Unrepeatable Roy Cummings, The Tampa Tribune, published 1 December 2003 The mathematicians will tell you there's still hope and they are right, of course. Somewhere out there, there is a formula that concludes that the Bucs still can make the playoffs. The Bucs know better. In their hearts, in their minds, they seem to sense that this will be the first time since 1998 that they will miss the postseason. That became evident early this morning, when the impact of Sunday night's stunning 17-10 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars - a team that entered the game with a 2-9 record - started to sink in. ``It's looking bleak,'' safety John Lynch said when asked about the defending Super Bowl champs' chances of making the playoffs. ``It may not be possible.'' It won't be if the Bucs (5-7) play another game like the one they played here. On a night when they needed to play the way they did all of last year, the Bucs struggled with the same problems that have beset them all of this year. There were penalties - 80 yards worth, this time; there were blown scoring opportunities and costly turnovers. And once again there was substandard execution on defense. Against rookie quarterback Byron Leftwich, who won the game by throwing a 48-yard touchdown pass to Jimmy Smith in the fourth quarter, the Bucs' vaunted veteran defense gave up 359 yards, including 224 through the air. ``I thought Leftwich had a great night throwing the ball,'' Bucs coach Jon Gruden said. ``He made some big third-down conversions and they moved the ball extremely well.'' The Bucs didn't. Their offense struggled to run the ball, gaining just 77 yards; struggled to throw it, gaining 156 yards; and struggled to score, missing a field goal that could have given them a fourth-quarter lead. Overall, they converted just two of their 12 third-down tries and averaged just 3.7 yards per offensive play. The Jaguars? In a telling statistic, they averaged 5.9 yards per offensive play. ``We struggled tremendously,'' Gruden said. ``We had a chance with all three phases to beat a team that's much better than their record indicates. We're going to have to dig into the old hat now; dig deep into the bag of tricks. I think the Saints will be motivation for us.'' The Jaguars should have been motivation. A win would have put the Bucs just two games back in the race for the final two wild-card playoff berths. The loss puts them three behind. ``Obviously [this] hurts our playoff hopes,'' Gruden said. ``We wanted to win two games in a row and take some kind of momentum into the final quarter of the season. Now we'll just have to manufacture that momentum ourselves.'' The Bucs came into Sunday's game confident they had rediscovered the secret to closing out games. What they may have lost along the way was the ability to start them. While the offense gained all of 69 yards and gave the ball away on a Brad Johnson interception during the first half, the Jaguars gained 208 yards, including 137 during the first 17 minutes of play. The Jags built a 7-0 lead during those first 17 minutes, and as bad as that was, the Bucs had reason to feel fortunate. After all, the situation could have been and probably should have been much worse. Against a defense that struggled to stop the pass, the Jaguars moved into scoring position on each of their first three possessions. The only thing that prevented them from scoring were questionable play calls and poor execution. The most questionable of the calls was Coach Jack Del Rio's decision to go for it on fourth-and-two from the Bucs 24 at the end of the Jags' first drive. Instead of getting the first down, Leftwich threw out of bounds. Del Rio went for the field goal the second time he got close to the end zone on fourth down, but Seth Marler's 46-yard field goal attempt sailed wide right to keep the game scoreless. The Jags finally got in the end zone on their third possession, finishing a seven-play, 40-yard drive with a 10-yard pass to tight end Kyle Brady. And like the Jags, the third time also proved to be the charm for the Bucs. Aided by a 15-yard penalty early in the drive, the Bucs moved 56 yards in 11 plays and tied the game when Thomas Jones ran in from 5 yards out with 8:12 remaining in the first half. Jones' TD run, his second in as many games, was set up by a 10-yard pass to Keenan McCardell, who became the 17th player in NFL history to catch 700 passes in a career. The 16th player to reach that milestone was Jaguars receiver Jimmy Smith, who did so during the Jaguars' first drive, catching a 9-yard pass that helped move the Jaguars into field goal range. Moving the ball proved to be a struggle for the Bucs throughout the first half Sunday, but they still managed to take a lead when Martin Gramatica finished off a six-play, 10-yard drive by hitting a 47-yard field goal with 5:05 left. Stronger offensively, though, the Jaguars came back and tied it in the final minute, getting a 28-yard field goal from Marler that came at the end of an 11-play, 60-yard drive.