| I’m pretty darn mad, and
I’m not going to take it anymore. All of you snobs out there who only love offense
during football games and treat defense like the piece of gum that gets stuck on the
bottom of your shoe, I’m talking to you. Hey, Warren Sapp. Get over here and watch
my back. That’s right, it’s Warren and me against the world.
Ever since the final seconds ticked off the clock of the NFC title game in which the
Rams beat the Buccaneers 11-6, I keep hearing the same sentiment expressed by journalists
and fans. That sentiment, misguided from where I sit, is as follows:
Thank goodness for the Rams. They kept us from having to watch the Buccaneers’
boring, score-about-as-often-as-a-soccer-team offense in the Super Bowl.
Well, I’ve got news for you. The Buccaneers would have been plenty exciting to
watch in the Super Bowl. There is only one thing that is boring on Super Sunday, and that
is if there is a blowout.
The Buccaneers’ dominant defense would have been the antidote to that possibility.
(Yeah, I know they lost 45-0 to the Raiders during the regular season, but that was a
once-in-a-blue-moon, the-planets-are-aligned-just-right-and-here-comes-Haley’s-Comet
freak of nature.)
I’ve checked the NFL rules book. Nowhere does it say that only teams with good
offenses are allowed to play in the Super Bowl.
Do you want to know what is exciting? Excellence. Dominance.
Do you want to know what else is exciting? Close games.
Let’s look at the playoffs this season.
Was the Jaguars’ 62-7 win over the Dolphins exciting? (Jacksonville fans
don’t get a vote.) No. There was dominance but not competitiveness. Sure, there was a
certain carnival atmosphere buzz for a while as the score got out of hand. There was a
certain gaper’s intrigue — like you feel when you pass a three-car accident on
the side of the road — as you asked yourself just how much the Jaguars could run up
the score. That said, there was nothing breathtaking about the game, unless you count
being out of breath from running to the refrigerator so many times in what was a
less-than-compelling fourth quarter.
Was the Rams’ 49-37 win over the Vikings exciting? I would argue no. Sure, the
pinball machine score sounds intriguing, but the fact of the matter is that this was never
a ballgame for most of the second half. The Rams turned a 17-14 halftime deficit into a
49-17 lead before the Vikings scored a bunch of cosmetic points to allow for a respectable
final score. And when I say cosmetic points, I’m not talking about a nose job that
makes a woman look drop-dead beautiful. We’re talking more along the lines of a nose
job for Porky Pig. A pig is still a pig, no matter how you slice it, and a blowout is
still a blowout.
Now let’s look at the so-called boring Buccaneers.
In the playoffs against the Redskins, they played a
keep-the-viewers-on-the-edge-of-their-seats game, winning 14-13 by storming back from a
13-0 deficit. It was the defense that turned the game around, when Tampa Bay S John Lynch
intercepted a Brad Johnson pass. This was a game that will be remembered for its
fourth-quarter drama. An avalanche of points? Of course not. Boring? No way. I practically
hyperventilated from the excitement.
Now let’s look at the Buccaneers’ 11-6 loss to the Rams. Maybe there
weren’t a lot of points scored, but this was a heart-stopping game. It was gritty. It
was pulsating. It came down to the very end. It was unbelievably thrilling theater.
If the Buccaneers had made it to the Super Bowl, I truly have to believe that their
defense would have been way too good to allow a blowout. I only ask for one thing in a
Super Bowl: Let the two teams be within a touchdown of each other heading into the fourth
quarter so that the final 15 minutes can make your palms sweat. The Buccaneers’
defense would have virtually assured that.
If you want to see something pretty, go to the ballet.
If you want to see a war, if you want to see a knockdown, drag-out street fight in
which the bullets are flying, the outcome is in doubt and nobody backs down, go to a
Buccaneers game.
Tampa Bay doesn’t have to apologize to anyone for its style. This isn’t
figure skating where the judges consider artistic merit. This is football — bloody
football — and I think a Buccaneers team that has a defense that kicks ass and takes
names is as good as it gets for entertainment purposes. |
