Before the happy ending, Bucs had some nightmares John Romano, The St.Petersburg Times, published 1988 As they are wont to do, the young Tampa Bay Buccaneers committed an assortment of blunders on Sunday. There was nothing unusual about the five turnovers, the crucial penalties and the dropped passes. The strange thing was the way Tampa Bay overcame its suicidal tendencies for a 27-24 victory against Green Bay. "We realized we were making mistakes,” said tight end Ron Hall, whose fourth-quarter holding infraction ruined one drive. “But we showed we've got that quality, no matter how the game is going, that we'll be fighting until the end.” For a long time, the game was going pretty miserably for the Bucs. Tampa Bay never fell far behind the Packers, but the Bucs could have easily built a commanding first-half lead. Tampa Bay fans saw three easy touchdowns cruelly slip away during the first two quarters. Mark Carrier was responsible for two of the letdowns when he dropped a pair of certain touchdown passes. The second-year wide receiver went on to catch four passes for 95 yards, but he did not forget his earlier embarrassments. “I didn't redeem myself. That's a cop-out,” Carrier said. “I wasn't concentrating like I should have been. I was happy to make some big plays later, but I still know I dropped two important passes.” In between Carrier's miscues, a referee's quick whistle cost the Bucs another scoring opportunity. Brent Fullwood caught a pass from Randy Wright but immediately lost the ball when hit by Ricky Reynolds. Linebacker Kevin Murphy scooped up the loose ball and took it to the end zone. An official, however, said Fullwood never had possession and blew the ball dead before Murphy recovered it. The replay official ruled that the ball was caught and fumbled, but the Packers retained possession because the play had been blown dead. Murphy said the missed opportunity inspired the Bucs' defense instead of making them frustrated. On the next play, Wright was sacked by Reuben Davis and Curt Jarvis and the Packers were forced to punt. On Green Bay's next possession, Murphy intercepted a pass deflected by Ron Holmes and took it 35 yards for a touchdown. “Nobody ever got frustrated. A professional has to deal with those situations,” Murphy said. “If anything, it got us more inspired. It showed our character both offensively and defensively.” Any character awards on offense have to go to quarterback Vinny Testaverde, who was treated to a nasty round of boos when he was sent back onto the field after throwing four interceptions. “Vinny was the same in the fourth quarter as he was in the first,” Carrier said. “He took control of the game. Even though he threw the four interceptions, he came into the huddle confident.” Coach Ray Perkins said his players showed their mettle by surviving the mistakes, but “There were far too many mistakes,” Perkins said. “When we look at the films of the first three quarters, it's going to look like a horror film.”