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Scott Smith, Buccaneers.com, published 27 December 2004
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were finished before they started on Sunday. A victory by New Orleans at Atlanta formally eliminated the Buccaneers from the NFC playoff hunt, but Tampa Bay’s larger aspirations continue to have a bigger problem: the Carolina Panthers. The Bucs have now lost four consecutive games to their heated division rivals, and for the fourth straight time it went down in frustrating fashion.
This time, however, it wasn’t particularly close. QB Jake Delhomme threw four touchdown passes, two of them to Pro Bowl WR Muhsin Muhammad in the first half, and the Panthers capitalized on several ugly Buccaneer mistakes. A 321-yard passing game by Tampa Bay QB Brian Griese, one that showed the potential potency of a receiving threesome of Michael Clayton (four catches for 66 yards and two touchdowns), Joey Galloway (9-98-1) and Joe Jurevicius (6-66-0), went to waste. It’s worth noting: Griese has three 300-yard passing games this season and the Bucs have lost them all. “I’d just like to apologize to our fans and thank the fans that did stay,” said Jon Gruden. “We’re obviously disappointed in defeat. We’re disappointed because we feel like we had multiple opportunities to make plays tonight.”
This time it was sloppy play that frustrated the Bucs, rather than the typical last-minute loss. It began on he first play of the game, when Griese slipped after making a play fake, resulting in an 11-yard sack. The disheartening game was summed up by one bizarre string of events just before halftime. An extremely rare dropped pass by stud rookie receiver Clayton, a holding call, a dropped ball by the punter and two long Carolina passes in 15 seconds turned a potential game-tying touchdown drive by the Bucs into a field goal for the Panthers and a 10-point halftime lead.
Gruden, who along with Buccaneer fans has seen a maddening string of unusual occurrences in Buc losses, was particularly mystified by P Josh Bidwell’s drop, describing it as the first such occurrence in Bidwell’s very good five-year career. “We might lead the league in ‘first-time happenings’ this year,” said Gruden wryly.
Later, in the third quarter with the Bucs in the middle of an impressive drive, a botched play-fake ended up in a fumble by Griese that Carolina recovered at midfield. At the time, the Bucs were in the middle of a rally, having scored on their previous drive, forced a three-and-out and emerged from a hole at their own four-yard line with an impressive drive. It was all for naught thanks to the fumble, which was recovered by DE Al Wallace; worse, Carolina turned that possession into a 49-yard touchdown drive and a 16-point lead with 12 minutes to play (the extra point was missed). In another example of how the day went for the Buccaneers, Delhomme actually completed that drive by tossing a two-yard touchdown pass to a tight end, Mike Seidman, who was lying on his back in the end zone.
The Bucs, who committed eight giveaways in their previous two losses, were on the losing end of the turnover battle again. Two turnovers near midfield resulted in Carolina touchdown drives and a third giveaway scored directly, as 285-pound DT Kindal Moorehead returned a one-handed interception 17 yards for Carolina’s final points. Over the past three games, Buccaneer opponents have scored 38 points either on returns of turnovers or the drives that immediately followed a giveaway.
The Bucs had difficulty getting to Delhomme, sacking him just once and forcing only five incompletions in 24 attempts. Delhomme threw no interceptions, had a passer rating of 143.4 and led a Carolina attack that was both potent and mistake-free. RB Nick Goings ran the ball 32 times and gained 127 tough yards, including a 17-yard run that set up Seidman’s touchdown catch. The Panthers scored first as a result of the first turnover. DT Brentson Buckner hit QB Brian Griese as he threw, causing a wobbler that was easily intercepted by S Colin Branch at the Panthers’ 45. The Panthers took the resulting possession 55 yards in six plays, ending in a dazzling one-handed catch by Muhammad for a 15-yard touchdown.
The Bucs tied it up immediately, however, driving 76 yards on nine plays on the following possession. Griese was 6-for-6 for 70 yards on the drive, converting two third downs, including one on the scoring play. Facing third-and-four at the Panthers’ 22, Griese threw a short crossing pass to rookie WR Michael Clayton. Clayton found open field in front of him to the two-yard line, where he bounced off CB Ricky Manning and flew akimbo into the end zone.
Griese finished the game with a 99.7 passer rating despite the two interceptions, thanks to 30-of-41 passing, 321 yards and three touchdowns. The Bucs came out throwing in the belief that it could get a number of big plays against the Panthers’ blitz-happy defense. The passing numbers were there at the end of the game – 299 net yards to just 46 on the ground – but it was the Panthers who made the big plays. “It’s a credit to Carolina and their style,” said Gruden. “They’ve done a great job this second half of the season with multiple blitzes from multiple defensive packages. They have a very good defense.”
The tie from Clayton’s catch didn’t last long, as the Panthers immediately drove 61 yards on 10 plays to take a one-touchdown lead again four minutes into the second quarter. Delhomme repeatedly looked for Muhammad and finished the drive with a third-down, six-yard scoring pass to his favorite target. The drive nearly ended on the first play of the second quarter when S Dwight Smith forced a Muhammad fumble, but the ball bounced off S John Howell right back to Muhammad. The Carolina Pro Bowl receiver, who finished the day with eight catches for 115 yards, also caught a 20-yard pass at the Bucs’ eight with five seconds to play in the first half, setting up John Kasay’s 26-yard field goal and the Panthers’ 17-7 lead. That drive was the result of Bidwell’s mishandling of a fine punt snap, which led to a block by Karl Hankton and possession for the Panthers at the Bucs’ 44.
Any hope of a second-half comeback for the Buccaneers was essentially put to rest by Carolina’s opening drive of the third quarter. With Delhomme repeatedly escaping sacks and still getting off precision throws, the Panthers marched 70 yards on 10 plays, eating six minutes off the clock and taking a 24-7 lead. The Panthers faced only one third down on the drive and scored on a first-and-goal pass to WR Keary Colbert from the four. Colbert, a promising rookie for the Panthers, scored three touchdowns in his two games against Tampa Bay this season.
The Bucs did keep fighting, however. CB Torrie Cox returned the ensuing kickoff 50 yards to the Carolina 38 and the Bucs drove the rest of the way on seven plays to close the score to 24-14 with six minutes left in the third quarter. WR Joey Galloway, who had season highs in both receptions and receiving yards and scored his sixth touchdown in the last four games, made a dazzling, 20-yard catch just off the turf to get the ball to the 18, and Griese found Clayton in the back of the end zone on a second-down play from the six to finish the drive. The play was challenged by Carolina and Clayton was indeed close to putting his second foot out of bounds, but replay showed the foot just missing the back line.
After Seidman’s touchdown, the Bucs again drove the length of the field, marching 78 yards on eight plays in four minutes. Griese hit Jurevicius for gains of 15 and 20 yards, then dropped a perfect, 14-yard lob over the middle to Galloway for his third touchdown pass of the game. Griese stayed on the turf for several seconds after the play, thanks to the massive hit he took while delivering the pass. Derrick Brooks led the Bucs defense with 14 tackles and a pass defensed Smith was all over the field, making 11 solo tackles, breaking up a potential touchdown pass and forcing two fumbles (both recovered by Carolina). DE Greg Spires had Tampa Bay’s only sack of the game.
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