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Rick Stroud The St.Petersburg Times, published 29 September 1997
Destiny's darlings were down to perhaps their last play Sunday. The Buccaneers had been the feel-good story of the month in the NFL, along with their blossoming quarterback. But on this day, Trent Dilfer's receivers were not just covered on a magazine.
Blanketing them was Arizona Cardinals Pro Bowl cornerback Aeneas Williams, who already had returned an interception for the go-ahead touchdown. It was fourth down and 6 to go, and the Bucs needed a score and the extra point to keep to remain unbeaten and unbelievable for another week. What they needed was perfect play and a manicurist to tend to all the nail-biting.
"I don't know if anybody else was nervous, but I was scared to death," said defensive end Chidi Ahanotu. "I was really scared to death and really had the jitters the whole game. It was one of those teams that, okay, we were supposed to beat them, and then maybe we don't. It was too close for comfort, but we won, and you've got appreciate the win. But it was definitely one of those games where you were scared. You just didn't want a team like that to jump up and beat you - you know, at home, and after a great game last Sunday."
Dilfer delivered a fourth-down, 31-yard touchdown pass to Karl Williams with 4:48 left and Arizona placekicker Kevin Butler missed a 47-yard field goal wide right as time expired to give the Bucs a 19-18 victory over before 53,804 at Houlihan's Stadium.
The victory improved the Bucs to 5-0, matching their perfect start in '79 for their best beginning in history. It also kept Tampa Bay as the NFC's only undefeated team.
More importantly, the Bucs own a two-game lead over most of the NFC Central, including the Green Bay Packers, heading into Sunday's showdown with the defending Super Bowl champs at Lambeau Field. It was a team-record sixth consecutive win dating to the '96 season finale and it extended their record home winning streak to eight games.
"You just don't get lucky at this," Bucs safety John Lynch said. "You get lucky for a reason."
The defense buried Cardinals quarterback Kent Graham with six sacks, three by tackle Brad Culpepper. But the Bucs earned their salaries, with 83 plays, the most by a Tampa Bay defense in 11 seasons. That's because the offense struggled all afternoon, producing just 164 total yards and only six first downs. As a result, Arizona owned nearly a 15-minute advantage in time of possession. So the Bucs were forced to rely on their stingy defense and special teams.
Rookie linebacker Alshermond Singleton blocked a punt by Arizona's Jeff Feagles and returned it 28 yards for a touchdown. A fake punt by Tommy Barnhardt that resulted in his pass completion to safety Tony Bouie set up the Bucs' second touchdown - an 8-yard pass from Dilfer to Reidel Anthony.
But the Bucs squandered a 12-0 lead and trailed 18-12 after Pro Bowl cornerback Aeneas Williams intercepted Dilfer and returned it 42 yards for a touchdown. Dilfer entered the game as the league's highest-rated quarterback, but struggled to complete 12 of 24 passes for 110 yards with two TDs and the interception.
It was Williams who was beaten on the go-ahead touchdown when Bucs receiver Karl Williams took a pass on a crossing route from Dilfer and turned it into the game-winning 31-yard TD with 4:48 left. The Bucs, who entered the game having converted on 54 percent of their third downs, were 2-of-14 against the Cardinals. But they had their number on fourth down.
"Usually you can get a real good feel for what teams like to do in certain situations. We had absolutely no feel for these guys," Dilfer said. "I watched more film this week than I ever watched in my life and could not get a feel for them. Except for one thing. That was on fourth down, they played two man (man-to-man) coverage. Last night when Mike (Shula) and I and the other quarterbacks were going over our calls, he said, `What call do you like in that situation?' And I told him whether it's fourth and 2, fourth and 4 or fourth and 6, I liked a play called Detroit. The problem with it, it was on Aeneas and he's locked up in man coverage on the guy we're trying to get the ball to. The situation came up, we made the call and it worked."
It took another great call on the fake punt - by special-teams coach Joe Marciano - to set up the Bucs' second touchdown. Facing fourth and 16 at the Bucs' 31, Barnhardt hit Bouie on a 25-yard pass. "He lets me know when he thinks he's got something that's pretty high percentage," coach Tony Dungy said. "The key is calling it at the right time, and he's got a great feel for that. You can't always be hot in each phase every week. One week it's the offense, one week it's the defense and this week it's the special teams."
Sunday, the Bucs defense was short-handed again. With starting cornerback Anthony Parker unable to play with a sore hamstring, Tampa Bay released backup Reggie Rusk 24 hours before the game and activated rookie Tyrone Young from the practice squad. Veteran Tyrone Legette started for Parker and third-round pick Ronde Barber and Young were used on passing downs. The Cardinals went after Barber, hitting two long third-down passes on the rookie and a go-ahead TD to Rob Moore (eight catches, 147 yards) on Legette.
But the Bucs found a way to win and the Cardinals kept finding ways to lose. Butler, who had made a 47-yarder at Washington two weeks ago to send the game into overtime, had the leg strength. But the swirling winds affected him on both field goal misses in the fourth quarter.
Dungy breathed a heavy sigh of relief and boldly described Sunday's win as something championship teams do. Indeed, of the 10 teams that have opened 5-0 in the NFL over the 10 past seasons, just one - the Saints in '93 - failed to make the playoffs. "People will say, `Oh, you only won by one point,' Dungy said. "But championship teams win games like this, so hopefully, that's a good omen."
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