Week 7 preview versus Tampa Bay Bucs

Some links for Tampa Bay Bucs info:


Team Web Site: Buccaneers

Fan Forums: The Buccaneer Bulletin Board, Pewter Report

Newspapers: St Petersburg Times, Tampa Tribune, Orlando Sentinel, Sarasota Herald Tribune

Radio: WDAE 620, WQYK 1010, WHBO 1040

TV: CBS-10, FOX-13, ABC-28, NBC-8, Bay News 9


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Some more Buc facts and trivia:


Tampa Bay has an all-time winning percentage of .394 (205-316-1.) Only the Texans (.364) are lower.

Despite three winning season and two playoff appearances in the last four years, the Bucs fired their head coach (Jon Gruden) and general manager (Bruce Allen) after last season. After week 13 they had beaten the Saints for their 4th straight win and were in position for a first round bye with a 9-3 record. But division rival ran for 299 yards gainst them in the next game, and then they lost to the Falcons by a field goal. The Bucs came back home and they turned the ball over three times in a 17-point loss to the then 6-8 Chargers. Despite the three losses all Tampa Bay had to do was beat the lowly Raiders at home in the last game of the season to secure a playoff spot, but Oakland ran for 192 yards and won 31-24.

Going back to those last four games of 2008, Tampa Bay has now lost ten in a row. They've been outscored by an average of 29.1-17 during that span, surrendering an average of 376.5 total yards and 178.6 rushing yards during that time.

Bucs head coach Raheem Morris is only 33 years old. He once said he learned how to coach by 'majoring in Madden' at college. Most of his experience has been as a defensive backs coach; he was a defensive coordinator for just one year - at Kansas State. Originally he had been named the team's new DC after Monte Kiffin announced he would be leaving to join his son Lane at the University of Tennessee. But right after Morris interviewed for the Denver job, Tampa Bay fired Gruden and gave Morris the HC job. Looks right now like the Broncos made the right choice.

Morris was one of three head coaches to fire his offensive coordinator (former BC coach Jeff Jagodzinski) just before the season started. Those three teams - the Bucs, Bills and Chiefs - are a combined 3-15 this year and are collectively averaging about 15.5 points per game.

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Pats versus Bucs history


The Bucs have been in the league for 34 years now, but the Pats have only played Tampa Bay on six previous occasions. Contrary to popular belief, the Pats have indeed won in Tampa Bay; the Pats are 4-2 overall against the Bucs and 2-1 in Tampa. The Pats beat the Bucs 31-14 at the Old Sombrero in the final game of the Bucs' innaugural season of 1976 when they were in the midst of an 0-26 franchise start. Tampa Bay led at halftime but Sam Hunt returned an interception 68 yards for a touchdown to give the Pats the lead for good in the 4th quarter. Andy Johnson also scored two touchdowns for the Pats in what I am guessing was sloppy conditions; the two teams combined for 84 running plays but only 32 passing plays. The Tampa Bay quarterback that day was Steve Spurrier, who was 12/17/145 with 1 TD and 1 INT; it was his final game of his NFL career. The next game the Pats played was the Ben Dreith playoff game against the Raiders.

The two teams didn't meet again until 1985. By that time the Bucs had gone from being very bad, to a playoff team, back to being very bad again. The Patriots gave them their 8th straight loss to start the year, en route to a 2-12 season. Craig James ran for two touchdowns and threw for another, Tony Collins had 164 yards from scrimmage, and Tony Franklin kicked three field goals for the win in Tampa. The Pats went 11-5 and won their first AFC Championship that year before losing to the Bears in the Super Bowl.

Three years later was Tampa Bay's first game in Foxboro. On the next to last game of the 1988 season the 4-11 Bucs took the 9-6 Patriots into overtime with the score tied at 7. Tampa Bay won the toss, but Bucs' head coach Ray Perkins elected to kickoff, feeling he could get his team in better field position because the game had been a defensive battle all day long. The Pats got the ball, Tony Eason marched the team down the field, and Jason Staurovsky kicked a 27 yard field goal for the 10-7 win - with Tampa Bay never getting their hands on the ball in overtime. The Pats missed the playoffs when they lost at Denver the next week. Perkins was fired a year later but became the Pats offensive coordinator for Bill Parcells from 1993-1996.

Once again it was nine years before the Pats played the Bucs. The 1997 game was held in Tampa and the Bucs got their first win over the Pats, 27-7. The Pats could get nothing done on offense, finishing with just 10 first downs, 168 total yards of offense, three turnovers and were sacked five times. That season was the turning point for their franchise; their defense, led by Warren Sapp, shocked the 49ers in the season opener and started the year with five straight wins. They finished 10-6 in Tony Dungy's second season as a head coach and the team won their first playoff game in 18 years, and only the second in franchise history. The Pats also finished 10-6, beating the Dolphins and then losing to the Steelers.

Three years later the two teams met on opening day of the 2000 season in Foxboro, with Tampa Bay winning 21-16. Troy Brown scored on a 66 yard punt return and a 39-yard TD from Drew Bledsoe to Terry Glenn in the 4th quarter made the final score close, but again it was Tampa Bay's defense that won the game; Bledsoe was sacked for a loss six times in Bill Belichick's first game as head coach of the Patriots. The Pats finished 5-11 while the Bucs were one-and-done in the playoffs, losing (as they often did during Dungy's tenure) to the Eagles.

The last time the two teams met was in week 15 of 2005. The Pats won 28-0 in a game in Foxboro that was never very close - perhaps due in part to Tampa Bay not enjoying the weather in New England in December. Corey Dillon scored on two short runs and Tom Ashworth caught a one-yard pass from Tom Brady, but the real story was the Pats defense. Bucs QB Chris Simms was sacked seven times, while the Pats limited Tampa Bay to 12 first downs, 30 yards rushing on 18 attempts, and just 138 total yards of offense. The Pats went on to beat Jacksonville before losing at Denver in the playoffs that year, while the Bucs lost to the Redskins in the wildcard round; their 11-5 record from that season now being just a distant memory to Buc fans.