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Roy Cummings, The Tampa Tribune, published 26 September 2005
As dry spells go, it wasn't that long. Certainly it didn't compare to what the Red Sox went through waiting to win another World Series or what Don Johnson has been through since "Miami Vice" was canceled. It was 13 games. Thirteen games over 16 seasons. Still, it became a rallying point.
Jon Gruden tried to downplay the whole thing late Sunday, saying it was all a bunch of media hype and hogwash, but it was Gruden who made sure the Bucs' locker room was plastered with signs during the week that read simply, 1989. "Oh, it was definitely a point of reference," linebacker Ryan Nece said of the year the Bucs last won a game on the road against the Packers. "It was definitely something that was talked about."
Now the Bucs are who everyone is talking about. But the talk is not about how they broke their 13-game road losing streak to the Packers by handing them a 17-16 loss at Lambeau Field. The talk is all about rookie running back Cadillac Williams, who ran his way into the record books yet again Sunday with a 158-yard performance, and the fact the Bucs stand alone atop the NFC South at 3-0. "It feels good; it feels real good," right tackle Kenyatta Walker said of the 3-0 start, the Bucs' first since 2000. "I mean, after we started off 0-4 last year, this feels great. But I'm not patting myself on the back just yet."
Plenty of others were patting Walker on the back. After all, it was Walker who saved the game by running down Packers corner Ahmad Carroll after Carroll intercepted quarterback Brian Griese midway through the fourth quarter. Without that takedown, the Packers likely would have taken a 20-17 lead on the play. Instead, they went back on offense and were forced to settle for a field goal that left them trailing by a point. "That was the play of the game," Gruden said of Walker's tackle. "He runs down on that and just makes an unbelievable effort. There were just a lot of things like that for us today."
Will Allen did a couple of those things. The second-year safety replaced an injured Dexter Jackson (hamstring) late in the first half and proceeded to pick off Packers quarterback Brett Favre twice in the fourth quarter. Brian Kelly also had an interception, and Nece chipped in with a key sack of Favre in the third quarter as well as a 3-yard stuff of running back Ahman Green that set up Allen's first pick.
Then there was the special teams work of defensive tackle Dewayne White. Though the snap and hold were poor, White got his hand on kicker Ryan Longwell's point-after attempt following the Packers' first touchdown, forcing Longwell to miss. Finally, there was the play of Williams. Despite playing with a sore left arch, he ran 37 times for 158 yards, giving him 434 yards for the season. That's the most ever for an NFL running back after three games. "I don't want to inflate his start or deflate it," Gruden said. "But in my lifetime in the NFL he is the best back I've ever coached. But again, that doesn't mean anything. That just means that after three games, I'm making that statement. He has to back it up the rest of the season. But I'll say this about him. He's as tough as they get."
Williams' sore arch forced him to miss a good portion of practice time during the week and he said after the game that he "would be lying if he'd said he didn't feel any pain" Sunday. Williams never looked like he was in pain, though. He ran hard consistently and after carrying the ball 23 times for 79 yards through three quarters, he put together a 14-carry, 79-yard effort to close out the game in the fourth. "He gets stronger as the game goes on," Gruden said. "And I've heard people say he can't run between the tackles and that we're going to wear him out, but if you don't try to wear this guy out you're never going to find out how great he really is. I think that's the way it is with all great backs."
Williams didn't just run the ball Sunday. He also caught his first pass and dropped a pass. The only thing he didn't do was score a touchdown. But on this day he didn't have to. With Williams posing a running threat that helped free up the receivers, Brian Griese took advantage of some Packers mistakes and hit Joey Galloway for both of the team's touchdowns. The first came when Packers nickelback Mike Hawkins broke away from his coverage of Galloway to bite on a Griese run fake; the second came when the Packers tried to cover Galloway with a pair of linebackers. "They're 3-0 but we helped them become 3-0," Packers coach Mike Sherman said. "We had a missed field goal, a missed extra point and four turnovers. There were numerous things that went wrong for us."
Not everything went right for the Bucs. They gave the Packers several chances to get back in the game, but rallied each time to thwart the comebacks. That's what sticks in Derrick Brooks' mind. "We did a lot of things that won't show up in the stat sheet," he said. "The resilience we showed on defense; the offense closing out the game again; the blocking up front; Cadillac just pounding and pounding and pounding. We weren't as on top of our details as we have been but when opportunities to make plays came around we jumped on them and came away with the ball. We did enough to win and that's what matters."
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