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Rick Stroud, The St.Petersburg Times, published 3 January 2005
If you were looking for a beacon of hope, a drop of water in the desert, this was it for the Buccaneers. Needing 2 yards on fourth down then a touchdown to win the season finale against the Cardinals, they ran the perfect play. Rookie Michael Clayton broke free over the middle of the field. Second-year quarterback Chris Simms delivered the perfect pass to the Tampa Bay 35. There was nobody between Clayton and Scottsdale. But the Bucs' best offensive player let the football slip through his fingers. Good to the last drop.
On a day when the defense did not allow a touchdown, the Bucs lost 12-7 Sunday by turning the ball over four times and yielding four field goals to Neil Rackers. "It's just stunning, really," Jon Gruden said of Clayton's drop. "He's got great hands. He's had a great year. It's just unfortunate that that play had to happen. But it does kind of epitomize a lot of things that happened. "We had Earnest Graham ... 40 yards behind their team in a 12-7 game, and ... I'm flabbergasted by that. I'm stunned. But we'll be resilient, show some resolve. But we've missed short field goals. We've fumbled snaps. We've fumbled with leads with two minutes left in games. I hope they got it all out of their system this year. For the next 100 years, I hope they got a lot of this out of their system."
Gruden sounded crestfallen after finishing 5-11, the Bucs' worst record since 1993. The only solace to take from the loss to the Cardinals is it earned Tampa Bay the fifth overall pick in April's draft. "This was the bottom," receiver Joe Jurevicius said. "It was a dismal season, to say the least. There's no doubt it's a relief. I'm happy it's over. I can't lose anymore. I'm sick of losing. I've been fortunate to be on good football teams, and the last couple years have been very frustrating."
Everything that plagued the Bucs in 2004 was on display Sunday. False starts preceded their second and third plays ("I don't know if I was real positive or optimistic the rest of the day," Gruden said), and they committed three personal fouls during the first half. Trailing 6-0 with 4:09 left in the third, Simms turned it over at the Bucs 19 when Darnell Dockett recovered a fumbled snap. Simms also fumbled a third-down snap with the Bucs at the Seahawks 1 in Week 2, forcing them to settle for a field goal in a 10-6 loss.
And trailing 9-7 with 7:55 left, running back Michael Pittman lost his sixth fumble of the season at the Tampa Bay 14. "That's as bad as I've been associated with offensively," Gruden said. "Poor coaching by me. Unacceptable."
All last week, Gruden insisted quarterback Brian Griese would play after spraining ligaments in his right (plant) foot. But Saturday morning, Simms was told he would make his second start. Simms was 16-of-36 for 224 yards, lost a fumble, was intercepted twice, sacked four times and knocked down more on several other occasions. With 5:14 left, he missed a wide-open Graham for a potential touchdown by about 10 yards. "It's going to kill me all offseason because I got to the perfect audible and we were ready," Simms said. "I just tried to throw it a little before I had to. I had some guy coming up in my face, and I ended up throwing it too much."
Clayton's drop came after he set club rookie records for receptions (80) receiving yards (1,193) yards and touchdown catches (seven). He also accounted for the Bucs' only score. Clayton took a simple hitch route, cut inside and turned it into a 75-yard touchdown, stiff-arming cornerback Robert Tate, tightroping the sideline for the final 8 yards and reaching the ball over the goal line.
That gave the Bucs a 7-6 lead with 1:24 left in the third and came one play after Rackers missed a 35-yard field goal. The Bucs' lead didn't last long. The Cardinals drove 56 yards in 10 plays, setting up Rackers' third field goal, a 39-yarder with 11:07 left. "That's something that's going to haunt me in the offseason," Clayton said. "I had a great year. But to go out like that, it's just not me. Maybe I was thinking a little too fast. I never want to feel like that again."
The final 1:56 of the first half summarizes the Bucs' season. Safety Dwight Smith intercepted Josh McCown's pass intended for Larry Fitzgerald, returning it 13 yards to the Arizona 36. But safety Dexter Jackson, who was cut by Arizona earlier this season, backed Tampa Bay to its 49 after being penalized for taunting. Simms went to work, completing passes of 8 yards to Jurevicius, 12 to Joey Galloway and 7 to Jurevicius.
Then came the wackiest play of the season. On second and 3 from the Cardinals 24, Simms was hit by Karlos Dansby as he passed and was intercepted by Dockett. During his return, Dockett's helmet was ripped off by tackle Kenyatta Walker. Dockett continued downfield before the ball was punched free by Jurevicius. After rolling 37 yards, the football was recovered by Pittman at the Tampa Bay 17. Because of the face mask by Walker, though, the Cardinals retained possession. The turnover resulted in Rackers' second field goal, a 45-yarder three seconds before halftime.
Gruden, 8-8 in his first two seasons with Oakland and who had never experienced consecutive losing seasons, didn't sound too optimistic about the future after Sunday's loss. "I feel like I've let a lot of people down: players, coaches, fans, family members," he said. "I do like a lot of the things structurally when I look at the tape. I see options. I see potential. But potential is the worst word you can use in football. I believe in production and execution. Potential is for the birds."
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