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January 25, 2000
Half a team wasn't enough for BuccaneersThe defense of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers deserves to go to the Super Bowl. The offense of the Buccaneers deserves to be flushed down the toilet bowl. As good as the Bucs' defense is, it couldn't overcome its incompetent and inept offense. The St. Louis Rams escaped 11-6 Sunday, thanks to a blown call by the officials and Tony Dungy being forced to go with a rookie quarterback to lead his anemic offense. In a conference championship game. Shaun King at the helm of the Bucs' offense. For a berth in the Super Bowl. Not that a healthy Trent Dilfer would have left Dungy with much more of a choice. Throw in Eric Zeier as your backup and you could see the Bucs were in a quandary no matter who they started at quarterback. The rest of the Buccaneers' offense didn't offer Dungy much more hope. Half a team is still only half a team, no matter which half you have. The Bucs' half almost made it happen. Tampa Bay's defense came within one play of carrying its terrible offense to Super Bowl XXXIV to face the Tennessee Titans Sunday. With its impotent offense stalling time and time again, and time and time again putting the Rams' potent offense back on the field, the Buccaneers' defense finally didn't make a play. Kurt Warner connected with Ricky Proehl on a 30-yard touchdown pass with 4:44 left in the game. Proehl hauled in the pass hugging the left sideline as he hugged the ball with his left arm, beating the tight coverage of Bucs' back-up cornerback Brian Kelley. But that just once was enough. When your defense allows only 309 yards of total offense, one touchdown and 11 points in a conference championship game against one of the best offenses in the NFL, you commend them. And you make your Super Bowl plans. But when your offense only generates 203 total yards, scores no touchdowns and only six points, your Super Bowl plans are making sure you have enough food and drink and a nice place to watch the game. Cliches have come to be abhorred, except of course by players and coaches who constantly utter them when they can't come up with their own words. But cliches are often founded in truth. Defense does win championships -- there is truth in that. But you have to have something that resembles a living, breathing offense. The Buccaneers' offense was stillborn. The Bucs' defense forced three St. Louis turnovers, and the offense had the advantage of field position. Tampa Bay took over possession four times in St. Louis territory and the Buccaneers averaged starting at their own 39. On the first play of the game, Tampa Bay defensive end Steve White picked off an attempted Warner screen pass. The Buccaneers took over at the St. Louis 20. They got as far as the Ram 7 before their offensive ineptitude resurfaced and the Bucs were forced to settle for the first of two Martin Gramatica field goals. The three points were free points, sure, but that Tampa Bay couldn't cash in for six was a preview. Twice the Buccaneers got the ball in Rams' territory in the fourth quarter. The first drive went two yards before a punt, the second ended in the interception that resulted in the Rams' winning touchdown. The Bucs' offense almost made it happen. The offense that wasn't almost was. Tampa Bay took over at its own 23 with a little more than four minutes in the game. Plenty of time for most offenses to drive the ball down the field to score the winning touchdown. But this was the Bucs' offense. Would they? Could they? The Buccaneers marched. Sluggishly, haltingly, but they marched. Without the phantom incompletion -- one of the better examples to date why instant replay should be abolished -- would the Buccaneers' offense have finally found the end zone? They were 3rd-and-10 at the St. Louis 22. Then they were 3rd-and-23 from the Rams' 35. It never should have come down to a blown call by a hallucinating replay official and a blind referee. The Buccaneers' defense deserved better. Bert Emanuel -- the Bucs' receiver who was robbed of the catch by replay -- summarized it thusly: "We've won games 6-3, 9-6, 13-10, and people had to be asking, 'How long can they continue to do that?'" Emanuel told the Tampa Tribune. "How long can you put the defense in situations like that? Expect them to shine and carry you? We were exposed today. That's the bottom line, we were exposed."
Column by Bob Varmette, Journal sports writer
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