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Roy Cummings, The Tampa Tribune, published 19 September 2005
It went off pretty much as billed -- a battle of marquee defenses. Here's the plot twist: The kid who stole the show yet again played offense. Perhaps you've heard of him. He's just two games removed from his college campus, but like Tiger, Shaq and T.O. he is already becoming known -- at least in this area -- simply by his moniker: Cadillac.
The Bucs rode him to their second victory in as many tries Sunday, a 19-3 beating of a supposedly superior Buffalo Bills squad (1-1) that seemingly had no answers for how to stop Cadillac Williams or penetrate the Bucs defense. While Williams ran for 128 yards, including 57 after reportedly spraining the arch in his left foot near the end of the first half, the Bucs defense limited the Bills to just 147 total yards and eight first downs. The Bucs' 191 rushing yards were their most in three-plus seasons under Coach Jon Gruden.
The defense's effort also marked the second time in as many games that it has not allowed a touchdown. Afterward, though, the player most everyone was talking about was Cadillac. It's hard to blame them. After running for 148 yards during his debut, Williams' encore performance made him the first back since Edgerrin James in 1999 to start a career with back-to-back 100-yard rushing efforts.
"He broke our back," Bills safety Troy Vincent said. "He did it all," Bills coach Mike Mularkey said. "We go as Cadillac goes," Bucs cornerback Ronde Barber said.
It used to be the other way around. For years the Bucs went only as far as Barber and their defense could carry them. Suddenly it all seems so much different. It's an old formula: run the ball, stop the run. Do those two things consistently, coaches claim, and chances are you'll win more games than you'll lose. So far, these Bucs are living proof the formula works. In two games, the Bucs have given up just 80 yards rushing on 34 carries, and Williams has run 51 times for 276 yards and two touchdowns.
"Some people may consider it boring, but we consider it a fact of football," linebacker Derrick Brooks said of the formula. "If we continue to run the ball and our defense keeps forcing teams to go three-and-out, on offense we can be good. But you know, it's too early to tell. A lot of teams went 2-0 last year and, well, you just have to continue to build on starts like this. That's what we have to do now. We have to keep building on this."
Brooks had a good reason for tempering his comments. Two years ago, the Bucs got off to a 2-1 start that included surrendering a total of just 10 points to Philadelphia and Atlanta. They finished that season with a 7-9 record and ranked 13th in the league against the rush. Then, after thinking they'd plugged the holes in their rush defense, they went 5-11 in 2004 and fell to 19th against the rush.
All of that was still in the back of defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin's mind late Sunday. Though pleased with what his defense had accomplished against the Bills, he was wary of saying it was a sign of things to come. "We've got 14 games to go," he said. "Let's keep that in mind. But you've got to be pretty impressed with what you saw Sunday. Our offense was awesome. And our defense, well, that was really a pretty good offense they were facing."
It appeared to be the kind of offense that could give the Bucs fits. Though led by a quarterback (J.P. Losman) who was making his first road start, it was one that featured a tough, downhill-style runner in Willis McGahee. But just like Daunte Culpepper and the Vikings a week ago, Losman and the Bills never could get into rhythm. The Bucs got their hands on as many of Losman's passes (three) as did his receivers in the first half, and they didn't surrender a first down until 1:54 remained before halftime.
By then the Bucs had a 9-0 lead, the result of a safety in which Losman was forced out of the back of the end zone and a 1-yard Mike Alstott run that came just moments after Williams left the game with his foot sprain. Williams skipped the first series of the second half but sparked the second by running for 19 yards and later finished that series by running 3 yards for his touchdown. "I was definitely in pain," Williams said. "But in all my years that I've been playing football, you never feel good. It's like something is always hurting and usually with me, when something's hurting, I play better."
The Bucs can hardly envision Williams or their defense playing any better than they have these first two games. On both occasions, one has clearly fed off the other. By moving the ball efficiently against the Bills, the offense allowed the defense to stay fresh. Likewise, by getting off the field quickly (they went three-and-out on six of their 10 series) the defense created opportunities for the offense. "When you can control the clock on the other side of the ball the way we did, that's a great thing," Barber said. "It's a ball-control approach, and right now we've got 53 guys all playing that kind of ball with no mistakes."
Well, that's not necessarily true. The Bucs were penalized 13 times for 99 yards against the Bills. "That's one area we definitely need to address," Brooks said. "We have to address penalties. We have to show a lot more discipline than we're showing right now. But still, this was a very good win for us against a very physical football team. Like I said before, what we have to do now is build on it. We just have to keep building."
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