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Rick Stroud, The St.Petersburg Times, published 9 December 1996
It figures. Now that the Bucs never seem to lose in the Big Sombrero, somebody slaps his forehead and comes up with the brilliant idea to tear this place down.
A chain-link fence encircles a big chunk of the parking lot that has been bulldozed to make room for the new ballpark that is supposed to open in two years.
Barricades detour traffic and signs apologize for the inconvenience.
And naturally, the Bucs havenever felt so much at home.
Tampa Bay tied a franchise record Sunday by winning its fourth straight game at Houlihan's Stadium, beating the playoff-confounded Washington Redskins 24-10.
It was the fourth victory in the past five games for the Bucs (5-9), who began the day as one of only seven teams with no hope for the post-season.
And in what has become an annual rite, the Washington Redskins (8-6) showed up and played like the Washington Generals.
"We're playing as well as anybody in this league, I think," Bucs defensive tackle Warren Sapp said. "We're building something right now. The concrete is starting to harden for us. We've got a good foundation and we just want to keep building on that."
Rest assured the defense has turned its home into a hard-hat area.
It forced two first-quarter turnovers that the offense capitalized on to build a 10-0 lead.
Cornerback Martin Mayhew intercepted a pass from quarterback Gus Frerotte to set up the first score, a 22-yard TD pass from Trent Dilfer to tight end Jackie Harris.
On the next series, safety John Lynch forced a fumble from running back Terry Allen that was recovered by rookie defensive end Marcus Jones. The Bucs cashed that in for the first of three Michael Husted field goals. Errict Rhett (28 carries for 97 yards) and Mike Alstott (8 for 67, 1 TD) pummeled the Redskins with a relentless ground attack that rolled up a season-high 209 rushing yards.
The Redskins, who lost their fourth straight game to the Bucs in the past two seasons, were prepared to be run over by Rhett. Two of his eight 100-yard rushing games had come against Washington, which entered the game worst in the NFL at defending the run.
But the 'Skins had no answer for Alstott, who averaged 8.4 yards, scored on a 13-yard run and led the Bucs with three catches for 24 yards.
The boffo running game made an easy day for Dilfer, who completed 8 of 15 passes for 112 yards and the TD. He tried only four passes in the second half.
"I think we need to play them more often," Bucs linebacker Hardy Nickerson said. "If we could get them maybe twice during the season, I wouldn't mind that. It's one of those teams that right now we have a psychological advantage over. I could sense that. We've got a good streak against them. We've beaten them at their place, here; it didn't matter where we played them. We felt like we had a mental edge on them. Now we have to continue to build on that and gain that edge on some of our divisional rivals."
Washington figured to be the hungrier team, needing only one victory in the final three games to likely clinch a playoff spot and entering the day tied with Dallas atop the NFC East. But the Redskins are reeling, having now lost six of seven. Knowing they will be home for the holidays, the Bucs still wanted to avenge last week's 24-0 loss at Carolina and prove their three-game winning streak was no fluke.
"If we hadn't come back to win today, that three-game streak kind of goes out the window and we're back to the same old thing that's happened here in the past," Bucs safety John Lynch said. "The Redskins were probably under the impression they'll come down here, get on them early because we're out of the playoffs. But we have a lot to play for. (Defensive backs coach) Herman Edwards said this is the time that teams that aren't going to the playoffs get out that Christmas list - and said, throw that thing away. Let's make it our playoff game. That's the attitude we took."
For the eighth straight game, the Bucs held an opponent under 300 yards, limiting Washington to 247. Allen, the NFC's third-leading rusher, was stuffed for just 36 yards on 14 carries.
Only the Dallas Cowboys, who corralled Allen for a season-low 34 yards on Thanksgiving Day, have done a better job against the Washington running game.
"I'm sure they wanted to walk up here expecting the Bucs to lay down," Nickerson said. "But they faced a very good football team. We let them know from the start they weren't going to run the football on us."
Nickerson set the tone on the third snap when he sacked Frerotte. He and fellow linebacker Derrick Brooks recorded 10 tackles apiece.
The defense gave the Bucs great field position all day, and rookie Karl Williams helped the cause with a zig-zagging 63-yard return of the second-half kickoff that set up Husted's third field goal. Only a saving tackle by safety Stanley Richard prevented Williams from making history. The Bucs never have returned a kickoff for a touchdown; Williams' effort was the second longest in club history.
"Once I hit the sideline and cut back inside, I didn't see anybody," Williams said. "I thought it was a clear shot to the end zone. It hurts. It really does, to be that close and just one person away and to fall short like that. But it's something to look forward to next week."
If not for some close-shave losses to Seattle, or Arizona, or Green Bay, the Bucs might be looking forward to earning a playoff spot. "We talked about some things where we are as a team," Tony Dungy said. "Some things we want to do. How important the last two games of the year are to us. We're starting to show signs of being a good ballclub. I'm very, very proud of these guys because we started out slowly. But we're playing our best football now. This was good, to defeat a team that's fighting for a playoff spot. I really feel like we're playing well at home. We're starting to feel like we can come in here and play well week in and week out with our home crowd. That's going to be important to us down the road."
Frerotte expressed bewilderment over the Bucs' mastery of the Redskins: "I want to play these guys again. I wish we could play them tomorrow."
How does 1 o'clock sound?
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