack over a pick. It shows he's thinking, he's learning. A couple times he tried to make an athletic play."
The Bucs knew, to win Sunday's game, they would have to grind it out. Without Elway, teams have loaded up against Davis and dared Griese to beat them.
"We felt like we could stop them, no matter what they were doing," Sapp said. "They didn't have their running game, and that's their bread and butter. We didn't feel Griese could beat us."
The Broncos defense had been susceptible to a power rushing game, allowing an average 149.5 yards on the ground in losses to Miami and Kansas City.
Alstott set the tone, bulling over defenders for his first 100- yard rushing game since Week 8 against Minnesota last season.
Someone should've told Alstott the game was over when he exploded for a 25-yard run for a first down with Denver having no time outs and 2:15 remaining. But as Alstott was struggling for extra yardage, he was stripped of the ball by Nate Wayne. Ray Crockett recovered at the Denver 15.
Big deal. The defense needed an encore anyway. On first down, Chidi Ahanotu sacked Griese for a 10-yard loss. Griese could manage only a short completion to Shannon Sharpe in the next three plays.
Here's how scary the Bucs defense is: After Denver pulled to within 13-10, the Broncos gained 14 yards on their next four drives.
"Maybe I'm wrong. But I've never seen a defense better than ours in 10 years," Mayberry saif. "That's since preseason, not just three regular-season games. But no team can really do anything on our defense. It's shocking."
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