The Best Buccaneer Team An interesting current feature on this site is the computer game simulation attempting to establish which is the best of all Buccaneer teams, though the result may be a little flawed as it involves all the Buc teams playing each other rather than the rest of the league. I mean how on earth did any of Leeman Bennett's teams ever win seven games? I thought I'd weigh in with my own opinion as to the best team I saw and make a case for it accordingly. Having followed the Bucs since 1982, and really closely since 1984 onwards, this severely narrows the list of potential nominees down to about four squads. The natural temptation is to go for the Superbowl winning squad as they of course won it all, but my humble and maybe romantic selection would be for the 1999 team as the best Bucs I have seen, and maybe still the proudest any Buc squad has left me after a season. Five things I think 1. If the Bills are looking for a second round pick for Travis Henry, then the quicker we do that deal the better and swiftly solve one of the many problems with our roster. 2. If, as rumoured, Paul Hackett joins our offensive staff this off-season, we can most definitely look for a hell of a lot more runs on first and second down next season. Offenses with Hackett's influence always have a back who goes for 1,200 yards plus on a season. As we currently don't have anyone capable of such numbers on our roster, the least we can expect is a trade for Henry, a marquee free agent (Shaun Alexander or Edgerrin James) or a high draftee to finally give us some oomph in the running game. 3. Play-Offs watch - a Dr Z like 2 out of 4 correct last weekend, so I'd better get them both right this week to save any face. The Steelers will turn it up a notch this week and make the big one, and the Vick led Falcons will once more send the Eagles crying into the off season. Unlike the Panthers, I have no particular axe to grind with Atlanta, and in Rich McKay and Warrick Dunn they have 2 of the classiest guys in the NFL who have both had great parts to play in our recent success - I wish them both well on Sunday. 4. Did I hear right? Did Jon Gruden actually go on holiday for a couple of weeks? It might do the gut good to chill out for a while, and I figure the famed alarm clock was moved from 3.17 to snooze for the occasion. 5. Glad to see Steve Iles with his own page on this site and his devotion to the Bucs is admirable. Naturally the fact that he hails from Weston-Super-Mare and now lives in the States makes it a given that he would also be a Man United fan. Granted they started 3-4 (didn't most of Tony Dungy's teams?) but they roared back to come within one play of the Superbowl, playing some of the downright scariest defense the NFL had ever seen. Like Paul, I agree that if we'd had anybody with a decent arm playing quarterback in the play-offs, then we'd have won it all. What really hooked me was the way the team played defense with such an attacking philosophy. In 20 years of watching football I have only ever seen two such defenses, the 1985 Chicago Bears and 1999 Bucs - please don't try to compare either of those to the Ravens team that won the Superbowl as they played like that for about a dozen games, whereas the Bears and Bucs maintained a level of excellence over a longer period, rather than being flash in the pan stories. The Divisional round of the play-offs gave us a match-up with the Redskins, and though our offense played one quarter of football, we finished up snatching a 14-13 verdict in a game that for the first 45 minutes we had no right to win. The resultant NFC Championship clash with the all conquering St Louis Rams offense was this team's defining moment, with League MVP Kurt Warner, Marshall Faulk, Torry Holt and Isaac Bruce in their pomp who had literally torn up the NFL that season. The game opened the classic debate of great offense versus great defense, and many experts figured we'd give up 20+ points on the day. Yet despite playing on the Rams home Astroturf speed track, and enduring another day of limited offensive support, the Bucs defense rose magnificently to restrict the League's number one offense to 11 measly points. I will never forget the effort those guys gave that day; if you've seen the NFL Films tape of that game, as a Bucs fan it is impossible not to get goose bumps when you hear John Lynch barking at Isaac Bruce "How many catches you got Ike?" or Hardy Nickerson screaming at his colleagues for more effort and yelling "This is our destiny." We lost that game purely on the basis of appalling offensive play calling and a limited play book, which led to Shaun King rarely attempting a pass longer than 5-10 yards. If you limit any team to 11 points on their home turf you should be winning but we unfortunately fell short, though the referees ruling on Bert Emanuel's catch on our final drive still hurts to this day. Granted they weren't the most complete team, but the 1999 squad seemed to find ways to win when none existed and I'd take them in the trenches against any of the other Bucs squads, so even though it's over five years ago I still take my hats off to messrs Sapp, White, Brooks, Nickerson, Barber, Lynch, Abraham and Robinson for the effort they gave, the level they reached and the legacy they left. Memories such as these only serve to highlight how good we had things then, and how far we have fallen in the last two seasons. The word is pride Mr Gruden, and it's high time we got some of it back.