Running Game Finally Makes An Appearance Mick Elliott, The Tampa Tribune, published 14 October 2002 Say what you want about the Tampa Bay running game - and a lot of people have - but the Bucs recognize opportunity when they see it lining up across the line of scrimmage. Please, stand back and put all seat backs and tray tables in an upright and locked position. Then just watch that running game go. And go. Inside, outside, around and over. Going, going, gone. After Sunday's 17-3 victory against the Cleveland Browns - a veritable day-hike by past standards - you might say the Bucs appear on the verge of a nervous breakthrough. ``Pretty incredible.'' That's the two words Buccaneers quarterback Brad Johnson used to described his team's ground game Sunday. Honest. And no one laughed. The team that arrived ranked 29th in the NFL at running the football (76.8 yards) barreled head-on into the league's 30th-ranked defense against the rush, and kept right on going. Mike Alstott ran for 126 yards on 17 carries - 83 of them on 11 attempts in the fourth quarter. Michael Pittman rushed for 53 on 16 carries and added another 95 receiving yards with five receptions out of the backfield. ``Nothing but huge holes. That's all my eyes could see,'' Alstott said. ``Straight ahead, cutbacks, wherever I looked. And I was looking hard. It was a great feeling. That offensive line would not stop.'' As the day wore on, Cleveland flat wore out. By the fourth quarter, the Browns defense was running on empty and with little purpose. About the only thing at Raymond James Stadium that wasn't hot Sunday afternoon was Cleveland's defensive pursuit. That made for a fourth-quarter script any NFL coach not named Mike Martz would love: The lead, the ball and the ability to trip over the 40- yard line and still gain 4 yards. ``We wore them down,'' Pittman said. ``They were very tired. You could tell in the fourth quarter they were ready to give up. One time I saw a guy kick the ball just so he could stop the clock again after the official set it up. That's what you want in the fourth quarter. You want your offense to dominate in the running game I think we did that.'' Ideally, however, it should not take playing at home in Florida afternoon heat against a defense that couldn't muscle Old Mother Hubbard to pump up a team's yards-per-carry average. Still, you've got to start somewhere. When Alstott scored on a 1-yard run in the first quarter - set up by a 64-yard gain by Pittman on a pass from Johnson that was thrown about 2 yards downfield - it was the first time this year the Bucs scored a touchdown on their opening possession. When Alstott tallied his second touchdown of the day with a 17-yard run on the first play of the fourth quarter, putting the game on ice, he capped a five-play, 55-yard march that belonged exclusively to No. 40. ``Mike's got great moves for his size,'' Pittman said. ``I was very impressed. I was like, Wow! He got me fired up on the sideline. I was telling him how many yards he had. I think we complement each other.'' Taking AimSomething was working. The Bucs' 186 yards rushing is their season high and the most since netting 205 yards in a 38-35 victory against St. Louis on Dec. 18, 2000. They owned a seven- minute advantage in time of possession. But is it really a breakthrough for an offense in need of one? ``Yes and no,'' Alstott said. ``We should have put more points on the board. There were some areas we lacked in today. But something we've struggled with the last few weeks we had going today - the running game. That's an accomplishment to find out what our strengths are and how we can do things better. But we're still waiting for the overall passing/running attack putting some 30 points on the board. We're not there yet.'' But at least they're closer. And they might even get there by foot.