|
|
 |
Rick Stroud, The St.Petersburg Times, published 16 November 1998
It was a hauntingly familiar scene for the Buccaneers on Sunday night. One play, all the possibilities remained in front of them. The next, Fred Taylor was behind them.
The Jacksonville rookie running back exploded for a game-winning 70-yard touchdown run with 2:40 remaining to rally the Jaguars to a 29-24 win at Alltel Stadium.
The play served as a metaphor for the Bucs' season. Whatever it is the Bucs still are chasing - a playoff berth, a .500 record or even a victory on the road - it continues to elude them.
"We had enough points to win the game, and we're banging our heads against the wall with two minutes to go, and they're 70 yards from paydirt," defensive tackle Warren Sapp said. "And we let them have one play and go all the way. It's how they're winning. They're just handing the ball off. The thing we pride ourselves on is our run defense, and in the last two weeks it's broken our backs."
It was the second time in two seasons the Bucs have blown a halftime lead, and both have come in successive weeks.
Seven days earlier, the Bucs watched a 13-point first-half lead evaporate against Tennessee as quarterback Steve McNair scored on a 71-yard run with under 2 minutes remaining to preserve victory. Sunday's heartbreaking loss dropped the Bucs, picked by many as a Super Bowl XXXIII contender, to 4-6 and one game behind New Orleans and Arizona for the final NFC wild-card spot.
Though the defense absorbed much of the blame for allowing the Jaguars to score 10 points in the final 3:27, the offense might have been more responsible for failing to secure the victory.
Not only did two Tampa Bay turnovers lead directly to 10 points for the Jaguars, the Bucs failed even to pick up a first down on three straight possessions in the fourth quarter.
"It hurt me when we couldn't go in the game and run the clock out for three minutes," guard Frank Middleton said. "We had three minutes left - we run the ball, we run the clock out, game over and we go home happy 5-5 still playing for a playoff bid."
Said Sapp: "The way we're playing, we're not going to beat anybody."
After the game, it was a familiar scene in the Bucs locker room. Once again, quarterback Trent Dilfer accepted responsibility for the loss after another Jeckyl and Hyde game.
Dilfer threw three TD passes, yet a third-quarter interception by Kevin Hardy led to a tying 31-yard field goal by Mike Hollis.
And he made three regrettable decisions on the three final possessions that prevented his team from winning.
"This is about as hard as any loss I've ever suffered," Dilfer said. "It's very painful. It's hard to be 10 weeks in and be 4-6 when you've had such high expectations. It's even harder when you feel personally you didn't do everything you could have done to help this team win the game. You have to do it for 60 minutes."
Perhaps the play Dilfer wished he had back most came after the Jags cut the lead to 24-23 on Hollis' 34-yard field goal. Tampa Bay took over needing a first down or two to put the game away.
But on third and 9 from the Bucs 22, Dilfer sprinted to his right and appeared to be able to run for the first down. But he stopped and threw an incomplete pass across the field, well over the head of Jacquez Green. "It's one of those plays that haunts you," Dilfer said. "I'm sure there was a running lane and I should've tucked it down and got the first down with my feet."
Even after Taylor's devastating run, Dilfer and the Bucs had 2:40 left, three timeouts and the two-minute warning to march the ball 70 yards for a game-winning TD.
But the Bucs failed to pick up a first down, and the game essentially ended when Dilfer's fourth-and-5 pass to Karl Williams was intercepted by Aaron Beasley.
"I thought he played well but we couldn't make the plays when we needed them," Tony Dungy said. "We needed a couple of first downs at the end. It was not entirely his fault."
Some mistakes, however, were unforgiveable.
Facing third and 5 at the Bucs 40, Dilfer allowed the 25-second play clock to expire and was penalized 5 yards for delay of game. After Dilfer fired incomplete to Green on the next play, the Jags were guilty of running into punter Tommy Barnhardt. But instead of the 5-yard penalty giving the Bucs a first down, they were forced to punt again.
"I looked up and thought there was enough time," Dilfer said. "We were going on a hard three count, and I got to two."
The Bucs wasted some great performances. Running back Warrick Dunn rushed for 107 yards despite spraining his right ankle in the third quarter, becoming only the second back to reach the century mark against the Jags this year, with Denver's Terrell Davis. Receiver Reidel Anthony had two receptions for 126 yards, both for touchdowns.
Anthony's catch and run on a 79-yard pass from Dilfer on the first play of the fourth quarter gave the Bucs a 24-20 lead.
For a while, it looked as if that would be enough.
Taylor, a rookie of the year candidate from Florida, had been held to just 49 yards on 17 carries until his game-winning run.
"Check out his run stats until that one play," Bucs defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin said. "But you've got to play every play. The one play we screwed up. The rest of the game we did not screw up, I promise you."
Jags coach Tom Coughlin opted to kick the field goal with 3:27 left to cut the Bucs' lead to 24-23 and hope his defense would get the ball back.
It did about a minute later, and Taylor ran a counter play to his right before cutting back and turning the corner. Safety John Lynch, who made a courageous effort despite not practicing all week because of back pain, slipped on the play, and Taylor outran safety Charles Mincy. "It's killing us," Sapp said. "We have a chance to step on their necks, and we're not doing it. They're handing the ball off. A 70- yard run? I don't think he had to make anybody miss. He just had to find the hole and take off."
The Jaguars (8-2) built a 14-3 advantage early in the second quarter, but the lead changed hands four times after that. Jacksonville was stunned to go to the locker room trailing 17-14.
"That was the National Football League right there," Coughlin said. "That was some football game against a really good football team."
Go tell it to the Bucs.
One year after making the playoffs for the first time since 1982, their more immediate goal appears to be avoiding a losing season. "I don't remember feeling as poorly as I do about a loss," Dilfer said. "You can't turn the ball over, and I did. Ultimately, that tells the story."
|
|
|
| |
| |
|