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Eagles DE Hugh Douglas
dominated Buccaneers
rookie Kenyatta Walker
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Tampa Bay bowed out of the playoffs once again, dropping to 0-6 in the postseason under
head coach Tony Dungy as they fell 31-9 to Philadelphia.
It was a dismal day for the Bucs’ offense, which managed three field goals and
failed to score a touchdown for the third straight playoff game. The Bucs finished with 63
rushing yards, turned the ball over four times and barely put up a fight once they fell
behind.
If this is it in Tampa for Dungy, it’s clear that it was his team’s inability
to put points on the board that ultimately forced him out.
Here’s a look at random thoughts and comments accumulated throughout this first
playoff game of the 2001 season:
First quarter
My first thought of the day is what a nice man Dungy is. He is incredibly accommodating
and friendly compared to most of his peers. He displays those qualities right before
kickoff when he talks to ESPN sideline reporter Suzy Kolber and doesn’t show any
signs of feeling pressure to succeed. Which is amazing, considering the reports that if he
doesn’t win this game, he’ll be fired, and Bill Parcells will be hired.
A good sign for the Bucs: Everyone knows about their 0-20 record when the temperature
is below 40 degrees at kickoff. It’s a balmy 46 degrees in Philly.
A bad sign for the Bucs: They are 0-5 in playoff games under Dungy.
Eagles QB Donovan McNabb shows his strength on the first play of the game when Bucs DT
Anthony McFarland grabs his foot and holds him for a couple of seconds before McNabb
breaks away and throws an incomplete pass. I’ve got to think that would’ve been
ruled a sack back in the days of the in-the-grasp rule.
McNabb throws an ill-advised pass for an interception, and it leads to the first score
of the game — a Martin Gramatica 36-yard field goal. Don’t forget that Tampa
took a 3-0 lead last January when these two teams met in the wild-card game in Philly. It
didn’t score again and lost that game 21-3.
McNabb makes up for his poor throw by sprinting upfield for 39 yards, then gets 15 more
tacked on when Bucs S Dexter Jackson is called for hitting him out of bounds (which was a
poor call, by the way, since Jackson initiated contact with McNabb while both were
inbounds). The scramble led to a 26-yard field goal by Pro Bowl PK David Akers.
Eagles DE Hugh Douglas gets a sack, blowing past rookie OLT Kenyatta Walker and then
managing to tackle Brad Johnson despite getting tackled by Walker at the same time.
Not to be outdone, Bucs DE Simeon Rice cleanly beats Eagles OLT Tra Thomas for a sack
of McNabb. Rice, two years older than McNabb, considers McNabb his little brother after
the two played together at Mount Carmel High School in Chicago.
Neither team is really looking downfield with its passing game. Both offenses look
tight and conservative.
Second quarter
So much for not looking downfield: Philly comes out throwing in the second quarter.
McNabb hits WR Todd Pinkston for a decent gain, then comes back to Pinkston for a big gain
deep into Tampa territory.
McNabb shows his brilliance when he rolls away from pressure, directs TE Chad Lewis
where to go, then fires a 16-yard pass to Lewis in the endzone for a touchdown.
Akers’ PAT makes it 10-3.
Tampa comes right back with a pass play to WR Keyshawn Johnson for 17 yards and a
couple of nice gains by FB Mike Alstott. The Bucs, who failed to score a touchdown in
their two previous playoff games, sees their drive stall, and Gramatica boots a 32-yard
field goal to make it 10-6.
Interesting note from ABC-TV’s Kolber: Tampa’s defense struggled a bit this
year due to the losses of LB coach Lovie Smith (the much-heralded defensive coordinator
for the St. Louis Rams) and secondary coach Herman Edwards (who led the Jets to the
playoffs in his first season as a head coach).
A great Sean Landeta punt, with 3:04 left in the half, pins Tampa back at its own
five-yard line. Douglas continues to eat up Tampa rookie OLT Kenyatta Walker, tackling
Alstott for no gain, and then drawing a false-start penalty on an obviously rattled
Walker.
Punting from his own endzone, Tampa P Mark Royals fails to hit a good punt, and Philly
gets the ball at the Bucs’ 31.
Another bad sign for the Bucs: The Eagles did not allow more than 21 points all season.
They are just the fourth team ever to accomplish that.
Bucs DT Warren Sapp shakes his head and smiles after McNabb somehow scrambles away from
a sack and throws the ball away.
The Eagles call a great play as McNabb swings a screen pass to RB Duce Staley, and
Staley bursts into the secondary and all the way to the endzone for a touchdown. A penalty
flag is thrown, but it’s for a personal foul after the score. Akers’ PAT makes
it 17-6 with 35 seconds left.
Instead of licking their wounds, the Bucs show some heart as Brad Johnson connects over
the middle with Keyshawn Johnson for 46 yards deep into Philly territory.
