Bucs' ship is righted on and off the field Hubert Mizell, The St.Petersburg Times, published 12 September 1994 Before the game, Tampa Bay head coach Sam Wyche told his Bucs that they're not for sale. Steve Story, keeper of the Culverhouse Trust, had decided to take the NFL franchise "off the market... indefinitely." Wyche's players cheered the news. Applauding and grinning. Then the heretofore-beleaguered Bucs went outside, into blistering Tampa Stadium sunshine, and beat the Indianapolis Colts in as critical a September game as any pro football team ever is likely to play. If you missed it, I'm sorry. Sunday was fun, seeing Bucs customers enjoying themselves for a change. Smiling, chanting, whistling celebrants in the half-filled stands. Joy also drowned the Bucs themselves, who all but floated away, a 100-ton anvil having been at least temporarily shucked from their backs. Good, artistic stuff... Zero turnovers by Tampa Bay's athletes for a second consecutive Sunday. Clutch defense, allowing Colts rookie runner Marshall Faulk to cause loads of trouble but no lasting torment. Tampa Bay linemen were superior blockers, especially in pass protection. Perfection. Nah, not quite. There was still another Tampa Bay dropped pass, a bit of a deja vu boo boo that reminded of last week's 21-9 failure in Chicago. A wide-open Charles Wilson "was thinking about celebrating when I should've still been concentrating." He muffed it away deep in the end zone. But this Sunday would be different for the Bucs. There came a flurry of critical receptions, including long-ball touchdowns to tight end Jackie Harris and to the same Mr. Wilson. Result was, the Bucs smoked the Colts 24-10. Tampa Bay is 1-1, threatening for the lead in the NFL Central Division rather than threatening to disintegrate as a franchise. Imagine how it would've been if the Bucs had lost again, slumping to an 0-2 start. It could've become a Florida snowball in search of hell. Sunday's record-small crowd of 36,631 for a Tampa Stadium opener would've further shrunk, and become a lot angrier, for next weekend's match with the New Orleans Saints. For so many reasons... With the Bucs ownership factors that've been afloat, with supposed bidders yapping it up for many days about wanting to buy the team from the Culverhouse Trust and operate it here or perhaps elsewhere, a Tampa Bay tumbling to an 0-2 record would've put our community in a desperate funk. Folks fretting not only about the potential fright of another double-digit-loss season, but worrying even more deeply about maybe seeing the Bucs leave town. "No question all that would've begun happening," Wyche said. "This win was huge for so many reasons. I wish all of Tampa Bay could've seen the reaction of our players when I said the franchise isn't for sale. These guys made it clear that they are happy here. It's where they want to be. They're out to win until they pack Tampa Stadium, so they can say, `Look, it was us who filled those seats!' They like being the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. This is different from a player going to the Denver Broncos or Dallas Cowboys and just working to perpetuate a successful situation. Our players know they can do something unique by becoming winners here. I know we're a better team than the Bears and should've won in Chicago. Losing that one due to a few individual mistakes really cut us deeply. We really needed to beat Indianapolis. Everybody from Tampa Bay needed it badly, on our team and in our stadium's seats and throughout the entire area." Craig Erickson too. Again, try to imagine what 0-2 would've been like for Tampa Bay's starting quarterback. Critics would've been screaming, "This season is already dead, so it's time to move on to the Trent Dilfer Era." But, on a memorable Sunday, the Bucs' half-million-dollar quarterbacking bargain would play extraordinarily, passing for 313 yards and three touchdowns, giving not a soul on Tampa Bay earth any reason to suggest that time has come for the $2-million-a-year rookie from Fresno State. Erickson threw 24 passes, completing 19, for a Joe Montanaesque percentage of .796. No interceptions to tarnish the three scoring lobs. It's difficult when you speak with the former University of Miami QB not to think, "This man deserves to do well." Erickson is a load of courage, determination, work ethic, humility, class and high-altitude attitude. He can also be fun. "It became a huge play when our flea-flicker pass clicked to (tight end) Tyji (Armstrong) for a big gain, leading to a touchdown," Erickson said. "Sam really called a good offensive game, but I wasn't sure about using the flea-flicker. I'm not saying it was a suspect call, because it worked. Sam called the flea-flicker once before. But then I called something different in the huddle. That's when we messed around too long and got penalized for a delay of game on a vital third-and-a-foot play. Fortunately Sam then called a little pass to (tailback) Vince Workman that got the first down anyway when Indianapolis blew the coverage. Next time, when the flea-flicker came up, Sam was screaming at me over the helmet radio. I really needed a mute button. How many four-letter words can a man say? So we ran the play, it wound up working, we went on to score and we won the game. Nice call, Sam."