The ups and downs of following the Bucs Rick Stroud, The St.Petersburg Times, published 21 December 1992 The Tampa Bay Bucs may not be tall enough to reach the top floor buttons in the National Football League, but they sure like riding the elevators. How else do you explain a team that goes up and down with such regularity that it can actually give the San Francisco 49ers the bends? Entering the game as 20-point underdogs, the Bucs beat the odds but lost after playing the best team in the league on virtually even terms. It took a goal-line stand at their 4-yard line in the final three minutes before the 49ers could clinch home-field advantage throughout the playoffs with a 21-14 win Saturday over Tampa Bay. While the 49ers (13-2) couldn't cover the spread, the Bucs lost because they couldn't cover Jerry Rice. Rice beat cornerback Ricky Reynolds on perfectly thrown touchdown passes of 32 and 30 yards from quarterback Steve Young, including the game-winner with 11:24 left in the fourth quarter. It was the fifth straight loss for the Bucs (4-11) and their 10th defeat in the past 11 games. But considering what they were up against, not winning never hurt so good. "We felt we were better than a lot of people believed and maybe what we believed," Bucs quarterback Vinny Testaverde said. "Everybody talked about their tradition of winning and our tradition of losing. All week long, everybody said it was going to be a slaughter and if they lost to us they'd be really embarrassed. But we've got mixed emotions because we played so well against a Super Bowl contender." Testaverde completed 16 of 21 passes for 201 yards and a touchdown that will make the highlight film. It came on a 51-yard flea-flicker pass to Anthony McDowell after running back Gary Anderson took a handoff and pitched the ball back to Testaverde, who rifled it to the wide-open rookie. Running back Reggie Cobb also had another good day, rushing for 90 yards and a touchdown. But it was Tampa Bay's failure to score trailing 21-14 with first-and-goal from the 49ers 4-yard line and 4:18 left in the game that will haunt the Bucs. Cobb lost 3 yards on first down. Then Testaverde rolled left and had to unload the ball to avoid a sack by Kevin Fagan. On third down, receiver Lawrence Dawsey had a pass jarred loose at the 2-yard line by cornerback Don Griffin. At that point, head coach Sam Wyche sent his field-goal unit onto the field but called them back a moment later after deciding to go for it on fourth down. "I went brain dead," Wyche said. "Thank goodness there was a clock stoppage. There was 4:35 or so to go and we had all our timeouts. But really, if you kick a field goal, you still need a touchdown to win. The odds say you take a chance to score then." But on fourth down, Testaverde threw high to wideout Mark Carrier in the back of the end zone to end the drive. The Bucs got the ball back with about one minute left, but out of timeouts, a Hail Mary pass to Lawrence Dawsey was deflected on the game's final play. "I think if I had it to do over again, we run the ball four straight times," Wyche said, second-guessing himself. "We had them worn down." The fact that the 49ers, the NFL's top-ranked offense, didn't wipe the Bucs off their cleats by halftime is a credit to Tampa Bay's bullyragged defense. After having been outscored 49-7 in the second halves of their last two games, the Bucs sacked Young three times and held the 49ers to just 82 yards on the ground. Even more remarkable was how Tampa Bay managed to put up a fight using a makeshift defensive line with a collection of players who spent a lot of Sundays watching television this season. Linebacker turned defensive end turned linebacker turned defensive end Keith McCants played perhaps his best game of '92. Alternating at middle linebacker until Al Chamblee went down with an ankle injury, McCants recorded five tackles, a sack and recovered a Young fumble just before halftime that allowed the Bucs to go into the locker room tied 7-7. Safety Marty Carter also played big, recording 10 tackles and forcing the Young fumble. "Being at middle linebacker, I can go coast to coast, East and West," McCants said. "I guess it's a God-given talent and the thing is, I'm doing it at 262 pounds. If I could lose 10 or 15 more I'd be that much quicker and faster. I want to make plays, not just sacks. If you put a guy in one corner, they can put two guys up against him and it gets frustrating. The first four games I was getting pressure, but I wasn't doing what I wanted to do. I went into a big depression and it was a situation that hurt me and hurt the team. I'm sorry for it." Also apologetic was Reynolds, who leads the league in passes defensed and did an admirable job on Rice. But Young feathered two perfect passes with Reynolds draped over Rice in the end zone. "They threw the ball well," Reynolds said. "I thought the first one was perfect and where it was thrown I was in no position to make a play. On the second one, I was right there and I tried to break it up but he has such strong hands and managed to hang onto the ball." Wyche, who talked proudly of his team's future like an expectant father following Saturday's loss, tried to put things in perspective for Reynolds. "They took a lot of shots against us downfield today," Wyche said. "The guys on both ends of the ball, the guy throwing it (Young) and catching it (Rice) and the guy on the sideline getting ready to go in (Joe Montana) will probably all be in the Hall of Fame." On Saturday, Montana was back in uniform but remained on the sidelines. As it turned out, the 49ers didn't need him and did what they had to do to get past the Bucs. "It was a tough game for them," Wyche said. "It was tough for them to play a team like ours because we don't have a good record and of the way we lost a week ago. I think maybe we've broken into a trot. You've got to learn to crawl before you can walk and the guys have a little pride in being a Tampa Bay Buc today."