They move to the Eagles’ nine with two seconds left, then have a little drama on
the sideline. Gramatica, back for the first time since sitting out with an injured
hamstring, comes up limping on the sideline while warming up for a potential kick. The
Philly artificial turf is not the greatest surface, plus it appears to be freezing over.
Gramatica manages to get healthy quickly as he jogs onto the field and boots a 27-yard
field goal as time expires to cut the deficit to 17-9 at the half.
Third quarter
Brad Johnson had a pretty solid first half, but either he or offensive coordinator
Clyde Christiansen has to be blamed for not throwing downfield more. Johnson actually
comes out throwing in the second half, but he’s intercepted by Eagles S Damon Moore
on a terrible, hanging pass over the middle. Luckily for the Bucs, the Eagles don’t
move the ball at all and have to punt it away.
After a failed drive by the Bucs, the Eagles display their much more balanced offense,
hitting a pass to James Thrash and running with RB Correll Buckhalter. In fact, Buckhalter
breaks free up the middle for a 25-yard TD run to put Philly ahead 24-9.
Eagles CB Troy Vincent makes a great interception in the corner of the endzone to foil
a rare Buccaneers scoring chance.
It’s amazing to me how big a 15-point lead is against the Bucs. Against the Rams
or even the Eagles, 15 points is nothing to feel comfortable about. But against the Bucs,
who are built to get the lead and then hold on for dear life, it seems like an enormous
margin. I can’t think of another NFL team that is less capable of rallying from a big
deficit.
A big difference in this game has clearly been the play of the two quarterbacks. McNabb
made one mistake early, but he more than made up for it with some great plays after that.
Brad Johnson tied a playoff record with four interceptions, failed to lead his team into
the endzone and just didn’t get the job done.
Fourth quarter
Amazing how quiet Tampa’s Pro Bowlers in the secondary, S John Lynch and CB Ronde
Barber, have been.
It sure seems to me as though the Bucs’ players are lacking the fire and passion
that a playoff team needs to be successful. Maybe it’s the tone set by their quiet,
unassuming head coach, or maybe this is just an underachieving bunch that needs a kick in
the pants. Or maybe they’re just not as good as everyone has given them credit for
being.
Look at WR Jacquez Green make a half-hearted attempt to keep his feet inbounds after
Brad Johnson finally throws the ball deep. It could’ve been a big play for the Bucs,
who are — amazingly — only two scores down! But Green makes the catch out of
bounds, and the beat goes on for the Bucs’ offensive woes.
Boy, Buckhalter is a good-looking runner. He averaged nearly a yard more than Staley
(4.5 to 3.6) during the regular season, but Staley has been hampered by a shoulder injury.
Buckhalter finishes with 55 yards on nine carries.
What an unexciting finish to this game. And when S Damon Moore makes his second
interception of the game and runs it back for a 59-yard touchdown to cap a 31-9 win,
it’s like a merciful end to this one.
One Bucs player who deserves kudos is Simeon Rice, who makes seven tackles, gets a
couple of sacks, forces a fumble and proves that he can play the run quite well, thank
you. After being maligned for his weak attempts at rush defense in the past, he certainly
proved this season that he is an excellent all-around defensive end. In fact, he led Tampa
defensive linemen in tackles this season.
Buckhalter adds to his strong game by making a special-teams tackle on punt coverage.
Did you know that Keyshawn Johnson set a team record for receptions in a season this
year with 106? But did you also know that he caught 70 (!) more passes than the next
receiver, Jacquez Green, who had 36? Dreadful stat for the Bucs’ O.
S Brian Dawkins has been a thorn in the Bucs’ side all game and comes up with a
big hit on WR Karl Williams, then makes a great interception along the sideline as he
manages to do what Jacquez Green couldn’t do — keep his feet inbounds.
Talk about desperation: Tampa challenges the interception by Dawkins, saying that he
didn’t have possession of the ball as he fell out of bounds. Funny, but every time
they showed a replay of Dawkins’ catch, he was in firm control of the ball EVERY
SINGLE TIME!
Well, the Tony Dungy Death Watch officially is under way as the Bucs fall dismally,
31-9. All I can say is: Tuna’s gonna be a VERY popular item in Tampa restaurants in
the coming weeks.
After Warren Sapp was so outspoken in support of Dungy, I’d love to be there for
Sapp’s introduction to Bill Parcells, if the Big Tuna is indeed named coach of the
Bucs as has been rumored. Do you think Parcells will put up with Sapp’s grumbling?
Final bad news for the Bucs: They have now gone 12 consecutive postseason quarters
without scoring a touchdown. Ouch!
The 12-5 Eagles will now travel to Chicago to take on the 13-3 Bears next Saturday
afternoon. It will be a homecoming for McNabb, who seemed genuinely excited about that
game when he was interviewed after the win over the Bucs. "I’m going home!"
he exclaimed. |
