Bucs paint a rough but beautiful W Hubert Mizell, The St.Petersburg Times, published 3 October 1994 All the Bucs needed was 18/ seasons and 1,320 enemy punts to return one for a touchdown. Vernon "Re" Turner did it Sunday. Not since 1989 had Tampa Bay blocked a punt. Rogerick Green smothered one against Detroit. Is this The Hunt for Orange October? They not only made the killer punt plays, the needy Bucs stopped extraordinary running back Barry "The Lion King" Sanders just in time, and Tampa Bay - equally uncharacteristically - got every critical break it needed. Perusing his 24-14 success, Sam Wyche was like the proud father of a raisin-faced newborn. "Beautiful!" he exclaimed. Assessing both the Tampa Bays and the Detroits, the Bucco head coach said, "Nobody was really making mistakes." Huh? I'm no art critic, but wasn't Sunday more of a finger painting than a Rembrandt? Sam, it doesn't matter. Looks don't count. W's are gorgeous, L's are horrid. Other assessments are superfluous. Two erratic, oft-jumpy NFL teams were penalized 23 times, but Wyche had every reason to coo, "Beautiful!" Eye of the beholder. Craig Erickson had a lukewarm, 10-for-20, 122-yard passing afternoon and Detroit's new millionaire lefty, Scott Mitchell, was a suffering 13-for-30. It wasn't exactly Montana vs. Marino, but Sam shouldn't care. Sunday was Buc beautiful. A monster "W." What if it'd been an "L?" If the Bucs had failed against the Lions, we media buzzards would've been poison-penning Tampa Bay's obituary. Just dealing with reality. If the Wyches had dropped to a 1-4 record, facing five of their next seven games on the road, Tampa Bay would've had less chance of 1994 survival than a brownie in Fridge Perry's fridge. But there may be a pattern developing. Twice this year, the Bucs have bumbled their way into deep desperation, seemingly one more misstep from an express ride to the NFL morgue. Each time, Tampa Bay responded by scrapping to a win, outscoring Indianapolis in the season's second week, and ditto against the Lions in what Sam characterized as a masterpiece. Eye of the beholder. More than being beautiful or sans mistakes or a Rembrandt, the Bucs played like winners. Winners rescue games by returning kicks for touchdowns and by blocking punts. Winners overcome penalties by creating tide-turning positives. Winners get major breaks when they need them most. "W" the only statistic. Tampa Stadium's wait for a Bucs touchdown kick runback had been longer than Susan Lucci's still-unsatisfied quest for an Emmy. Man had long since walked on the moon, but still no Tampa Bay returner had walked in the end zone. A week ago, I asked Wyche why many happy returns seemed so unreachable for his Bucs. Sam said, "It's not our return man, I'll guarantee you that." Vernon Turner vindicated his coach. In the 285th all-time game for Tampa Bay's much-beleaguered franchise, the shifty kid from Carson-Newman, a little Protestant school in the Tennessee hills, juked through blue-shirted Lions for 80 yards until there was nothing but glorious end-zone grass. Vernon blew kisses. Never have 38,012 people made so much noise. Tampa Bay catapulted to a 17-0 lead. Then, speaking of blowing, the Bucs seemed about to. Sanders dipped, dashed and danced 85 yards to set up a Detroit touchdown. It became 17-14. But these Bucs, on this Sunday and that one in September against the Colts, had the heart of winners. Made the plays of winners. Got the breaks that winners get. That's what is "beautiful," Coach Sam. When the Bucs needed a boost of Detroit malfunction, Lions placekicker Jason Hanson botched a point-blank, 26-yard field goal. There was a timely Lions fumble. Then, with 3:29 left, there came conclusive evidence that Sunday belonged to the Bucs. Detroit was intelligently using timeouts, trying to preserve enough rally time, still needing a TD and field goal to tie. Maybe even a double PAT to win. When a Tampa Bay third-down play miserably failed at the Bucs 3-yard line, seemingly leaving them to punt into a horrendous wind, which would've given the Lions gorgeous field position, there came a huge yellow flag. Defensive holding. Automatic first down for Tampa Bay. Ballgame! Winners gets such things. Beautiful, right Sam?