Bucs Find Way To Blow Their Slim Chance Martin Fennelly, The Tampa Tribune, published 29 November 2004 Enough. End this playoff charade. As bad as the NFC is, the Bucs are badder. Yes, that's grammatically incorrect. Heck, Gramatica's Gramatica- lly incorrect. The Bucs could beat Atlanta on Sunday, then lose at San Diego. They could beat New Orleans and Carolina - and fall to Arizona. For the Bucs will get as low as they have to. Try to figure this now- flummoxed franchise into a postseason, and they'll outsmart you. They'll do whatever it takes. And we mean whatever. Which brings us to just another grisly Sunday in Charlotte. For the third time in two seasons against the Panthers - this time 21-14 - the Bucs lost when they should have won. And again faded from a playoff conversation they don't deserve to be in. This after Chief Little Foot thrice made heapum big mess. Martin Gramatica is that sad a sight these days. What should be second nature has become a natural disaster at the hands of Gramatica's five toes of death. All that's missing is the body. Stay tuned. Until then, will the prone form of Torrie Cox do? The poor cornerback, alone on an island after a Bucs blitz failed, flopped onto the grass as Carolina's Keary Colbert hauled in the game-winning touchdown with 20 seconds left. And the clock ticked down a little more on the charade. This stopped being an aberration a long time ago. This is reality. Who these Bucs are is who they were Sunday. The reality is that last season 16 NFL teams had a better record than the then-defending Super Bowl champions. Eighteen teams have a better record this season. Yes, the Bucs battle. They always battle. They did Sunday, coming from 14-7 down to tie it, setting up a chance to win it, only to be kicked in the stomach one last time by Gramatica to set up another Jake Delhomme moment. ``I'm tired of battling,'' Jon Gruden said. Strange as it sounded, and it sounded like an indictment of the NFC, a win Sunday would have set the Bucs up nicely for the stretch, 5-6 with the Falcons coming to town. Not half bad for a team that started 0-4. But you don't deserve even 5-6 when you miss two field goals, have another try blocked - low kick - and fumble inside the red zone. You don't deserve to win when your three third-quarter possessions end in turnovers, one an interception run back by Panther Julius Peppers. Every Buc shares some of the blame. So it was that Michael Pittman, who caught two touchdown passes, could only think of his two lost fumbles, one at the Carolina 15. ``I probably feel worse than anyone else in this locker room,'' Pittman said. Then again, Gramatica had already left. Many a Buc tried not to throw Gramatica under the bus, though we wondered after the game whether he'd be let on it. At this point, not even Argentina is crying for him. ``It didn't really come down to that,'' Simeon Rice said of Gramatica's misses. ``But it did, realistically speaking.'' Realistically speaking, it's hard not to wonder what if Gruden and GM Bruce Allen had spent more time this offseason finding a new kicker and less time giving Todd Steussie a fat signing bonus, which paid out again Sunday when that former Panther, current tub false-started on fourth-and-1 from the Carolina 16, making way for Gramatica, who unfortunately was accompanied onto the field by his brain, which has a Chucky devil doll inside it and probably could have passed for cranberry sauce on Thanksgiving. Poor Martin looks that lost. Realistically speaking, it's hard to see what the Bucs have learned the past two seasons. They still lose games they shouldn't. They knew Gramatica was a problem weeks ago. He is what he is. The onus is on the Bucs. They don't even learn during games. Heck, Cox was burned by Colbert on Sunday's first touchdown, too. Blitz or no blitz, should the kid have been left out there alone? A couple weeks ago, he was the Bucs' fourth cornerback. Realistically speaking, we're not talking about this if Gramatica makes one field goal. ``You have to count on guys executing their assignments, their jobs,'' Gruden said. Gramatica didn't. Nor did the defense at the end. Twist reality all you want. Yes, if the Rams lose tonight at Green Bay, the Bucs remain just one game out in the wild-card race. ``Don't write the ending just yet,'' Derrick Brooks cautioned. But how can you expect anything from a team that hasn't won three straight since the 2002 playoffs, that's 11-16 since then, that's tied for last in its division, that no longer possesses a kicker who can kick straight? Playoffs, you say? Brooks said it best. ``We're just a team looking for its fifth win,'' he said. Realistically speaking, that is.