Bucs display creative touch Rick Stroud, The St.Petersburg Times, published 21 October 1996 There isn't much sand left in the top of the hourglass for the Bucs to salvage their season. But they have created their own kind of mystique in how cleverly they can make mistakes. If missing two field goals isn't enough to get them beat, then by golly they'll just have to have an extra point blocked. If jumping offside five times doesn't aid their defeat, then they'll just pile up the penalty yardage with late hits. And if the Arizona Cardinals are such a hard team to embrace, then the Bucs will just have to hold them all day. Despite playing turnover-free football, the Bucs gave away a game Sunday. Tampa Bay was flagged 14 times for 114 yards - including four holding penalties - and allowed the Cardinals to put together three clock-eating scoring drives in a 13-9 loss at Sun Devil Stadium. "It's a game we should've won," Bucs linebacker Lonnie Marts said. "If you speak the truth, we gave it away." The loss dropped the Bucs to 1-6, and the road doesn't get any smoother. Tampa Bay travels next week to Green Bay, which shares the best record (6-1) in the league with Washington. The Cardinals improved to 3-4 under new coach Vince Tobin, but only 27,738 bothered to show up - the third-smallest crowd since the team moved to Arizona. One possible reason is that their victories have come against teams that are a combined 5-17. Tampa Bay came to the desert thirsting for back-to-back wins and wound up drinking sand. The biggest culprit was the defense, but let it be said that the Bucs lose as a team. Placekicker Michael Husted missed field goals of 49 and 52 yards, then failed to convert an extra point for the first time in his career when Cardinals safety Matt Darby broke free and blocked it after Mike Alstott's fourth-quarter touchdown should have narrowed the lead to 13-10. Instead of needing just a field goal to send the game into overtime, the Bucs twice turned the ball over on downs in the final 3:18 trying to reach the end zone. "Embarrassing," Bucs coach Tony Dungy said when asked about the penalties. "We get an extra point blocked. Missed field goals. It's not that you're overmatched or your plan is not good. You're doing everything, but you're shooting yourself in the foot. As a coach, you're supposed to avoid that and I'm disappointed in myself." The penalties ruined what otherwise could have been a good day for the offense. Tampa Bay punted only once and played its second game with no turnovers. It also rolled up a season-high 313 yards of total offense. But the contest didn't resemble a game as much as a controlled scrimmage. Each team had the ball seven times. The Cardinals' scoring drives lasted 76, 81 and 74 yards. "This one's on us," safety John Lynch said. "This one's on the defense." It's hard to argue with him. The defense set the tone early by jumping offside four times - three during one drive. It also brought new meaning to the phrase tackling dummies. Lynch missed several sure stops in the first half and helped make Cardinals quarterback Kent Graham look like Otto Graham, leading his team in rushing with six forays from the pocket that gained a net 40 yards. "Our guys, I thought, were trying to block too many passes," Dungy said. "We were getting close to him, jumping in the air and leaving our feet and he bolted out of the pocket." The Bucs allowed Arizona to control the ball and the game, particularly in the first half. At one point in the second quarter, the Cardinals had run 32 plays, the Bucs five. Arizona's three scoring drives averaged more than eight minutes. Not that the Bucs offense was blameless. It entered the game with only two holding penalties, but was flagged four times for holding. One 76-yard drive to the Cards' 11 was erased by three holding calls and ended when Husted was short on a 52-yard attempt. "I'm not going to argue with the officials. They can call holding on every play," said tackle Paul Gruber, who was guilty once. "But as an offensive lineman, you have to be aware of how they're calling the game." Two injuries on the same play in the first quarter had an impact. Tight end Jackie Harris went down with a sprained knee that will sideline him 2-4 weeks. And guard Jim Pyne left with a sprained ankle. Harris normally would have occupied the spot where Darby came free to block Husted's extra point. Pyne is the center on field goal and extra-point tries, and backup Dave Moore struggled with two high snaps. Then there was the officiating. Melvin Johnson and rookie Regan Upshaw were called for personal fouls for late hits. But Dungy wouldn't allow his team to use the officials as an excuse. "Referees call what they see," Dungy said. "The calls were very good against us, but there's a lot of things going on. We've just got to make sure we don't retaliate and play smart." Definitely playing smarter was Trent Dilfer, who completed 22 of 35 passes for 229 yards and avoided throwing an INT for the second straight week. "I don't get into would've, should've, could've," Dilfer said. "We lost and that's where we're at. We're 1-6 and we need to play better and win some games."