Rice bounces back, no bad or ugly about it Dave Scheiber, The St.Petersburg Times, published 14 November 2005 Simeon Rice's broad smile spoke volumes Sunday evening, as did the phrase he sprinkled liberally throughout his lively postgame remarks by his crowded locker. "It's a beautiful thing." Considering the ugly two weeks he had just endured - sent home before the San Francisco game for missing a team meeting ,and barely seen against Carolina - Rice had every right to glow in the wake of the Bucs' 36-35 victory over Washington. The free-spirited defensive end had contributed a work of art in the first half, including two forced fumbles (one of which led to a Tampa Bay touchdown, the other helped hold the 'Skins to a field goal), an interception and two sacks. That pivotal performance built the foundation for the victory, undercutting a Redskins offense that moved well behind tailback Clinton Portis' 107 first-half rushing yards. But Rice didn't want to dwell on the problems that preceded Sunday - how his absence against the 49ers contributed to Tampa Bay's upset 15-10 defeat, or his lackluster, one-tackle game in the 34-14 loss to Carolina. "A little adversity, that's life," he said. Instead, he wanted to talk about what the victory meant to his team. Asked if it was a season-changing game, he responded, "You know what? It is. Now, we don't have to talk about last year anymore because we have more victories than we did last year at this point and we have more victories than we had all of last year. So now we can truly move forward, and now we're contenders." The Chicago native, who played collegiately for Illinois, was happy to make an impact with fellow Chicago-area man Mike Alstott, whose two touchdowns and winning two-point conversion returned the aging fullback to center stage. "Mike Alstott came up to me during the game and said, "Us Chicago boys go crazy today,"' he said. "That's what Mike told me. I said, "You know what, Mike, we have to do that. We have to do it just for the city.' The White Sox won the championship ... and the Chicago boys came out and did their thing. It's a beautiful thing." But he was especially happy for quarterback Chris Simms, who stayed calm and led the offense with three touchdown passes. "Chris Simms really grew up," he said. "I'm glad he won this game, for the simple fact that it's a confidence builder for him for the rest of the season, for next week. Now, from a team standpoint, we have confidence in him, and he has confidence in himself." And coach Jon Gruden has confidence in Rice. "A guy's going to have a couple tough weeks," he said. "Tiger Woods, as good as he is, had a couple tough tournaments. We just try to continue to bring the big man to the field, and he's working on it. There have been a couple of instances where we addressed some issues privately, and it has been unfortunate because it has affected his total impact on the football team. He's a leader, he's a hell of a guy." It's a beautiful thing.