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As the Bucs' well-booed "Zero Gang" rode deeper into offensive infamy Sunday, the Tampa Bay defense was playing to standing ovations. Heroic soldiers in a losing war. An unsightly sight... like a boxer attempting to keep standing for 15 rounds with hands shackled. Standing there and taking the shots, hoping the opponent will somehow manage to knock himself out.
"I guess we'll just have to shut them out," said Pat Toomay, a seven-year defensive end who previously played on winning teams at Dallas and Buffalo. "That way we can't lose."
It could be 0-0, right?
"WELL, AT LEAST that isn't losing." Toomay added, frustration dripping from his bearded face along with the perspiration of combat. "But it's not our (the defense's) job to worry about the offense.
When you're a pro ballplayer, you have a job to do. Ours is to stop them. Maybe we'll have to start scoring some ourselves. A good defense can do that, too."
San Diego gained 325 total yards against the Bucs, but that figure tells no great tale. Tampa Bay's defense was constantly put in tough spots by the unmoving, error-prone offense. "They couldn't run on us," defensive tackle Dave Pear said of the still-unbeaten Chargers, "We kept stopping them, even on the goal line. Nobody can ask much more than that."
Lee Roy Selmon, the rookie from Oklahoma, was asked when he was last on a team that lost two games in a row. He thought, then smiled. He couldn't remember a time he said. "You never can tell when something will happen with our offense. It'll come... sometime."
COUNCIL RUDOLPH sunk deeply into his paneled locker. It had been a busy, hot afternoon for the five-year veteran defensive end. He refused to disown the offense that hadn't helped the cause in shut-out losses against Houston last week and now San Diego.
"We know that building an offense takes more time than building a defense," Rudolph said. "We're not gonna get mad at anybody. There might be a day when the defense gets its butt kicked around too. But I am proud of our defense. We had a good game plan, keeping (wide receiver) Charlie Joiner from making big plays and containing their runners. We just gotta keep working hard getting better. It's no time to feel sorry for ourselves. We're in this thing together and we're gonna make it. Sure the offense will come on."
The Buccaneers seem to have little speed among their runners. Wide receivers Johnny McKay and Lee McGriff aren't going to beat many NFL teams deep. But you can only guess at that since Tampa
Bay seldom has adequate time to even get a deep pattern working.
Quarterback is a question mark position, too. Three Bucs were tried at QB Sunday, but none could produce a score.
There were 45,920 tickets sold for the game Sunday, but I was amazed that 6,362 persons decided to stay home and waste $12 and $10 tickets.
MAYBE THEY were smart. Perhaps Jeane Dixon told them how unproductive the Bucs' offense would be. Maybe the September heat was too much for a three-hour sit. But, whatever the reason, Sunday's show could do more to increase the number of no shows than vice versa. It may take big-name opposition to get the crowd back.
The show-up attendance at four Tampa Bay home games has decreased each time. O.J. Simpson and his Buffalo tag-alongs should put more bodies into Tampa Stadium next Sunday. The Miami Dolphins will obviously draw well here. But, other than that, it will take a disbanding of the "Zero Gang" to create much of a business stir at the big house on Dale Mabry.
Much as the defense was applauded Sunday, its offense that sells tickets. Ask 20 pro football followers and I'm betting that 19 would rather see 34-31 than a 10-7 game. But, as Pat Toomay said, a 0-0 tie would look reasonably sweet to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in this moment of uncertainty.
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