Bucs turn into road warriors John Luttermoser, The St.Petersburg Times ,published 1987 The Tampa Bay Buccaneers gave up two touchdowns in the fourth quarter, and it was starting to look like last week. For that matter, it was starting to look like most of the past five years. But the Bucs held on Sunday to beat the Green Bay Packers 23-17, chasing away ghosts from both the recent and distant past. They bounced back from last week's bitter loss to the Chicago Bears in a game the Bucs led by 12 points with six minutes to go. They also won on the road, for only the second time in their last 29 tries (not counting a victory by the replacement team during the strike). Those are a couple of topics that were sore spots last week as the Bucs (4-3 overall, 2-2 with the regular team) prepared for three straight away games. ``I was very aware of it, because I've been here,`` quarterback Steve DeBerg said of the road record. ``Coach (Ray) Perkins didn't even want to acknowledge it.`` Sunday's victory also moved the Bucs back in front of the Packers (3-3-1, 1-2-1 with regulars) and into sole possession of second place in the NFC Central Division as the season reached the halfway point - or what was supposed to be the halfway point before the strike shortened the season to 15 games. The Bucs did it by scoring 17 points in the third quarter after clinging to a 3-0 lead at the half. Green Bay failed to score even though the ball was in Tampa Bay territory for all but one play in the last 12 minutes of the half. The Bucs started their second-quarter series at their 5-yard line, their 1 and their 6, and punted three times. The Packers started series at the Tampa Bay 34 and the Tampa Bay 38, but fumbled the first time and punted the second time. ``I'll tell you what, our defense played great, great football,`` Perkins said of that sequence. ``Our offense stunk up the joint just like we did all week in practice,`` said Packers head coach Forrest Gregg. The Bucs burst the bubble of rookie quarterback Don Majkowski, a 10th-round draft choice who riddled the Detroit Lions for 323 yards on 29 passing attempts last week. Sunday, Majkowski was 4-for-13 for 43 yards and fumbled the ball away twice. He was replaced by Randy Wright late in the third quarter with the Bucs ahead 20-0, and Wright may have taken his job back by leading the rally. Defensive coordinator Doug Graber said the Bucs installed three defenses to contain Majkowski's scrambling, all with a player assigned to stop him. Still, Majkowski ran for 51 yards on only six attempts. ``He really screwed us up,`` Graber said. ``I really felt that he was a scramble-to-throw guy. Today he scrambled and ran.`` ``He was looking to run the ball first and pass second,`` said rookie outside linebacker Winston Moss, who said that posed a difficult adjustment later when Wright came in and started firing the ball. Majkowski started the unsuccessful siege on the Buccaneer goal line with a 13-yard scramble to the Tampa Bay 48 with 12:20 left in the half. The Bucs had taken a 3-0 lead a couple of minutes earlier on the first of three Donald Igwebuike field goals, a 48-yarder. Green Bay had to punt on that series, but the Packers got a break with a little more than seven minutes to go on that one play the Bucs ran in Packer territory. Tight end Calvin Magee slipped and fell as DeBerg threw in his direction. Packers safety Jim Bob Morris, a former replacement player, intercepted and returned the ball 50 yards to the Tampa Bay 34. The Packers drove to the 5-yard line, but on third down Majkowski fumbled when he was hit by nose tackle Mike Stensrud. Defensive end John Cannon recovered near the goal line, establishing a partnership with Stensrud that would come in handy later. Tampa Bay couldn't move the ball, and after the punt the Packers took over on the Bucs' 38. But this time they tried to throw the ball, and after three incompletions they had to punt it right back. By that time there was just 1:40 left in the half, and Green Bay was running out of time. Al Del Greco missed a 47-yard field goal with six seconds left and the field-position advantage was wasted. ``That set the tempo for the rest of the game,`` said Moss. That and the first series of the second half, when the Bucs put together an 84-yard touchdown drive. DeBerg said halftime adjustments got the offense in gear. ``We prepared for zone, and their game plan for us was a blitzing man-to-man,`` DeBerg said. ``Coach Perkins put in some real good plays at halftime.`` Jeff Smith scored the touchdown on a 1-yard plunge. DeBerg and rookie wideout Mark Carrier connected for gains of 12 and 20 yards, and two James Wilder carries took the ball from the Green Bay 25 to the 2. Igwebuike's extra point made it 10-0, then the Packers cracked. On the second play after the kickoff Majkowski dropped back to pass, only to have Cannon swat the ball away. ``He brought the ball down on his hip,`` Cannon said. ``I knew I could bat it. Whatever happened after that happened real quick.`` What happened was that Green Bay guard Rich Moran picked up the ball and tried to run. Cannon pushed him and he began to stagger, finally losing the ball just before he fell. Stensrud recovered the second fumble, and Moran compounded his embarrassment by committing a personal foul. When the circus ended, the ball belonged to the Bucs at the Green Bay 5, and it took them only four seconds to score on a pass from DeBerg to Gerald Carter. Moran was replaced on stage by rookie running back Kelly Cook, who bobbled, batted and chased the kickoff over the sideline at the 1-yard line. That poor field position for the Packers eventually led to a 36-yard Igwebuike field goal that made it 20-0. Then Wright came in, and things got hairy. After an exchange of field goals, Wright completed 7 of 10 for 99 yards on two TD drives that cut the lead to six points and conjured memories of last week's Bears comeback. ``I don't know about that deja vu stuff,`` Perkins said. ``I'm not sure I know what that is.`` Brent Fullwood's 1-yard touchdown run and a Del Greco extra point made it 23-17 with 3:51 left. Both the Green Bay defense and the Milwaukee County Stadium crowd of 50,308 were fired up. But the Packers never got the ball back. Two third-down completions from DeBerg to Magee killed the clock.