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Joey Johnston, The Tampa Tribune, published 27 October 2008
Forty-seven seconds. That's how long it took for the Bucs defense to implode. It was the late first-half span - blink and you missed it - in which poise and discipline went out the window. Four defensive penalties by the Bucs provided a magic carpet ride for the Dallas Cowboys, who were almost startled to score Sunday afternoon's only touchdown.
Really, that's when the game was lost. There will be fingers pointed, of course, toward the fourth-and-5 play, when Jeff Garcia was pressured and misfired, oblivious to some open receivers. It preserved a 13-9 victory for the Cowboys, who could barely get out of their own way.
The Cowboys needed just a tiny opening. Late in the first half, that's what the Bucs unwittingly served up.
Third-and-12. Brad Johnson, in his inimitable checkdown fashion, swung a 1-yard pass to Marion Barber. Punt? No, Bucs cornerback Ronde Barber, in his haste to make a play, committed a horse-collar tackle. Fifteen-yard penalty. First down.
"In my expert opinion, which is not very good, I didn't think it was," Barber said. "I thought a horse-collar was grabbing a guy from behind and dragging him down. To my understanding, if you hit him from the side, you were pretty good."
Nope. And that was just the start. Pass interference by Phillip Buchanon. Illegal contact by Aqib Talib. Finally, unsportsmanlike conduct by Cato June, which appeared to be in retaliation to the first push-and-shove shot fired by Cowboys offensive tackle Marc Colombo.
"I don't speak on calls made by the ref," June said. "You don't want to hear my real answer. That costs me money. I got house payments."
"We show clips every Saturday morning of foolish penalties," Bucs defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin said. "That's uncharacteristic of us. But once you get in the heat of the battle ..."
The Cowboys went from punting to settling for a field-goal attempt to getting one shot from Tampa Bay's 2-yard line with six seconds remaining. Johnson lofted a fade (over Buchanon) to Roy Williams. The TD was the difference in what became a field goal schlog-fest.
It was a wound - and it was self-inflicted. The Bucs (5-3) lost their NFC South lead and a chance to assert themselves as a major conference contender. It's a joke to lose when you surrender only 172 yards. The Cowboys had never, ever, gained that little yardage in a victory. "They made more plays than we did," Buchanon said. "Penalties are plays."
With Tampa Bay's offense unable to run - or pass down the field - the defense needed to rescue the game, somehow. Instead, at the worst possible time, it unraveled. And it only took 47 seconds. You blinked, and the game was gone.
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