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Rick Stroud, The St.Petersburg Times, published 11 December 2005
Sometimes, you have to beat the bully in his own back yard. Forget wearing the eye black and start handing out black eyes. Tired of being a punching bag after losing five straight games to their division rival, the Bucs struck back Sunday. They used smelling-salts hits on defense. Body blows with runs up the gut. And they kept the opposing trainers busy doing triage.
The result was a 20-10 victory over the Panthers at Bank of America Stadium. "It was definitely a backyard fight," Bucs tight end Anthony Becht said. "It's one of those things when you're growing up, it's you and the bully. The only way to do it is fight your way out of it. That's exactly my mentality, and that's what the team's mentality was.
They're a very tough, aggressive defense. It really isn't enough to match it. You have to overtake it. And for one day, we were able to do that."
Rookie Cadillac Williams rushed for 112 yards and two touchdowns to pull the Bucs (9-4) into a tie with Carolina for first place in the NFC South.
But by winning all three games on the road to improve to 3-1 in the division, the Bucs control their postseason destiny and will host a playoff game by winning their final three regular-season contests. "I think this kind of showed everybody that we're for real," Williams said. "We're just looking for a chance."
Williams, who was held to 29 yards in the first meeting with Carolina, became only the second player to reach the century mark against the Panthers this season.
His second touchdown, a tackle-breaking 10-yard run on third down, gave the Bucs a 20-3 lead with 5:39 left. It was set up by another remarkable interception by cornerback Ronde Barber.
With the Panthers threatening to cut Tampa Bay's lead to a field goal early in the fourth quarter, Barber tipped a pass intended for Bucs-nemesis Ricky Proehl at the Tampa Bay 7 and returned the interception 35 yards. Barber later added a sack, becoming the first cornerback in NFL history to record 20 sacks and 20 interceptions.
"I'm kind of surprised Jake threw that ball and I caught it," Barber said. "It ended up being a game-saving play for us because (quarterback Chris Simms) and Cadillac went down and made it 20-3 on that drive. We ate up a bunch of clock. Those are the type of things that good teams do to win games."
In fact, the Bucs did everything Carolina had done to them in five previous games.
The tone was set early when safety Will Allen flattened receiver Steve Smith with a crushing wallop over the middle. Smith immediately removed his helmet and remained on the turf for several minutes, his mouthpiece dangling from his lips. Smith returned to hit the Bucs with a 60-yard reception and 44-yard punt return. But those plays resulted in only one field goal. (Barber's interception ended the drive after the punt return.)
Meanwhile, the Bucs sent several other Panthers to the trainers on the sideline. Proehl, running back DeShaun Foster, cornerback Ken Lucas and linebacker Dan Morgan missed time due to injuries. "Not that we're trying to intimidate these guys, but intimidation is a physical act. And Steve Smith is a heck of a player," Barber said. "Any time you get a chance to put a (helmet) on him, put your hands on him, just disrupt his general well-being, it's something we took advantage of. We talk about outplaying our opponent's defense every week. And the past five times we played these guys, we definitely haven't done that. Without a doubt, we can say we did that this time. I think it's even more a credit to our young quarterback and our young running back to control that game. In the fourth quarter, those guys won that football game for us."
Simms was steady if unspectacular, completing 20 of 27 passes for 138 yards. But he was sacked only once, and the Bucs did not commit a turnover. Moreover, they were tremendous on third down, converting 10 of 17 chances while holding Carolina to 2 of 11. "Carolina is a physical team. They've been bringing it to us, getting the sacks, getting the turnovers and stymieing our run game," Allen said.
"It was a time for a change. You hear (Bengals receiver) Chad Johnson talking about a time for change with black-and-white to color TV. It was just one of those types of game for us. We came out there with that attitude and determination, and we got it done collectively. When we needed a big play, Ronde came through with an interception or a sack. (Cornerback Brian Kelly) came through with a big tackle in the flat. Cadillac with a run. (Receiver) Ike Hilliard with a big first down. Everybody knows the urgency of what needs to be done, and we're exemplifying that with our play and our attitude."
Bully for the Bucs, coach Jon Gruden said. "We lost five in a row ... but now they've got a one-game losing streak," he said. "You can go ask them about that streak."
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