Bucs took too big a risk with second onside kick call Gary Shelton, The St.Petersburg Times, published 21 November 2011 Loved the daring. Hated the decision. It was late in the evening, and surprisingly, the previously dead Tampa Bay Bucs had a pulse. They had just closed to within two points of the undefeated Green Bay Packers, and with 4:25 to play, the biggest upset of the season seemed entirely possible. Then the Bucs tried an onside kick. Shortly afterward, the Packers finished kicking their backside. An onside kick? Really? With 4:25 to go and two timeouts remaining? Why not play the percentages? All the Bucs needed was a defensive stop and a field goal, and the game was there for the claiming. Why give away 34 yards of field position to the NFL's most dangerous offense? Why set up the Packers for the kill shot, which came three plays later when Aaron Rodgers hit Jordy Nelson for a 40-yard touchdown pass? Hey, I like bold. We all like bold. For most of the years, the Bucs have been far too conservative as their season has landed far short of expectations. Too many 4-yard passes on third and 8. Too few throws into the end zone when within sight of the goal. On the other hand, aggression is no good unless it is wrapped inside of reason. You can run an end-around on fourth and 17 and call it aggression, but that's just another way to describe silliness. Hey, the Titanic was aggressive. Amelia Earhart was aggressive. Spartacus was aggressive. And we all know what happened to those guys. They didn't make the playoffs, either. "We were going to get it and win," coach Raheem Morris said, his words coming out quickly as if his strategy were beyond question. Morris was asked how much discussion was there about whether to kick away and play field position or to try a second onside kick (they tried one in the first half that failed, too, and led to a Packers touchdown)? "We discussed it Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday of last week," Morris said. The Bucs discussed being two points down with 4:25 to go last week? Gee, I would have thought that was kind of an on-the-spot decision. "We wanted to get the ball," Morris said. "We're not going to apologize for being aggressive. When you play against the Green Bay Packers, you have to go out, you have to make plays, you have to steal possessions." Again, however, recovering an onside kick — especially when the opponent knows it's coming — is a tricky thing. For instance, even if the Bucs had come up with this one, they wouldn't have gotten the ball. They were offside. That doesn't have anything to do with whether you think it's a good call or not, but it does point out that everything has to be perfect. "The onside kick didn't have anything to do with it," cornerback Ronde Barber said. "We still had to make a stop." Maybe. But if the Bucs had kicked away, the Packers probably would have been around their own 20. Maybe Green Bay plays it differently from there. Make a stop there, and the Bucs probably get the ball back around their own 30, and from there, it's 35 yards to field-goal territory. Aren't those odds better than those of recovering an onside kick? When the Bucs tried their first onside kick, late in the second quarter, well, why not? Roll the dice. But with 4:25 to play, you are contending with the time left, with the field position, with the opponent. You are counting on one last possession, and where you take over is a big deal. Isn't it? Let's admit this: The Bucs' effort was considerably better than last week, when even Morris questioned it. On the other hand, this is the NFL, and heads shouldn't be patted because a team lost by only nine points. The fact that you noticed the Bucs' effort was as troubling as it was pleasing. After all, why should it take practices in pads to get effort out of a team? Shouldn't paychecks do that? Yes, it was good to find that the Bucs' triplets still play around here. Josh Freeman threw for 342 yards, and LeGarrette Blount ran for 107, and Mike Williams caught seven passes. That was good to see. With that kind of performance, maybe the Bucs could have won another game or two. Still, the Bucs continue the maddening trend of getting in their own way with penalties (such as Kellen Winslow's offensive pass interference that wiped out his touchdown reception) and dropped passes (such as Winslow's slightly-behind-him-but-catchable drop on a two-point conversion that would have tied the score just before the onside kick). Like the effort. Hated the ending.