Bucs Spot Lions 17-Point Lead, Rally For 38-20 Win Roy Cummings, The Tampa Tribune, published 24 November 2008 Jon Gruden has a saying: "It's not how you start that matters, it's how you finish.'' His Bucs proved his point again Sunday. For the third time in as many games the Bucs stumbled out of the gate, this time spotting the lowly Detroit Lions a 17-point first-quarter lead. As they did against Kansas City and Minnesota, however, the Bucs bounced back to post a 38-20 victory here at Ford Field. "We don't always make it easy on ourselves, and it's not always pretty,'' quarterback Jeff Garcia said. "But we usually find a way to win.'' The Bucs latest win improved their record to 8-3 and allowed them to move into a tie with Carolina for first place in the NFC South when the Panthers lost to Atlanta. At the same time, however, it further clarified some problems that will have to be rectified if the Bucs hope to reach or go deep into the playoffs. Those slow starts are one problem. Fumbles are another. The Bucs, who are among the league's leaders in lost fumbles, lost three more Sunday, including one that was picked up and returned for a touchdown in the first quarter. The Bucs also struggled to protect Garcia, who was sacked six times, and right cornerback Ronde Barber looked vulnerable once again, at least through the early going. "We're happy with the win,'' linebacker Derrick Brooks said. "But we can't let it disguise the fact that there are some things here that we need to get better at.'' Bouncing back isn't one of them. The Bucs dominated the final three quarters of play, surrendering just 93 total yards, four first downs and three points over that span. Barber, who gave up two big plays in the first quarter, including a 15-yard touchdown toss to Calvin Johnson, was a big part of the comeback. He intercepted two passes, returning the second 65 yards for a touchdown. The TD was the 11th of Barber's career off either an interception return or fumble recovery, which is the most among active players and third most in NFL history, behind Rod Woodson and Aeneus Williams. "It's been a part of my career,'' Barber said. "Fortunately it's to my benefit. But it's probably to my detriment, too, because it's what people expect of me. When it doesn't happen, everything else I'm doing gets magnified.'' Clifton Smith may soon come to know what Barber is talking about. The Bucs rookie return man has already returned a kickoff for a touchdown, against Kansas City, and on Sunday he returned a punt 70 yards for a touchdown. His biggest contribution, however, may have come in the second quarter, when he returned a kick 49 yards to the 50-yard line. Coming just one play after Detroit took its 17-point lead, that return sparked the Bucs' comeback. "Our return game was almost laughed at here for years,'' Jon Gruden said. "We couldn't bring a kick back. Now this guy comes out of nowhere and is taking punts and kickoffs back.'' He still isn't doing it cleanly. Another problem area that has to be corrected, Gruden said, is Smith's problems holding on to the ball. Though he didn't give the ball up Sunday, he did fumble it again. That marked the fourth straight game that Smith has fumbled. He lost his fumble in each of the previous three games, so this represented something of an improvement but not enough of one. "We have to take better care of the ball,'' said Gruden, who may have also been speaking to Garcia when he said that. Garcia, after all, fumbled the ball away twice on Sunday. Other than that, though, Garcia was solid, if not superb. He only threw the ball 18 times but he connected on 13 of those throws, including touchdown passes of 36 yards to Ike Hilliard and 24 yards to Jerramy Stevens. "We were sloppy at times but we walked out of here with a win that's what's it's all about,'' Garcia said. There was no shortage of pundits who pegged the Lions to win this game. After the first quarter it looked like the pundits might be right. Thanks in large part to a the first of Garcia's fumbles, one which came as a result of Cadillac Williams running into Garcia on Williams' first play from scrimmage, the Lions built a three-score lead through the first 15 minutes. Garcia said the collision was a result of him getting a little too excited about throwing a pass and moving to his right at the same time that Williams was stepping up to deliver a block. Daniel Bullock's 44-yard return of that Garcia fumble actually padded a Lions lead that was built in large part by the Lions' decision to test Barber through the early going. The Lions came out running the ball but quickly targeted Barber with their passing attack, completing three big plays against him, including one to Calvin Johnson for a 41-yard gain. That set up a 15-yard touchdown pass to Johnson, who pushed Barber aside to get the inside position for a throw into end zone that gave the Lions a 7-0 lead with 6:07 left in the first quarter. Bullock's return of the Garcia fumble came three plays later and the Lions tacked on a field goal of 38 yards by Jason Hanson at the end of the quarter to build their 17-point edge. The Bucs comeback started on the very next play, when Smith brought the ensuing kickoff back to midfield, setting the stage for a six-play drive that culminated with Warrick Dunn running 13 yards for a touchdown. A quick three-and-out got the ball back for the Bucs, who then put together a nine-play touchdown drive, the score coming on Garcia's 36-yard pass to Hilliard. The Lions continued to target Barber with their passing attack but Barber made them pay for it when he picked off the 34th pass of his career by stepping in front of a Daunte Culpepper pass intended for Shaun McDonald. McDonald took Barber down at the spot of the pick but that didn't stop the Bucs, who took the lead one play later when Garcia found tight end Jerramy Stevens open down the seam for a 24-yard touchdown pass. The Bucs began padding their lead early in the second half, when Smith brought a Nick Harris punt back 70 yards to extend the Bucs lead to 28-17. Barber's 65-yard interception return then made it 35-17. The two teams exchanged field goals after that to complete the scoring.