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Alvin P. Rozelle, the lord high commissioner of the National Football League, should take the filmed lowlights of the second quarter of Sunday afternoon's Tampa Bay Buccaneers-Baltimore Colts game and tuck it away in his desk drawer. Then, when the next multi-zillionaire comes in and wants to become a member of the most exclusive men's club in the world as owner of an NFL team, Rozelle could pull out those lowlights.
What the owner would see are penalty flags, fights, injuries and enough frustrations to fill a football lifetime. Then Rozelle could look at the guy and say: "Now are you sure you want a franchise in this league?"
The growing pains of the expansion Bucs arc becoming more and more painful each week. Sunday against the Colts, the Bucs played football for one quarter and something else for three quarters. The defense was wide open and the offense was once again a study in perpetual immobility. The Colts, one of the better teams in the NFL, battered the Bucs 42-17.
AND, IF THINGS looked bleak Sunday in bleak Memorial Stadium, you better not watch next week when the Bucs hobble into Cincinnati. The Bucs' defense, recipient of the few praises thrown at the team this season, was battered by Baltimore so badly that it looks like two starters, linebackers, Cal Peterson and defensive lineman Lee Roy Selmon, have gone down for the count with knee injuries.
Add that to a shoulder separation suffered by rookie guard Everett Little and John McKay's looking at more cloudy days.
Most of what befell the Bucs Sunday befell them in the second quarter. Up until then they had been enjoying a 3-0 lead, courtesy of Dave Green's 40-yard first-period field goal. Here, in revised and cleaned up form for family reading, is basically what happened:
On their first possession of the second period, the Colts start at their 33-yard line. On the second play Lydell Mitchell gets 43 yards on a sweep around the right side and Peterson is felled by a knee injury, the second Peterson in as many weeks to injure a knee. Jim got decked in the Buffalo game.
On a second and five from the five on the same drive, Lee Roy and Dewey Selmon pressure Colts' quarterback Bert Jones, hitting him just as he releases a pass that goes incomplete. Jones complains to the official. On the next play Dewey flattens Jones again as Danny Reece intercepts in the end zone. The interception is nullified as flags fly for roughing the passer.
"I have no comment," said Head Coach John McKay, who then commented on the call. "The officials should call the game. Bert Jones isn't in charge of thi8 league is he?"
SAID DEWEY: "I didn't think either of them were late hits but you have to gee the films to make sure. The second time maybe he just handed the flag to Jones."
With a first down at the three Roosevelt Leaks tries to bull into the end zone, but while he's doing that Mike Washington and Glenn Doughty are throwing fists at each other in a comer of the end zone. Leaks doesn't make it in as Washington and Doughty are thrown out.
"One time before that he had just come off the line and gone like this (throws punch) right in my face," Washington said. "We had bumped in the end zone and I was going back to the huddle when this guy behind me starting swinging. Then one of their linemen came up behind me and held me."
Baltimore writers said Washington, a former Colt, and Doughty had had a run-in when the two played together but Washington denied it.
Said McKay: "l think it's stupid to get in a fight in a game no matter what the circumstances. If these guys want to fight let them take their helmets off. They came out on the better end of it anyway. I lost my best defensive back and they just lost another guy who can run down the field."
Leak scores to make it 7-3, the Colts add a field goal and then more problems. First, Richard Wood drops a Bert Jones pass that's right in his hands. Thon defensive back Danny Reece hits wide receiver Freddie Scott while he's in the air for a pass. A flagrant violation draws a pass interference call (22 yards) and a persona) foul (15 yards). Two plays later Reece pulls Lydell Mitchell's face mask, another 15 yards is stepped off and three plays later Leaks gets his second touchdown. On the 75-yard drive the Colts gain 23 yards. Reece gained 52 yards for them.
REECE, A mild-mannered sort off the field, explained his penchant for attracting yellow handkerchiefs Sunday. "The entire secondary wants to get the reputation of being aggressive and that's what we're going to do," he said. “You see a guy going like that (going for a pass) you either have to hit him or watch him catch and ball and head for a touchdown. I just hit him too early. The next play (face mask) was just a mistake. Still, I don't understand why they call everything on us. There's an awful lot going on out there they don't call."
The Colts scored 24 points in that second period, while they lost Peterson, Washington and later, Lee Roy Selmon. Selmon also fell victim to the highly contagious "knee injury" disease which annually sweeps the NFL. Just when he’ll be able to play again probably won't be known until sometime this week. Same with Peterson. Same with Little, the man with the shoulder separation. Save those films. They may be worth looking at in a few years. But right now it hurts too much to watch.
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