On the road to ruin Rick Stroud, The St.Petersburg Times, published 2 December 1991 This is why the Buccaneers can be discounted on the road: They take a quarter off. Instead of paying a heavy price for playing Tampa Bay, you earn credit for their costly mistakes. The Miami Dolphins discovered that Sunday, scoring 24 points in the second quarter of a 33-14 rout of the Bucs at Joe Robbie Stadium. It was the 13th consecutive road loss for the Bucs, who folded like an old wallet against Miami - much like they did two weeks ago in Atlanta. "It was almost an instant replay," Bucs coach Richard Williamson said. "We appear to have a little bit of a problem, or a big problem. If something doesn't happen just right, or something goes a little off-key, we take a long time to get refocused and sometimes don't get refocused." After Sunday's victory, the Dolphins probably can begin focusing on the playoffs. The victory improved Miami to 7-6 - the first time the Dolphins have been above .500 all season. "It was a win we had to have," Dolphins coach Don Shula said. "It's been an uphill battle all year long." But Tampa Bay's slide appears bottomless. The Bucs fought hard for three quarters Sunday - the first, third and fourth. The Dolphins woke up in the second quarter and began a streak of scoring on six consecutive possessions. Running back Mark Higgs accounted for most of the spree: By halftime, he had 103 yards and had averaged nearly 8 yards per carry. He finished with 131 yards and a touchdown on 25 carries. He made it almost impossible for the Bucs to stop Miami quarterback Dan Marino, who passed for 307 yards and two touchdowns - including a 26-yarder to wide receiver Tony Martin with 18 seconds left in the first half to make it 24-7. In fact, the Bucs were fortunate they didn't get hammered worse. Their defense allowed Miami 468 total yards and managed to keep the Dolphins out of the end zone only long enough for Pete Stoyanovich to kick four field goals. Including the 43-7 debacle in Atlanta two weeks ago, the Bucs have been outscored in the second quarter 57-0 in their past two road games. All this from a defense that entered Sunday's game ranked ninth overall in the NFL. "I don't understand it," Bucs linebacker Jesse Solomon said. "It seems like we go away, we don't play so good. We come back home and, hell, it's like we're a playoff-contending team. We fight our a-- off. We've got to learn to play good football away from the house as well as we do in the house." If ever there was a team that should be left home alone, it's Tampa Bay. But the Bucs actually showed signs of reversing that trend Sunday in the first quarter. Ironically, Higgs was a hero in goat's clothing. Starting in place of embattled running back Sammie Smith, Higgs ripped off an 18-yard run before being stripped of the ball by Bucs cornerback Ricky Reynolds. Linebacker Kevin Murphy recovered the fumble to halt the Dolphins' first possession, and the Bucs were in business near midfield. Tampa Bay quarterback Vinny Testaverde, who was playing his first game in Miami since turning pro five years ago, had the hot hand early. Testaverde completed 5 of 6 passes while driving the Bucs 47 yards in 10 plays for their first score. On fourth-and-1 from Miami's 2, tailback Reggie Cobb sprinted untouched to the left corner of the end zone for a 7-0 Tampa Bay lead. "I was looking forward to going out there in front of the fans who saw me at Miami (in college)," Testaverde said. "It was a big game for me and, certainly, I didn't want it to go this way." Testaverde finished with respectable numbers: 21-of-39 for 224 yards and a touchdown. But he was intercepted once, sacked four times and watched the Dolphins hold the Bucs to just 59 yards on the ground. Meanwhile, Marino simply carved up the Bucs' secondary - especially cornerback Carl Carter, who was burned for the two touchdown passes. Carter was in the starting lineup despite an ankle injury. He wound up spending most of the second half on the bench in favor of Roger Jones, a free-agent rookie signed three weeks ago and the fifth player the Bucs have tried at right cornerback. "I still wanted to play," Carter said. "It's just that it's still bothering me. It limited me. They probably knew I wasn't healthy on the field, and they just kept coming at me. They went deep on me three times. They caught one for a touchdown, and I broke up the other two. But that seven (points) is a lot bigger than the others." For the Bucs, the loss is no different than all the others this season. They took a quarter off and shortchanged themselves again. "It's a very hard ballgame to lose at this stage," Williamson said. "It's a hard ballgame to lose and it's hard to be in this situation at this stage of the season. I told them in there (the locker room) that the only thing I knew was tomorrow the sun was going to come up and it's going to be Monday, and we have to get ready again.