Bucs Looking Nothing Like A 5-3 Team Martin Fennelly, The Tampa Tribune, published 7 November 2005 Kenyatta Walker, despite a considerable body of work Sunday, knows nothing about false starts. Here's a false start: 4-0. How about 5-1? The thudding reality hit home Sunday, as the Bucs met the Carolina Panthers, the best team they've played this season. "Ugly," Bucs cornerback Ronde Barber said. "Ugly." There was old-time religion going on at Raymond James Stadium. The way-back machine returned us to Leeman Days, with fans scurrying for their cars midway through the midway game of the season. The final was 34-14, and it wasn't that close. All on a day the Bucs put much psychic energy into after their San Francisco fog. The plot thickens. Granted, Carolina is good. And it played that way despite heavy hearts: Two women on the Panthers cheerleading squad were arrested early Sunday at a Channelside bar after allegedly being found in a public place achieving physical positions with each other that looked nothing like cheerleading. No word on whether they were awarded game balls. But they apparently had more contact than the Bucs offensive line did with Carolina's Julius Peppers and Mike Rucker. Also, we're confused. Was Simeon Rice inactive last game or this game? Chris Simms had more tackles Sunday than Rice. Simms also had one more fumble and threw two more interceptions, which led to 17 Carolina points and helped render the Bucs' first division test an utter failure. This was the real deal. A real winning team with a real defense and real offense and real quarterback. And that was that. Where are the Bucs' positives right now? The defense let down early and the offense never made a difference, not on the ground, not in the air, certainly not at the line of scrimmage. For a flickering moment, all looked well. Mike Alstott grabbed a Simms pass and banged off four tacklers for old-time's sake and 12 yards. Then Simms unleashed a perfect spiral, 60 yards of it, for a long touchdown. To Joey Galloway, of course. Simms looks as good as anyone when he goes deep. It's all the other times that he comes up short. But you can't pin all this on him. The Bucs fell apart all over the place, beginning with Walker's false starts -- three in five snaps -- that took the Bucs out of Carolina territory. Kenyatta has played pretty well this season, but this was pretty awful. He later apologized. "From there, I think it kind of went downhill," he said. Teams like Carolina, which has won five in a row against the Bucs, take advantage. Panthers quarterback Jake Delhomme found an opening, isolating Bucs linebacker Shelton Quarles in deep coverage against old Bucs demon Ricky Proehl, who went for 62 yards to set up a touchdown. It's what good teams do. Simms finished it off just after halftime, throwing for Michael Clayton, but finding Carolina's Chris Gamble, who found end zone. Done. Now, as for the season ... Right now, the Bucs look nothing like a 5-3 team. Simms remains the starter, with Jon Gruden hoping a light bulb will go on. Cadillac Williams remains a shadow. He made his first NFL fumble Sunday. Carolina scored off it. The Bucs defense, ranked first in the league going in, was exposed by Carolina precision. The Panthers forced four turnovers. For the second consecutive week, the Bucs forced none. It has one sack in the past two games. Suddenly the Bucs look like a team trying to set a speed record for quickest trip from top of a conference to out of the playoff picture. Where did this season go, anyway? "We lost two games in a row for the first time this season," linebacker Derrick Brooks said. "Now, again, with a young football team, I can't let guys go in the tank on me ... ." Time to start again. It's the truth.