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Don Banks, The St.Petersburg Times, published 19 December 1994
The community can drape itself in orange. County commissioners can pass resolutions until they pass out. But these days it's the guys who made the color famous, or infamous, who are putting up the strongest fight to stay in Tampa Bay.
The Bucs, determined to see continuity win out, took another big step Sunday toward winning out the 1994 season, posting a 17-14 comeback victory over the sad-sack Washington Redskins at RFK Stadium. Tampa Bay, which trailed 14-10 entering the final quarter, scored the game-winner on a 3-yard Errict Rhett run with 7:02 remaining.
In downing the Redskins for the second time in three weeks, the Bucs won their fourth straight game, the second-best streak in franchise history. Only in 1979, Tampa Bay's watershed season, were the Bucs any hotter, starting with a team-record five-game winning streak.
Tampa Bay at Washington, played before 47,315, may have been the NFL's only game without playoff implications this weekend, but it had implications, Bucs coach Sam Wyche said.
"I think this game was crucial, this victory was crucial to the course of this franchise's future," said Wyche, who quickly explained his apparent overstatement. "And what I mean by that, I think this generates enthusiasm locally. I think it gives some credence to the logic that the team maybe should keep this group together.
Whereas had we not won this ballgame, had we played just as well, and maybe they picked one off and run it back for a touchdown at the end, that logic wouldn't hold up."
What has held up another week is the notion that the Bucs just might run the table this season, finishing with five straight victories after a horrendous 2-9 start. In improving to 6-9, Tampa Bay established a new high for victories in the Wyche era - topping the 5-11 records of his first two seasons - and assured its best finish since 1990's 6-10. And for the fourth straight week (this statistic is getting old, we realize), the Bucs avoided their league-record 12th straight double-digit loss season and Wyche's 100th NFL career loss (including playoffs).
"This ballclub wasn't going to let that (10 losses) happen," Wyche said. "They've got one more week to hold it off. But we're there now. The team feels good about itself. They're in there chanting `Super Bowl.' But there'd have to be a whale of a couple car wrecks or something (for that to happen). The elimination process would have to take a big swing in our favor. But I like the feeling and I think they like the feeling, and I think it will carry on regardless of the future of this team."
Whereas last week's win over the Rams came in a game billed as the "Relocation Bowl," this one was played out on a brilliant, 50-degree day in the nation's capital. Which is, of course, about 45 minutes southwest of Baltimore, the city most fervent in its interest in relocating the Bucs.
Tampa Bay's immediate future, however, is a season-ending home game with Green Bay on Saturday. The Packers (8-7), who rallied to beat Atlanta 21-17 Sunday, still could win the NFC Central and at the very least a wild-card spot. The Bucs have designs on finishing with the third-most wins in the team's 19 seasons.
"I hope they have to win," Wyche said, "because that will be our little mini-playoff game. And our guys will play it that way. I just hope Saturday's game is a packed house."
Against the Redskins (2-13), the Bucs were again far from perfect but good enough to win. The best day was turned in by receiver Lawrence Dawsey, who had season highs in both catches (seven) and yards (116). Dawsey's biggest grab was an 8-yarder that immediately preceded Rhett's game-winning 3-yard run.
Dawsey, who missed the season's first six games after off-season knee surgery, also set up the Bucs' first touchdown - a 1-yard second-quarter Rhett run - with a 46-yard reception. "This is a great feeling," Dawsey said. "It feels like I'm in college again, at FSU, where you're expected to win. That's the great feeling that's around in the locker room."
Despite his two touchdowns, his team-leading sixth and seventh, Rhett couldn't repeat his huge success of two weeks ago against Washington. In that game, a 26-21 Bucs win, the rookie tailback had his breakthrough game with 192 yards on 40 carries. But with the Redskins jamming eight men at the line of scrimmage most of the day in an attempt to key on him, Rhett settled for 64 hard-earned yards on 23 carries. He enters the Packers game needing 43 yards to become the fourth Bucs running back to gain 1,000.
"They packed everybody up there," Rhett said. "It was very difficult to run. They did a good job stopping me today. It just feels good to win. We're on a roll now."
Tampa Bay did a pretty good job of run defense itself. Two weeks ago, the Bucs held Washington to 10 yards on 12 carries, a franchise-low for both teams. Washington gained 73 yards on 23 attempts this time - the fourth straight game Tampa Bay has held an opponent under 100.
Repeating a pattern set in last week's win over the Rams, Sunday's game was scoreless in the first and third quarters, but squeezed plenty of action into the second and fourth.
The Redskins, who went winless at home (0-8) for the first time, struck first when quarterback Heath Shuler found Ricky Ervins for a 15-yard touchdown pass on the second quarter's second play. The score was set up by the first of two Craig Erickson (19-of-34 for 267 yards) interceptions, this one by linebacker Tyronne Stowe at the Bucs' 38.
Tampa Bay answered with a 43-yard march, capping it with a 42-yard Michael Husted field goal. (It was Husted's only highlight; he went on to miss from 46 and 38 yards.)
After a Redskins punt, the Bucs took their first lead at 10-7 on Rhett's 1-yarder. But Washington came right back before the half, scoring on an 8-yard Shuler-to-Henry Ellard pass with 32 seconds remaining. Washington had two chances to add to its lead in the third quarter, but Ellard dropped a sure-touchdown bomb deep inside Bucs territory, and kicker Chip Lohmiller later sent a 44-yard field-goal try wide right. The Bucs' best drive that quarter ended when Dawsey bobbled an easy pass at the Redskins' 31, allowing cornerback Alan Grant an even easier interception.
Tampa Bay, however, got the big play it needed when specialist Vernon Turner reeled off a 37-yard return of a Reggie Roby punt with 9:44 to go. That gave Tampa Bay a first down at the Redskins' 28, and the Bucs needed just five plays to score the touchdown. Husted could have helped ice the game with 1:56 remaining, but missed from 38 yards.
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