Southern comfort

Bucs win the NFC South thanks to the Bengals upsetting the Saints, but tonight's game remains critical in the fight for homefield through the playoffs.

By RICK STROUD, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published December 23, 2002

TAMPA -- It was the NFL's worst that made a first possible for the Buccaneers.

Tampa Bay won the first NFC South title when the lowly Bengals shocked the Saints 20-13 Sunday at Paul Brown Stadium.

It's only the fourth division title in club history for the Bucs, who won the NFC Central in 1979, '81 and '99, and guarantees at least a wild-card game at Raymond James Stadium.

"It's a credit to the coaching staff and the players," general manager Rich McKay said. "In a year in which we underwent a pretty significant change, they were able to pick right up where we left off last year and even improve upon it by winning the championship. It's not easily done.

"Jon Gruden and his staff deserve a lot of credit for that, as do the players who had to adopt a new approach and some new schemes on offense. To win only the fourth division title ever is impressive."

Of course, the Bucs still have their eyes on a larger prize, beginning with tonight's game against the Steelers.

Tampa Bay, expected to start backup Shaun King at quarterback after injured starter Brad Johnson took a minimal number of snaps last week because of a lower back contusion, can secure a first-round bye and at least a No. 2 seed in the NFC playoffs with a win tonight and against the Bears on Sunday in Champaign, Ill. Tampa Bay had other games go its way Sunday.

The Giants upset the Colts 44-27, meaning New York can clinch a playoff spot with a win over Philadelphia on Saturday at Giants Stadium.

"We wanted them to have a reason to play," McKay said. "Now it means (the Giants) control their destiny."

An Eagles loss coupled with Bucs victories over the Steelers and Bears would give Tampa Bay a first-round bye and homefield advantage throughout the playoffs.

The Bucs entered Sunday assuming they needed one more victory to secure a division title.

They never expected the 2-13 Bengals, who had not beaten an established team all season and hadn't won a game at home, to upset the Saints. Cincinnati fell behind 13-7, but for the second straight week, the Saints blew a game in the fourth quarter against a last-place team.

The Vikings denied New Orleans a chance to clinch on their homefield on Dec. 15 when quarterback Daunte Culpepper ran for a touchdown and two-point conversion with five seconds left.

Sunday, the Bengals' Nick Luchey, who changed his name from Nick Williams in September and hadn't carried the ball all season, carried eight times for 52 yards and caught one pass during the winning drive, scoring his second TD on a 3-yard run with 1:46 to go.

"I'm not surprised," McKay said. "I've always said it's hard to go on the road any time, but I think it even gets harder later in the season. You're a little fatigued and the road trips are a little harder to take.

"The hard thing about Cincinnati, if you don't knock them out early, they gain confidence."

Bucs players were low key checking into their team hotel at the Marriott Waterside on Sunday night. They exchanged congratulations but took a businesslike approach into their team meeting.

"This is the first division title that I've won since 1998 (with the Jets), so it's extremely exciting," receiver Keyshawn Johnson said.

"I think there's a lot more work to be done, including (tonight's) game against Pittsburgh to continue our quest to get to the Super Bowl."

Few expected the NFC South race to be undecided in Week 16. The Bucs were declared champions of realignment, having escaped the Packers, Vikings, Bears and Lions of the NFC Central for what was considered a much less-competitive division.

Instead, the South morphed into a round-robin slugfest with blossoming stars like Atlanta's Michael Vick and his cousin, New Orleans quarterback Aaron Brooks. The Saints beat the Bucs twice, the Falcons beat the Saints twice, the Bucs beat the Falcons twice and everyone seemed to beat Carolina twice.

"You distinguish yourselves in the conference. We've already got some distinction winning 11 games," Gruden said. "That hasn't happened around here a great deal. But we've got some players around here that have really played well, to win a division title and hopefully keep ourselves in the hunt for a good format in the postseason means a great deal.

"These guys are good players. They've been to the playoffs. I'm real excited to be here with these guys. I'm proud of them. We've had a lot of injuries, honestly, with (Anthony) McFarland out and (John) Lynch missing a game. I'm really proud of the number of players that have stepped up, bought in and given me a chance to come in here as a new coach and implement something that's a little bit different. But I still think Tony Dungy did a great job here, we all realize that."

Gruden's greatest contribution was his ability to make the Bucs a more balanced team. He raised the level of expectations on offense, upgraded personnel and and implemented an effective system. He also raised the bar on defense, increasing the competition in training camp and practice. The result is the No. 1 defense in the NFL -- a lofty perch not enjoyed since 1979 -- with 31 turnovers.

"With this, Jon's the brow-beater on both sides," defensive tackle Warren Sapp said. " 'Come on Brooks! Come on Sapp! What have you got?' We all kind of perked up to that and kind went, okay, let's see what it's about. Because it took us a while to buy into Tony's system and then we went 5-0. Let's buy right into Jon's and see if we can go where we need to go.

"We jumped right in and said here's a man that's been there, let's go. Because this window is going to close on us a some point. It's going to close."

But after Sunday, after getting help from the Bengals, almost anything seems possible.

"It's a tremendous accomplishment, considering it ended up being one of the toughest divisions in the NFL," Lynch said.

"But saying that, this is not where our goal ends. We still have a lot of work to do."