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GARY SHELTONThe Bucs are the Joe D of their day when it comes to sacks, just ask most QBs.
For years we have struggled for just the right metaphor when it comes to the pass rush of the Tampa Bay Bucs.
Let's see. They are Huns at the gate, right? Or they were lions on the hunt. Or they were sharks in the water.
Every week, every game we have tried to find something nasty enough, vicious enough, forceful enough to capture their ferocity. It had to be something punishing, something predatory. Fangs have been mentioned.
Finally, we have it.
As it turns out, the Bucs are ... Joe DiMaggio at the plate.
Welcome to The Streak, where the rush-happy Bucs are doing some jolting of their own.
For a long time you have known how reckless the pass rush of the Bucs can be. Only now are we starting to realize how relentless it is. It isn't just the chaos, it's the consistency.
Every play.
Every game.
Every season.
It's the most impressive feat you've barely heard of. For 63 regular-season games in a row, five short of the NFL record (Dallas, 1976-80), the Bucs have gotten to the quarterback. They have chased opposing passers over four seasons, in day games and night games, in the cold, on the road and, eventually, they have caught him. Brett Favre. Daunte Culpepper. Donovan McNabb. All of them.
In all, the Bucs have compiled 182 sacks over that period, with 26 different players taking turns. Thirteen defensive linemen. Seven linebackers. Six defensive backs.
Thirty-nine quarterbacks. Peyton Manning, should the Bucs get to him, would be No. 40.
"The hardest thing in this business is consistency," Bucs general manager Rich McKay said. "It's extremely difficult, especially when you consider some of the quarterbacks we've been playing against, players like Favre and Culpepper, players who aren't easy to bring down."
If a defense has a calling card, the sack isn't a bad one to have. It's a punishing weapon for a defense, one that strips away both down and distance, and it's almost guaranteed to stop an opponent's drive. It turns first and 10 into second and 17, and it turns second and almost anything into third and more than 10.
"When you have third and more than 10," coach Jon Gruden said, "you might as well buy a lottery ticket."
In other words, it's hard for a quarterback to throw with a defensive tackle sitting on top of him.
"It's the most devastating play in football," said defensive tackle Warren Sapp, who leads with 38.5 sacks over The Streak.
Sacks never have been more difficult to obtain. Quarterbacks are more mobile. Offensive linemen can use their heads. The head slap has been outlawed. And quarterbacks can throw the ball away any time they escape the pocket.
Despite all of that, the last time the Bucs failed to get a sack was Oct. 3, 1999, against Minnesota. Going into that game, the Bucs had a 16-game streak - which means they've had a sack in 79 of their past 80 games - but had to play the Vikings without Sapp, Booger McFarland or Steve White, none of whom dressed for the game.
That day, the Bucs fell behind 21-0. Three times they were close to sacks - they had two roughing-the-passer penalties and flushed Randall Cunningham out of the pocket on a 3-yard run - but didn't get a sack.
The next week, The Streak began against Green Bay and Favre. Of course it did. During The Streak, the Bucs have sacked Favre 12 times, the most of any quarterback. Sapp played with a broken hand; he still managed two of the five sacks.
In the ninth game of The Streak, Brad Culpepper chased the Lions' Charlie Batch out of the end zone for a safety. The Bucs won.
In the 11th game, Marcus Jones preserved The Streak by bringing down Favre with 4:37 to play. It was the Bucs' only sack of the game. Fourteen times during The Streak, the Bucs have been held to one sack.
In the 14th game, Ronde Barber had 2.5 sacks. He's a cornerback, you know.
In the 16th game, Chidi Ahanotu's fourth-quarter sack of the Jets' Vinny Testaverde kept the streak alive on a sloppy turf where the footing was bad.
In the 19th game, Jones sacked Batch four times. Still, the Bucs lost.
In the 21st game, the Bucs knocked the Falcons' Chris Chandler from the game with a concussion after a sack. Danny Kanell came in. The Bucs sacked him, too.
In the 27th game, Sapp split a double-team and body-slammed Kurt Warner to the turf, all but settling a narrow win over the Rams.
In the 31st game, McFarland helped with a goal-line stand by sacking Favre on first down as the Bucs held off the Packers. It was the Bucs' only sack and came with 25 seconds left in the game. It was the closest the Bucs have come to having The Streak end.
In the 51st game, Simeon Rice sneaked around the Eagles' McNabb and slapped the ball from his hands, and teammate Derrick Brooks picked it up and ran it in. The Bucs lost, but Rice would repeat the play the next two games he played against McNabb.
In the 56th game, Rice completed a stretch of five games with two sacks or more, an NFL record.
In the 57th game, McKay questioned an official for not ruling John Howell's tackle of the Falcons' Michael Vick a sack. McKay argued the linemen had not gone downfield to block, indicating Vick intended to pass. It didn't matter. Greg Spires later sacked Vick.
In the 63rd game, two weeks ago against Atlanta, the Bucs' only sack of Doug Johnson had been negated by a face-mask penalty as the second half began. Sapp noticed.
"I was yelling that we needed to get that guy on the ground," he said. "We're well aware of where we are. It's almost unprecedented."
Not long afterward, Rice bulled through an opponent, despite being held, and sacked Johnson. Rice has 3.5 sacks on the season and 30 since the beginning of the 2001 season.
Almost. The nearest active competitor to the Bucs are the New York Giants, who have 18 games in a row.
Eighteen.
"The thing that strikes me is how many big sacks we've had," said safety John Lynch, who has had a good view of most of them. "There are people who hit home runs with the bases empty and people who hit home runs when there are two men on base. We've had a lot of the latter.
"There's a lot of mano-a-mano in that streak. There is a lot of Sapp splitting double-teams, a lot of Rice getting past a tackle and a chip block, a lot of Ronde taking on an offensive tackle. It's impressive."
How impressive? Consider during The Streak:
The Bucs have had four of the top individual five sack seasons of their history.
There have been 25 opposing teams.
There have been 42 victories.
"I would have thought a record like this would have gone to some team that blitzed a lot more than we do," McKay said. "We're not a team that lives by the sack and dies by the sack."
How long does it continue? Who knows? Eventually, someone gave DiMaggio the collar, too. Streaks don't last forever.
On the other hand, maybe the Bucs aren't DiMaggio. Maybe they're Cal Ripken. His streak was 2,632 games.
To break that record, the Bucs would have to get a sack every game between now and the year 2163.
That sounds about right, doesn't it?