Brad Johnson holds his head in dejection on the Bucs bench.
ST. LOUIS - Penalties, penalties, penalties. They'll kill ya!
Sure, there is supposed to be some rust at the start of training camp. But gosh, wasn't this the third preseason game? Shouldn't some of that rust be flaking off?
Not when it came to penalties Monday night in the Bucs' 26-16 loss to the Rams at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis.
A series of costly Bucs penalties in the first two quarters helped the Rams jump out to a 16-0 halftime lead. The mishaps continued through the second half.
"We were uncharacteristically poor in the penalty game and in some of our details in the first half," coach Jon Gruden said.
And they came on both sides of the ball.
The starting offensive line, which played most of the first half, was penalized four times, helping keep the Bucs scoreless the first 30 minutes. Left tackle Roman Oben and right guard Cosey Coleman each had penalties.
"Every game is different," Oben said. "But at least those penalties can be corrected. We've made mistakes that can be corrected without even looking at the film. So, when you look at the film, you want to come out with a better outcome."
Left guard Kerry Jenkins had a particularly rough sequence. In the second quarter, Jenkins was flagged for holding, but the 10-yard penalty was declined as Stecker managed only 1 yard on the carry. Four plays later, Jenkins was flagged again for a false start. This time, the Rams accepted the 5-yard penalty and the Bucs were forced to punt two plays later.
"You can only shoot yourself in the foot so many times," Jenkins said. "Those number of penalties? You can't stand for that. If you do, the wheels start falling off. It hurts a lot. ... When you have penalties like that, we have to forget about them and move on to the next play."
The defensive line was not going to be outdone.
Trailing 10-0, the Bucs seemed to have their first turnover of the game as reserve safety Jermaine Phillips intercepted a deep pass from quarterback Marc Bulger and returned it 31 yards to the Bucs 41. But defensive end Ron Warner was flagged for roughing the passer and the Bucs were penalized 15 yards.
Warner made up for it late in the drive by sacking Bulger for a 9-yard loss, forcing the Rams to settle for a 23-yard field goal.
Rookie end Dewayne White later was flagged forunsportsmanlike conduct after hammering Rams running back Lamar Gordon to the turf 3 yards out of bounds.
Defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin said such a high number of penalties was something the coaching staff had warned the team about.
All told, the Bucs had eight penalties for 71 yards in the first half and finished the game with 12 penalties for 124 yards. By comparison, the Rams had six penalties for 30 yards.
"There are no excuses," Oben said. "Having an extra preseason game is like having an extra advantage for us. It's an advantage for the younger guys to get another game on film. So, we have to still look at everything optimistically. Any adversity you have losing a game or whatever, you have to build your character from it. See how much you are a true professional."
- Times staff writer Rick Stroud contributed to this report.
