Resurgent Dotson anchors a depleted line Rick Stroud, The St.Petersburg Times, published 29 November 1993 Santana Dotson had enough of the sophomore jinx and finally stepped to the head of the class Sunday. In what was his best performance of the season, Dotson recorded a sack for the second consecutive game and made four tackles to lead the Bucs patchwork defense Sunday. Playing without two injured starters on the defensive line - Mark Wheeler and Eric Curry - Santana changed back to his evil ways that helped him win NFC Rookie of the Year honors. His effort helped limit the Packers to just 174 total yards prior to the winning drive. "Everybody has up and down times," Dotson said. "I'm glad my teammates were there to work me through it. Unfortunately, it took me being seated a game or so and me losing playing time. But I'm back, and all I can ever give - all I wanted to give last year - was my full effort. That's all I can give and everybody's got to be satisfied." But Dotson wasn't the only hero on the Bucs defense. Linebacker Hardy Nickerson was everywhere, recording 15 tackles. Linebacker Broderick Thomas came off the bench to help force the Packers to settle for just a field goal despite starting drives inside Tampa Bay territory three times in the second half. And free agent Sean Price, playing for Curry, recorded a sack for the second straight game and batted away a pass. "You have to credit Tampa Bay," said Packers coach Mike Holmgren. "They came in here and played a great defensive football game, in my opinion." The Packers hurt themselves with seven penalties for 55 yards and dropped passes. In fact, quarterback Brett Favre had passed for just 80 yards before the final drive when he nearly matched that with eight completions for 79 yards. He also overcame a hit from Barney Bussey to return after a timeout and throw the winning TD to Sterling Sharpe. "Obviously, it was a tough game, but in the final drive, we did what it takes to win," Favre said. "They're a tough team. We knew that coming in. They're a good defense. They showed how good they're going to be in the future. They just made some great plays out there." According to Dotson, Favre's series of three- and five-step drops on passing attempts makes it difficult to register sacks against him. "Sometimes the best pressure you can put on a guy like that is gut pressure," Dotson said. "To make him pull it down. To give the ends time to get around the corner. We're finally trying to gel as a defense. I just wanted to go out and play my best, the same thing I do every week." But after recording 11 sacks last season, Dotson went nine games with just two sacks this season. He was benched for two games. Sunday's performance was a good sign for Dotson and the Bucs, but not good enough. "It was a long drive and they did a lot of good things," Dotson said. "We were trying and trying, but we just could not come up with the big play. To put a team like Green Bay to sleep, you've got to come up with a big play and get off the field."