4-0 by inches Rick Stroud, The St.Petersburg Times, published 3 October 2005 The fine line between winning and losing in the NFL is painted white and borders the south end zone at Raymond James Stadium. Lions tight end Marcus Pollard saw it quickly approaching when he made a sliding catch of a 12-yard pass from Joey Harrington for what was signalled a go-ahead touchdown with 13 seconds remaining in the game. In most seasons, that would've been it. Nothing left for the Bucs to do but try a Stanford band play on the ensuing kickoff and spend the next week or so explaining another defensive collapse. But this is 2005. It's the season the Bucs find money on the sidewalk, make every green light and get the best parking space. It's the season when a play such as Pollard's touchdown is reversed. So is the Bucs' record. One year after beginning 0-4, the Bucs are 4-0 after Sunday's 17-13 thriller over the Lions. After the replay official called for a review, referee Gerry Austin ruled Pollard's knee touched out of bounds before he gained control of the pass, erasing a winning touchdown. On the next play, rookie Mike Williams was unable to get his feet down inbounds after catching a pass in the end zone, and the game ended when Harrington fired incomplete to Roy Williams. "As he's starting to break away from me, I'm looking at the pylon," linebacker Derrick Brooks said of the pass to Pollard. "And a great job by him, he made the catch. But from where I saw it, I saw his leg out of bounds when he got control of it. So I was like, "Oh, they can't call this a touchdown.' I would never say I was confident. In my mind, I knew he was out of bounds, and I just thank God the (referee) saw it the way I did." To say the Bucs had a few breaks go their way is like saying coach Jon Gruden makes a few faces on the sideline. The Bucs won when rookie Cadillac Williams, the NFL's leading rusher entering the game, was bottled up for 13 yards on 11 carries before he left the game in the third quarter with an injured left hamstring. They won with Joey Galloway, who caught seven passes for a career-high 166 yards, including an 80-yard touchdown, leaving the game in the second half with dehydration. They won with starting left tackle Anthony Davis spraining his left shoulder and being replaced in the second half by Todd Steussie. Brian Griese committed four turnovers - three that led to all 13 Lions points. He was fortunate it wasn't more. The Bucs quarterback was knocked silly when he took a shot to the head from linebacker Boss Bailey on a scramble early in the second quarter. "I was just dazed for awhile there," Griese said. "I took a pretty good hit on my head, and I'm going to be fine. But it kind of takes the feeling out of your legs a little bit, and I was just kind of foggy there toward the end of the first half." After the hit, Griese missed the mark on five of his next seven passes, including two that were intercepted. The first, by linebacker Teddy Lehman, set up Kevin Jones' 8-yard touchdown run to give the Lions a 10-3 lead. An interception by Andre' Goodman returned to the Tampa Bay 27 was nullified by a holding penalty against him. A replay showed receiver Ike Hilliard slipped, and the infraction wasn't obvious. Later in the series, Griese hit Michael Pittman for a 41-yard touchdown to make it 10-10. The first half ended with Griese being intercepted by R.W. McQuarters, who returned it to the Bucs 43 before being pushed out of bounds by tackle Kenyatta Walker. But it was Walker's tackle of cornerback Terrence Holt after a 51-yard interception return in the fourth quarter that helped saved the victory. Mike Williams' 11-yard catch made it first down at the Bucs 7. But two Jones runs gained 2 yards and an incompletion forced Detroit to settle for a field goal. Harrington didn't have much success until the final drive, when he completed 8 of 14 passes for 71 yards. He converted once on third down and another time on fourth down before the near touchdowns. "I thought it was a touchdown," cornerback Ronde Barber said of the throw to Pollard. "He signalled it, and I didn't have a clear view of his knee hitting the white stripe. It's a game of inches. It's crazy sometimes. Like my golf game, you'd rather be lucky than good." Right now, the Bucs are a little of both. "I'm not going to kid you. I prefer to win it a little cleaner than that," defensive backs coach Mike Tomlin said. "But there's no such thing as an ugly win. It's the National Football League. I can't tell you I felt much different last year when we started 0-4. It's a fine line. We are where we're at. That helps you keep your feet on the ground in good times, too."