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Rick Stroud, The St.Petersburg Times, published 29 September 1998
In the past, the chances of the Bucs playing on Monday Night Football were remote. And the remote was the one piece of equipment Tampa Bay fans needed - to turn that sucker off after waiting 15 years to see the Bucs on ABC-TV's prime-time showcase. The Bucs showed why they went a decade and a half between appearances on Monday Night Football. Frankly, the nation hasn't missed much.
Playing like the stumblebums who were banished from the NFL's premier game instead of the playoff team of a season ago, the Bucs were humiliated 27-6 by the Lions at the Silverdome.
Detroit cornerback Bryant Westbrook raced 34 yards with an interception for a touchdown and rookie Terry Fair returned a kickoff a team-record 105 yards for another score.
Those plays managed to upstage the 131-yard rushing performance by Lions running back Barry Sanders.
Sanders had just 2 yards fewer than the entire Tampa Bay offense, whose 133 total yards is the lowest output by any team this season. "It's embarrassing because we're a better ballclub than what we showed and the whole nation saw it," Bucs defensive tackle Warren Sapp said. "You give up an interception for a touchdown and a kickoff return for a touchdown - you can't beat a Pop Warner team playing like that."
The loss dropped the Bucs into a third-place tie with the Lions at 1-3 in the NFC Central - three games behind unbeaten Green Bay and Minnesota. More damaging, all three losses have come on the road to conference opponents. The Bucs are 2-7 over their past nine games against division opponents, both wins coming against the lowly Bears. "You never want to play like this, and certainly I thought we would have played better with this significance to the game," coach Tony Dungy said. "Coming in here at 1-2 and needing a win, not getting the job done is really disappointing."
There was plenty of blame and outright shame to be distributed throughout the locker room. But the game can best be summed up this way: Both Lions rookie quarterback Charlie Batch and the Bucs' Trent Dilfer were making their Monday night debuts. But it was awfully hard to tell who was the callow first-year signal-caller from Eastern Michigan and who was the Pro Bowl player.
Batch calmly completed 14 of 23 passes for 115 yards and ran for a touchdown. He also scrambled effectively, gaining 39 yards on eight carries, two of them for first downs.
"I wasn't surprised. We've seen quarterbacks come in and play well before," Bucs defensive tackle Chidi Ahanotu said. "We didn't think he was a pansy by any means. We knew he had some talent. He's in this league for a reason. The kid has a future."
Dilfer was sacked four times and threw his first interception of the season, which Westbrook returned for a touchdown. Dilfer was 12- for-30 for 120 yards. Until the final minutes, he also was the club's leading rusher with four carries for 16 yards. To add injury to insult, Dilfer was forced to leave the game with about six minutes left after re-injuring his slightly separated right shoulder. He also sprained the thumb on his passing hand. "The quarterback didn't play well tonight," Dilfer said. "It's the first time in a long time I feel like I didn't play well. Obviously, when you throw an interception for a touchdown, it's tough on your team. That one's on me."
Two apparent touchdown passes by Dilfer were also erased by his own mistakes. His 24-yard scoring pass to Karl Williams was called back for delay of game when Dilfer let the play clock expire. Then a 26-yard pass to tight end Dave Moore in the end zone was erased because the indecisive Dilfer crossed the line of scrimmage and was penalized for an illegal forward pass.
"We never were really in synch in the game," Dungy said. "We kept it close, but we were struggling the whole game and just not playing good football."
Dilfer had gone 94 straight passing attempts to start the season without an interception. But his first pick was a killer. Facing third and 8 on the Bucs' first possession of the second half, Dilfer tried to hit Williams in the flat and Westbrook easily stepped in front and returned it for a 13-3 lead. That was enough to spark Sanders.
His 44-yard run set up the Lions' only offensive touchdown while putting him over the 100-yard rushing mark for the 11th time in his career against the Bucs. "It's embarrassing. We're not playing good football," Dilfer said. "We've haven't played good football yet."
Despite trailing 20-3, the Bucs had chances to come back.
The Lions were brutal on special teams. They allowed Reidel Anthony 150 yards in return yardage. They fumbled away a punt return and lost punter John Jett on an aborted attempt.
The Bucs had the ball three straight times inside Lions territory and failed to come away from points.
The Lions dominated the first half behind Batch, the poised rookie who replaced starter Scott Mitchell last week. Batch completed nine of his first 10 passes.
The Bucs offense left the defense stranded on the field for 39 plays in the first half, not including punts and two field-goal attempts by Detroit's Jason Hanson. But the Lions could take only a 6-0 lead when Hanson connected from 27 and 25 yards. It wasn't until Michael Husted cut the lead to 6-3 with a 43-yard field goal with 13 seconds left in the second quarter that the Bucs tallied their first points of the season before halftime.
Much of the credit belongs to Bucs receiver Brice Hunter, a first- year pro from Georgia. Making only the second reception of his career, Hunter was knocked unconscious after catching a 9-yard slant pass from Dilfer and being drilled in the head by safety Mark Carrier. The game was delayed about nine minutes for doctors to attend to Hunter, who regained consciousness and had movement in all his extremities when he was taken to Pontiac Osteopathic Hospital for a CAT scan and X-rays on his neck.
It was a hauntingly familiar sight for the Lions, who have watched two teammates - offensive lineman Mike Utley in '91 and linebacker Reggie Brown last season - suffer serious spinal injuries. Utley is paralyzed from the waist; Brown regained most of his movement in his extremities. Hunter wasn't the only injury. In addition to Dilfer's ailments, Ahanotu separated his left shoulder, the same one that popped out during the team's off-season workout program in June.
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