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Rick Stroud, The St.Petersburg Times, published 3 November 1997
It was a relief, pure and simple. That was the only emotion not drained from the Buccaneers as they walked off the field at the RCA Dome on Sunday.
Their eyes rolled back in their heads like the windows of a slot machine. Their chests heaved. Their cheeks filled with air and then slowly compressed as if they wanted to savor the last-breath victory.
That's because the Bucs knew they were fortunate against Indianapolis, the NFL's only winless team, a squad so wretched that COLTS had become an acronym for Count On Losing This Sunday. This was an Indianapolis team playing without three defensive starters, two quarterbacks and, eventually, its star tailback. But happiness is being a manicurist in Tampa Bay.
Michael Husted kicked a winning 36-yard field goal with eight seconds remaining to give the Bucs a 31-28 victory over winless Indianapolis.
The Bucs (6-3) not only saved the day, but likely their season.
"This is the biggest win since I've been here, because it was the most needed," said Bucs quarterback Trent Dilfer, who had three TD passes. "We were in trouble if we lost this football game. I don't think we were down and out. We still had a chance and our character would've come through. It's just that you start losing so much confidence when you don't beat the teams that you really feel you should. We were in trouble. Fortunately, we were able to win this game."
They did it by allowing a kid they had released four times before cutting him two years ago to not only play in his first regular-season NFL game, but look a lot more like Jim Kelly than Kelly Holcomb. They did it by watching two guys who had shared a one-bedroom doghouse in Tampa Bay throw their own vindication party. Karl Williams caught two touchdowns and had 149 receiving and return yards, and Husted kicked the game-winner one week after missing his third PAT.
They did it despite allowing the Colts, who had not scored an offensive touchdown in five of their games, to score 18 unanswered points in the second half.
They did it committing the most penalties of the season, then getting fortunate enough to have the Colts gag on a 30-yard field goal and fumble at the Bucs' 5 line on a botched play-action bootleg. They did it because somebody finally took the handcuffs off Dilfer, who proved he can carry the team with his right arm.
But the most important thing is they did it. They won and prolonged their playoff hopes.
"We're just lucky to get out of here with a win," safety John Lynch said.
The victory snapped a three-game losing streak for the Bucs, who hadn't won since Sept. 28. It also left them just a game behind the Minnesota Vikings and Green Bay Packers and kept them very alive for at least a wild-card berth.
"I think it was crucial for us, not to have a four-game losing streak," Bucs coach Tony Dungy said. "It's been over a month since we've won a game, so we needed that. To get to our sixth win, we're still in the race at this point. That's where you want to be."
There were so many great storylines packed into this game. But you would have to start with Holcomb, who had never attempted a pass in an NFL game that counted and wound up going 19-of-30 for 181 yards and rallying the Colts from 11 points down to a 28-21 lead with 10:46 left.
Starter Paul Justin was knocked out of the game with a dislocated middle finger on his left hand after a vicious hit by blitzing linebacker Rufus Porter with 4:46 remaining in the first quarter.
With Jim Harbaugh sidelined after breaking a bone in his right hand last week in a confrontation with Kelly, the former Bills quarterback turned NBC analyst, the Colts had no one to turn to but Holcomb. "We thought they were done," Bucs defensive lineman Chidi Ahanotu said. "Kelly did a great job when he was here. We thought he was a good player when he was here. He's a real gutsy player. He's got a good arm. He came off the bench and did a great job for them."
The best thing Holcomb might have done was hand off a lot.
The Colts had a great game plan for the Bucs, who had allowed an average of 91 yards rushing. They spread the defense with three receivers and ran plenty of draw plays to Zack Crockett, who gained 81 of the Colts' 147 yards rushing.
In fact, the Bucs were outgained 359 to 234 - the most yards of the season for the Colts.
"It was extremely frustrating the way they were moving the ball," Lynch said. "And we knew they were going to be simple with Kelly in there. We knew they would do a lot of running. They broke a lot of their tendencies."
The Bucs had a chance to break the game open. They led 21-10 at halftime, thanks to having to travel only 21 yards and 9 yards for their TDs.
The first was courtesy of center Jay Leeuwenburg, whose shotgun snap to Justin in the first quarter rolled like an egg past the Colts quarterback until defensive end Regan Upshaw fell on it for the Bucs.
The Colts said Leeuwenburg lost his grip on the ball because he had picked up a foreign substance on his hands from the jersey of defensive tackle Brad Culpepper.
Officials checked Culpepper, who denied the whole thing and wasn't made to change jerseys.
"We gave up seven points because their nose tackle has some kind of foreign substance on his jersey," Colts coach Lindy Infante said. "The play before, our center put his hands on (Culpepper's) jersey and then couldn't hang on to the ball to snap it. It wasn't Jay's fault. Maybe he should've called a timeout. You've got an illegal substance out there and it cost us a football game."
Culpepper was puzzled by the incident.
"I don't know. The ref came and checked me," he said. "I didn't leave the game, I didn't change jerseys. Maybe the center was nervous. I didn't do anything."
The Bucs' second TD was the result of Williams' 63-yard return of a punt by Chris Gardocki.
Williams capped Tampa Bay's longest drive, an 80-yard march in eight plays, with his 6-yard TD catch.
But Holcomb and the Colts roared back. They scored 18 unanswered points, including a two-point conversion pass, to tie the score at 21. Then they went ahead when Robert Blackmon returned Mike Alstott's fumble 18 yards. But Dilfer (16-of-25 for 164 yards), who is the NFC's top-rated passer in the fourth quarter, was magnificent down the stretch. He audibled to a 24-yard game-tying TD pass to Williams to tie the score with 6:52 remaining. Then he positioned Husted for the winning kick with three straight completions.
"I think today was the first time this football team looked to me," Dilfer said. "Not Warrick Dunn. Not 40 (Alstott). Not anybody else. They said, `He's going to have to do it for us.' I was upset and I let them know on the sideline we weren't playing well. I really believed this football team matured in the sense they rallied behind the quarterback."
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