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Michelle Kaufman, The St.Petersburg Times, published 11 September 1989
They weren't dancing, or cheering or slapping high-fives. There was quiet happiness in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers locker room after Sunday's exciting 23-21 win over the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field.
Though the season-opening win means the Bucs can sit proudly atop the NFC Central Division, along with Minnesota and Chicago, for at least one week, Tampa Bay players are sensible enough to realize that there are many challenges ahead - beginning with next Sunday's 4 p.m. home opener against the Super Bowl champion San Francisco 49ers.
Eight of the Bucs' next 10 opponents won at least 10 games last season. “Everything we've worked for all these summer weeks came together, and it feels so good,” said center Randy Grimes. “But we've got to get right back to work because we've got the world champions next week. We don't have much time to enjoy this one.”
Sunday's win was the Bucs' fourth in five tries this year, if you count exhibition games, and their fourth straight over the Packers. The setting was perfect for football - sunny, 65 degrees, and 55,650 fans snugly packed into the stands.
Unfortunately for the enthusiastic Packer backers, the Buccaneers offense was nearly as perfect.
Vinny Testaverde completed a career-high 81 percent of his passes (22-of-27) for 205 yards with one touchdown, no interceptions and no sacks. He proved that the Packers' decision to wear white jerseys at home for the first time in at least 37 years didn't confuse his colorblind eyes. In fact, the Bucs have won the past four games in their orange jerseys. “This was the best Vinny has played, by far,” said coach Ray Perkins. “The reason was discipline. He made a lot of smart decisions. I'm real happy about that.”
Tampa Bay running backs - led by William Howard - didn't turn the ball over, either. They combined for 142 yards on 40 carries, and got the tough yards when they had to. When Howard needed 5 yards, he got them. When he needed 2, he got 4. When he needed 10, he got 10. It was the same story all day. By the end of the game, he had rushed 67 yards on 17 carries and caught seven passes for 59 yards. And he was personally responsible for nine Tampa Bay first downs, including all three during the game-ending drive.
Starting halfback Lars Tate carried the ball 14 times for 38 yards, including two touchdowns. Mark Carrier led Bucs receivers with six catches for 73 yards. The last time the Bucs had a turnover-free game was the 10-5 win over Buffalo last December.
Tampa Bay's defense wasn't nearly as impressive, forcing the Packers to punt only once in eight drives. Had it not been for three interceptions by Bucs safeties, including a critical grab by Mark Robinson on the Bucs' 16-yard line late in the game, Testaverde's efforts would have been for naught.
Most of the defensive boo-boos came in the second half. That was when the Packers got 11 of their 17 first downs, 162 of their 218 passing yards and 209 of their 321 total yards. The 20-7 halftime lead seemed meaningless in the final minutes of the game. “I feel like we let the offense down a lot today,” said defensive end Reuben Davis, who will have his eye examined today to make sure the poke he got during the game was nothing serious. “We let the score dictate our play. We took for granted that we'd win after the first half, and you can't do that in this league. Maybe in college, but not here. The older guys like Mark (Robinson) and Eugene (Marve) and Ervin (Randle) were yelling at us to buckle down.”
The scolding began early. The Packers gained an average of 11 yards per carry during their first drive, which ended in a Brent Fullwood 3-yard run. Remember, the Bucs led the NFL last year with an average of 3.2 yards allowed per carry.
But the Bucs offense (with a little help from Packers linebacker Burnell Dent) made sure Green Bay's 7-0 lead didn't last long.
A 2-yard run by Tate on the second play of the second quarter put the Bucs on the scoreboard. The 80-yard drive was almost ruined early, when only luck stood between an interception and an incompletion. Testaverde, attempting to throw over the waving hands of defensive linemen, watched in horror as Dent let the ball bounce off his fingertips. “Sylvester (Stamps, the intended receiver) cut his route short, and since he's so short, I had to try to throw over the defender's hands,” Testaverde said. “Luckily, we got out of that okay.”
A minute after Tate's run, Robinson made his first interception of the day. The Bucs' next drive featured a gutsy 9-yard run by Testaverde on third-and-nine from the Packers 33. Figuring he'd react like most quarterbacks, a pair of Green Bay defenders overran Testaverde, who stopped short of the sideline.
But this quarterback wasn't going to duck out of bounds. He cut back inside and stretched his long arms across the 24-yard line. “I knew I was boxed in and I figured they'd think I was drifting out, so I drifted in,” Testaverde said. “It ended up being a key play, because if we had just settled for a field goal, we wouldn't have had enough points to win in the end.”
Instead, the run led to a 1-yard touchdown run by Tate to put the Bucs on top 14-7. With eight minutes to go in the first half, the Bucs had controlled the ball 16:42 to the Packers' 5:02. An end-zone interception by Harry Hamilton kept Green Bay receiver Sterling Sharpe from tying the game, and before the half was over, the Bucs would score again.
The final touchdown of the half was on a dump-pass from Testaverde to Howard from the 9-yard line. Donald Igwebuike missed his first extra point attempt in 40 tries, and the Bucs went into intermission ahead 20-7.
Whatever coach Lindy Infante told the Packers at halftime worked. The team came out fired up, and soon closed the gap to 20-14 on an 11-yard touchdown from Don Majkowski to tight end Ed West. Majkowski, who had thrown for just 56 yards in the first half, completed five consecutive passes for 53 yards during that drive. “We just let them back in it,” said Bucs linebacker Winston Moss. “We dug our own hole. It wasn't so much that they were playing better. It was just that we were a little flat.”
A 52-yard field goal by Igwebuike made it 23-14 with 4:35 left in the third quarter. It would be the third time in a row that an Igwebuike field goal was the deciding factor in a win over the Packers. Both of the Bucs' wins over Green Bay last year were on last-minute field goals.
The Packers scared the Bucs when Green Bay wide receiver Carl Bland recovered a teammate's fumble in the end zone for a touchdown, making it 23-21 a minute into the fourth quarter. And Green Bay was in position to take the lead with 5:32 left, when the Packers faced second-and-10 at the Bucs 16. That's when Robinson's hands got in the way and saved the game for Tampa Bay.
The Bucs offense ate up the clock to secure the victory. “A fan might look at this game and say, `Aw, those are two teams that aren't too good,' but they're wrong,” Testaverde said. “You're going to see Tampa Bay and Green Bay playing with anybody in this league this year.”
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