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Scott Smith, Buccaneers.com, published 20 October 2003
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers travels took them all the way to the West Coast on Sunday, for the first time in the regular season since 1999. There they found the end of the road, or at least their happy times on it. The Buccaneers took a team-record five-game road winning streak into 3Com Park on Sunday but saw it all but extinguished by halftime. As with their last trip to the Pacific, December 19, 1999 game at Oakland, virtually everything went wrong for the Buccaneers in a 24-7 loss to San Francisco. The Bucs are now 1-9 all-time in San Francisco.
For the first time this season, Tampa Bay lost the turnover battle, and its four giveaways repeatedly short-circuited drives, wasting 326 total yards by the NFL’s second-leading offense. The Bucs’ fourth-ranked defense didn’t fare nearly as well, surrendering 458 yards to a rejuvenated 49ers attack. Tampa Bay, which had allowed over 300 yards just once in its first five games, was touched for 306 by halftime.
The 49ers softened the Bucs up early with a powerful running game featuring the one-two punch of Garrison Hearst and Kevan Barlow. Hearst and Barlow combined for 110 rushing yards in the first half alone, and 192 of the 49ers’ 212 by the end of the game. The 49ers became the first team to rush for over 200 yards against Tampa Bay since Chicago on December 18, 2000.
With the Bucs devoting more attention to the run, QB Jeff Garcia was able to gash the defense for a series of long gains, including WR Terrell Owens’ 75-yard catch in the second quarter.
That score, which gave the 49ers a 21-7 lead that held late into the fourth quarter, was actually mostly a run by Owens, who weaved through five Buccaneer tacklers on his way to the end zone. However, Garcia and Owens repeatedly tried to hook up deep, with Owens dropping two touchdown passes and CB Dwight Smith knocking away a third. Still, Owens finished with 152 yards on six catches and Garcia completed 15 of 29 throws for 253 yards, two touchdowns and one interception.
San Francisco scored almost immediately after the Bucs’ first turnover, an interception on a Brad Johnson pass that bounced off RB Michael Pittman’s chest and into the hands of CB Ahmed Plummer. Hearst ran four times for 21 yards on the drive, including a seven-yard touchdown. The Bucs tied the game up later in the first quarter on the type of long passing play that is becoming more common in Tampa Bay’s offense. This time, WR Keenan McCardell, who had a 74-yard touchdown catch two weeks ago against Indianapolis, scored on a 75-yard bomb that was perfectly thrown by QB Brad Johnson.
The Buccaneer defense has had at least one takeaway in 48 consecutive games, a streak that was extended against San Francisco by Ronde Barber’s fumble recovery in the third quarter. That streak is the second longest in the NFL since 1983; the longest is Philadelphia’s 71 from 1985-90.
Tampa Bay also pushed its streak of consecutive games with at least one sack to 66 games thanks to a play by Barber, who got his first sack of the year in the second quarter. The Bucs moved one game closer to the record in that category, established at 68 games by Dallas from 1976-80.
Keyshawn Johnson had one catch on the day, which moved him into a tie for fourth place on the Bucs’ all-time list in that category with TE Jimmie Giles (279).
For the first time since 1990, the Bucs have recorded two completions of over 70 yards in the same season. It is the first time they have had two scoring passes of over 70 yards in the same season since 1981.
Warren Sapp’s second-quarter block of Owen Pochman’s 31-yard field goal try was the first blocked field goal by a Buccaneer since September 15, 2002. DT Chartric Darby blocked a field goal that day against Baltimore in a 25-0 Buccaneer victory.
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Johnson, however, wasn’t as sharp on this afternoon as he has been on almost every game day in the last two seasons. Before being relieved by Shaun King for the final two minutes, Johnson completed 21 of 34 passes for 241 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions. Two of his picks came off deflected passes, but he also uncharacteristically missed open men on several occasions.
He was intercepted three times in the same game for the first time since October 30, 2000, his final year with the Washington Redskins. In fact, Johnson hadn’t thrown even two picks on the same day since September 29, 2002 against the Cincinnati Bengals. The Bucs gained just 68 yards on the ground, much of it coming on a meaningless last drive. RB Michael Pittman carried the ball just six times for 29 yards, but he did catch 10 passes for another 60. McCardell finished with 119 yards on three receptions.
After the Bucs tied the game, San Francisco immediately embarked on an 81-yard drive that finished on the first play of the second quarter, a 14-yard touchdown pass to WR Tai Streets. Hearst had the drive’s two biggest plays, an 18-yard run and a 26-yard gain on a screen pass. The 49ers made it 21-7 seven minutes later on Owens’ long run.
Neither team would score again until the closing minutes, when Owen Pochman tacked on a 27-yard field goal. The Bucs’ last chance to get back in the game ended at the 4:26 mark, when LB Derrick Brooks was hit with a roughing-the-punter flag. That penalty preserved the drive that led to Pochman’s field goal and also ran the clock down to the two-minute warning.
Ironically, the things that had been plaguing the Bucs through their first five weeks turned into strengths in San Francisco. Tampa Bay’s six penalties tied for their lowest mark of the season, and they were generally strong on special teams. Pochman was forced into three missed field goals, one of which was blocked by DT Warren Sapp. The Bucs also returned kickoffs well and downed two punts inside the 20.
However, the Bucs had a tough time on defense, a fact exacerbated when CB Brian Kelly aggravated his chest injury early in the game. The Bucs also lost S John Lynch for most of the first half with a shoulder stinger and S John Howell for the second half with a concussion. Brooks led the team with nine tackles and CB Ronde Barber added five stops, one sack, one pass defensed and one fumble recovery. DE Simeon Rice gave the Bucs one last shot to get back in the game in the fourth quarter with his second interception of the season. LB Julian Peterson’s deflected-pass interception deep in the 49ers’ end ended that threat.
The Bucs have still not lost consecutive games under Head Coach Jon Gruden, but they have also not won twice in a row in 2003. Last season, Tampa Bay didn’t suffer its third loss of the season until December 1, thanks to winning streaks of five and four games in the first three months. The 49ers dealt the Bucs’ second-half comeback hopes an early blow when CB Mike Rumph picked off Brad Johnson’s second pass of the third quarter and returned it to the Bucs’ 39. However, kicker Owen Pochman missed for the third time in a row on his resulting field goal try and the Bucs gained a measure of momentum. However, after driving well into San Francisco territory, the Bucs gave it away again on a Thomas Jones fumble. The Bucs lost the turnover battle for the first time this season and only the ninth time in the last five years. They are now 4-5 in those games.
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