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Michelle Kaufman, The St.Petersburg Times, published 16 October 1989
Randy Grimes, a guy who usually enjoys speaking after games, may have been the quietest player in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers locker room Sunday. He raised his head out of his dirtied hands when reporters approached and whispered, “I'd have nothing good to say. I'm sorry.” Then he buried his head again.
None of the Bucs knew quite what to say after a 17-16 loss to the previously winless Detroit Lions (1-5). Had the Bucs (3-3) held onto their lead one more minute, they'd be tied with Chicago and Minnesota, for first place in the NFC Central Division.
Instead, Lions rookie quarterback Rodney Peete used that minute to complete consecutive passes of 21, 24, and 19 yards to Robert Clark en route to his five-yard game-winning touchdown run with 23 seconds remaining. Peete, who passed for 268 yards and ran for 78 despite being sacked four times, wasn't touched on his fourth-down score. “Maybe if I had two or three more yards, I would've caught him, but I just ran out of real estate,” said Bucs linebacker Kevin Murphy. “We'd love to have the play back.”
Bucs defensive coordinator Doug Graber said: “There were two calls and we could've gone either way. Who knows what would've happened if we picked the other? You can't second-guess yourself to death.”
A dumbfounded crowd of 46,225 cleared the Tampa Stadium stands as the final 23 seconds clicked off the clock. While the fans were left wondering what happened on that last play, they were probably more curious to know how the Bucs could amass 421 total yards and beat the Chicago Bears one week and plod for 191 yards against the Lions the next.
Eighteen minutes into the game, the Bucs defense had outgained the offense 84 yards to minus-2 yards. By halftime, the defense led 84-54. It wasn't until late in the third quarter that Joe Ferguson's offense caught up. Thirteen of the Bucs' 16 points were either scored by or set up by the defense.
Cornerback Ricky Reynolds returned an interception 68 yards for a touchdown. Linebacker Kevin Murphy forced a fumble and safety Mark Robinson recovered to set up a 34-yard field goal by Donald Igwebuike. And, a 33-yard Igwebuike field goal was possible because Reynolds thwarted a Lions drive with a fumble recovery at the Tampa Bay 4-yard line. “There's no way anyone should say the defense lost the game on that last drive,” said wide receiver Bruce Hill, who caught six passes for 49 yards. “They played hard all day. It was our offense that didn't get the job done.”
The Bucs converted five of 15 third downs (33 percent) and averaged only 3.1 yards per offensive play. Last week, they averaged 6.1 yards per play. Simply put, the Bucs were lucky to be in the game with a minute to go. “This was one of the ugliest games I've ever been associated with,” said Ray Perkins. “If we had been on the winning end, I probably wouldn't care, but we weren't. We made mistakes when it cost us most.”
Ferguson, who started the game and completed 16 of 29 passes for 128 yards in place of injured Vinny Testaverde, said: “It's embarrassing. Not to lose to Detroit, but to beat a great team one week and fall down the next. To be a playoff-caliber team, you have to win games like this. We can't put two (good) games together back to back.”
The Bucs haven't won on consecutive Sundays since the end of the 1984 season. Detroit, meanwhile, won its first game since last November. The Lions hadn't even won during the exhibition season. In addition to the Peete touchdown, the Lions scored on a 28-yard field goal by Eddie Murray and a 33-yard catch by Clark. “We'll fight 'til the end,” said Lions coach Wayne Fontes, a former Buccaneers assistant. “We came too close to give it away. Now, fans in Detroit can say we stayed together, played through adversity and won a game.”
And they did it without Heisman Trophy winner Barry Sanders. The rookie running back was inactive with a hip pointer. “They just never quit,” said Bucs fullback William Howard. “We put ourselves in a bind and we couldn't get out.”
Save a few good runs by James Wilder late in the fourth quarter, the Bucs running game never got going Sunday. Lars Tate was the leading rusher with 45 yards on 20 carries (2.3 yards average). Howard had 11 yards on four carries. Their 88 yards total on the ground was the Bucs' lowest this year. “We weren't sustaining our blocks long enough,” said tackle Rob Taylor. “It's really disappointing. We all knew the importance of this game, and we just let it slip by. We needed to work harder. We're not to the point where we can just show up and win.”
The offensive line's four holding penalties didn't help the Bucs' cause, either. Grimes, rarely called for holding, had three of the penalties Sunday and two of them were on Tampa Bay's final scoring drive. On the last one, second-and-six at the Lions' 15 turned into second-and-20 at the 29. “We were doing things offensively to get downfield at the end, but then we get a big holding penalty,” said Perkins. “Our mistakes came at the most inopportune times.”
The Lions made their share of mistakes as well. Had receiver Richard Johnson not dropped a pass at the Tampa Bay 25-yard line, chances are he would've scored to put the Lions ahead in the third quarter. The Lions seemed certain to take the lead again on their next possession, but Robinson stripped Peete of the ball on a six-yard run to the Buccaneers 7-yard line. Reynolds recovered at the 4.
Three penalties by the Detroit defense gave the Bucs 35 yards on their final scoring march. Two of the calls were on cornerback Terry Taylor, and the other was on nose tackle Jerry Ball. “The game just proved that if you don't come ready to play against everyone, you get your tail handed to you,” said Robinson.
Nose tackle Curt Jarvis said: “It's embarrassing and disappointing. We shouldn't have lost to a team that's rebuilding. We gave them the game. It should have never come down to that last play. We should have put more pressure on Peete the whole drive. It's an awful feeling. It hurts.”
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