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Rick Stroud, The St.Petersburg Times, published 5 November 2001
They're re-modelling Lambeau Field, an iron skeleton of the renovation project rising above the fabled old stadium that's surrounded by fences, dirt and debris. Oh, how the Bucs wish they would just forget it and take a wrecking ball to the place. Although the project is not complete, the Packers' supremacy against Tampa Bay at Lambeau was reinforced Sunday.
In what's expected to be their last visit here until 2005 because of realignment, the Bucs used the occasion to discover another way to lose, 21-20 to the Packers. Was it a classic Brett Favre-led comeback in the final seconds? Nope. A defensive collapse by the Bucs? Nah. A missed field goal on the final play before losing in overtime? No, no, no.
On Sunday, the Bucs blew a 10-point second-half lead and were beaten by Ahman Green's 63-yard run in the third quarter and Allen Rossum's 55-yard punt return with 3:03 remaining. "We've lost on defense. We've lost on offense by missing a last-second field goal. And now we've lost on a punt return at the end of the game," John Lynch said. "You get up 17-7 and you feel it's really our day today. They were moving the ball, but we were making plays all over the field. Getting turnovers. You knew you had to keep playing, but we really just thought that was ours. ... We let a great opportunity go today. It's a shame."
It's also nothing new. The loss dropped the Bucs to 3-4 -- a record they've had after seven games for the past four years.. It was Tampa Bay's 11th loss in a row at Lambeau Field, where they haven't won since 1989. "It's incredibly disappointing," offensive co-ordinator Clyde Christensen said. "I got to my locker today and hadn't remembered how sick I felt last year. I'm sick of the same feeling in the same locker. Too many same things around this place."
The fact the Bucs have been in this hole before wasn't comforting to them Sunday. "First, I want to get a win," Keyshawn Johnson said. "Three-and-four and all that (stuff). I'm tired of sitting around here and hearing about being 3-4 and we can do it again. I believe we can, but at some point, that gets old."
After Rossum's touchdown, the Bucs had two chances to win, twice having the ball near midfield. But they did not get close enough for kicker Martin Gramatica, who already had connected on a 49-yard field goal. Facing fourth and 17 at the Bucs 38, Tony Dungy opted to punt with 1:45 remaining. But instead of pinning the Packers deep, Mark Royals' punt travelled 38 yards.
The Bucs got the ball back with no timeouts and 24 seconds left. After an 11-yard completion to Johnson at midfield, Brad Johnson spiked the ball to stop the clock. But instead of getting Gramatica in position, a second-down pass was incomplete with 1 second left. "It took longer and we had no timeouts," Brad Johnson said. "We were trying to get to the sidelines and make some kind of catch. They actually stopped a couple of our receivers as far as getting to the sidelines. They had to protect the sidelines, which they did a good job of, and I was trying to throw it away to give us one more play."
Even the spike was complicated. Brad Johnson bobbled the ball as he attempted to stop the clock. A review of the play showed Johnson fumbled, but an inadvertent whistle negated what could have been a Packers recovery. Ten months earlier, Gramatica missed a 40-yard field goal in the 2000 season finale that cost the Bucs a division title, a bye week and a home playoff game.
But like Gramatica's pleading for a chance at the long field goal, the Bucs' desperation pass fell incomplete. "He wanted to (try it)," Tony Dungy said. "It would've been about 68 yards. We thought about it. We were hoping to get a little bit closer the play before that. Maybe get it around 60 (yards) and we thought he'd make it."
The Bucs were beaten soundly in all categories Sunday but scored all their points off turnovers. Donnie Abraham's interception led to a field goal. Warren Sapp's recovery of an Ahman Green fumble led to an 11-yard touchdown pass to tight end Dave Moore. Jamie Duncan's interception led to a 19-yard scoring pass to Mike Alstott. It was a wonder they had the lead, considering they gave up 352 total yards and the offense compiled 194.
Johnson was sacked seven times. Alstott was held to 30 yards on 17 carries. Green ran wild, gaining 169 yards on 24 carries. "We didn't play well enough," Dungy said. "We had a chance to get way out in front. We got a lead and to lose with two big plays that you give up, you didn't play well enough. We've had three road games, we had a chance to win them all and didn't win any of them. That puts us behind the 8-ball. We've got to make up ground."
After the game, there was a feeling of deja vu for the Bucs. All six regular-season games under Dungy at Lambeau have been lost by eight points or less and Sunday's defeat was by the most narrow margin. "I can see now how the Arizona Diamondbacks feel a little bit when they come into Yankee Stadium and get that done to them," Keyshawn Johnson said. "They got a lead late in the game and all of a sudden, something happens."
All week, the Bucs talked about Sunday being their last trip to Lambeau for awhile -- maybe ever against Favre. "If everybody holds up their end of the bargain, we win this game," Ronde Barber said. "It's one of those things. We talked about the mystique of playing here. We're trying to dispel that myth that there really is one. I don't know. It makes for a good story. A snake bitten team. But we've had a chance to win the last couple of years and, for whatever reason, we haven't gotten in done."
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