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Roy Cummings, The Tampa Tribune, published 29 November 2004
There is a reason the Bucs started 0-4 this season. Actually, there are a lot of reasons the Bucs started 0-4 this season. There were missed field goals, turnovers, penalties and blown assignments. All of those problems were evident during the Bucs' early slide and all were evident again during Sunday's 21-14 loss to the Panthers at Bank of America Stadium that dropped their record to 4-7.
Though the Bucs are still involved in the muddled NFC wild-card chase that will probably drag on until season's end, the playoffs seem out of reach. They did on Sunday, anyway. Though they racked up nearly 400 total yards and shut down the Panthers offense for long stretches, the Bucs' inability to execute properly cost them at the most crucial of times.
There was second-year cornerback Torrie Cox, getting beaten by Keary Colbert on a 24-yard scoring play in the first quarter and falling down as he tried covering Colbert on the game-winning scoring play in the fourth. There was running back Michael Pittman, racking up two touchdowns and more than 100 yards as a pass catcher, but fumbling the ball away twice as a runner, including once at the Carolina 15.
There was quarterback Brian Griese, completing 69 percent of his passes for 347 yards and two touchdowns, but also throwing an interception that Julius Peppers returned for a touchdown for Carolina (4-7). And finally, there was place- kicker Martin Gramatica, who had a 26-yard field goal attempt blocked by Peppers and missed wide left on field goal attempts of 39 and 37 yards.
The last of the misses came with just 1:53 remaining and the game tied at 14. Holder Josh Bidwell appeared to cleanly handle a high snap from Dave Moore, but Gramatica pulled the kick badly to the left. It marked the eighth time this year that Gramatica has missed a field-goal try, and it seemed to inject life into the Panthers while stealing it away from Bucs defenders. Several Bucs said they felt ``out of sync'' after witnessing Gramatica's last miss and during a game-winning rally in which quarterback Jake Delhomme drove the Panthers 73 yards in five plays.
In a virtual re-enactment of the game-winning drive he engineered during a 27-24 victory against the Bucs in Charlotte last year, Delhomme connected on pass plays of 9, 5 and 15 yards before hitting Colbert with the 40-yard game-deciding pass. ``They started that drive on the same spot on the field as they did last year and they were even going in the same direction as they were last year,'' Bucs defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin said.
The Bucs appear to be headed in the same direction as last year, too. At 4-7 they appear on their way to a second consecutive losing season after their Super Bowl XXXVII victory. Where Gramatica is headed, though, is anyone's guess. He has four years remaining on a contract that will pay him $1.15 million next year, so cutting him may prove too costly.
But Sunday marked at least the second time this year that the Bucs have failed to win a game in large part because their kicking team left points on the field, and Jon Gruden has clearly tired of it. ``I'm never going to address how I truly feel sometimes publicly - I don't trust enough people out there,'' Gruden said. ``But Martin is a guy that I consider a great talent. Just pick up a media guide. He's won a tremendous amount of games for this franchise.''
He was in position to win one Sunday, thanks to the play of the Bucs defense and Griese. After surrendering a touchdown on the Panthers' first drive, the Bucs forced Carolina to go three plays and out on each of the next two. Brian Kelly ended the fourth Panthers' drive by intercepting Delhomme and two subsequent drives ended with Panthers kicker Jeff Chandler missing a 38-yard field goal and having another 38-yard attempt blocked by Dewayne White.
Griese followed the block by throwing the interception to Peppers, but he later made up for it by hitting Pittman on an 8-yard pass that allowed the Bucs to tie the game at 14. A stand by the Bucs defense got the ball back for Griese and the offense at the Carolina 48, but after one first down the drive stalled out at the Carolina 19. ``We were in position to blow the candles out on this game,'' defensive end Simeon Rice said. ``But we didn't do all the things we need to do to win. We gave it away with a ribbon on it.''
They gave it away after battling from behind and Gruden said that is another trait he's tired of watching. ``We've been doing that forever around here,'' Gruden said. ``In that Carolina game last year we battled back. We've battled back time and time again. I'm tired of battling back.''
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