TAMPA - In virtually every plot of every kung fu movie, the venerable Shaolin monk must fight his pupil and, typically, lose.
All the knowledge, all the experience, all the tricks of the trade are commonly Passed from teacher to student, who ultimately prevails.
The master loses to his pupil. Isn't that how it's supposed to be?
So Monday night, in a prime-time drama played before a national audience, the Bucs defense waged a classic struggle that, at first, would have made Bruce Lee proud.
Until a remarkable fourth-quarter collapse.
The defending Super Bowl champions gave up four fourth-quarter touchdowns to the Colts, including a tying 1-yard score by Ricky Williams with 35 seconds left in regulation to tarnish what had been a special performance.
They did little to stop the Colts in overtime as Indianapolis marched for the winning field goal.
The collapse left the Bucs searching for answers.
"We've got to finish them off in that situation, and we didn't," safety John Lynch said. "We had the opportunities and we didn't. It's a lack of poise. There are no excuses.
"We were off-kilter a little bit, and I don't know why. For whatever reason, we didn't play smart football; we didn't have the killer instinct to finish them off when we had them. When you've got somebody down, you've got to finish them off, and we didn't get that done."
Against an offense that ravaged the Saints last week, against a quarterback who threw six touchdowns and had a perfect rating, against an unbeaten team , Tampa Bay's defense bent, bent some more and finally broke.
"I really can't say until I watch the film, but they got hot, and we were unable to make any plays," defensive tackle Anthony McFarland said. "They made the plays in the fourth quarter, and we (the defense) didn't."
Quarterback Peyton Manning threw a 37-yard touchdown to Marvin Harrison in the third quarter to narrow the Bucs lead to two touchdowns. The Colts added a 1-yard Ricky Williams score early in the fourth quarter to keep Indianapolis in contention and then found a way to score three more times.
But the Bucs defense, perhaps inspired by former Bucs coach Tony Dungy on the other sideline, had seemed to have control of the game at the beginning .
Tampa Bay's defense had led the NFL, surrendering 22 points (7.3 per game) through three contests.
Early, it looked like nothing would change. Through three quarters they held the Colts to 193 total yards, only 1-of-7 on third downs and then appeared to seal the issue when Ronde Barber returned a Manning interception 29 yards for a fourth-quarter touchdown.
Meanwhile, Dungy's surging Colts were having trouble keeping the Bucs out of the end zone. Tampa Bay ran up 367 yards of offense through the first three quarters.
Then came the unbelievable plot twist. The Colts turned to All Pro receiver Marvin Harrison, took advantage of second-year cornerback Tim Wansley and ravaged the league's best defense. The Colts amassed 193 yards in the fourth quarter, then kicked a 29-yard field goal to win in overtime.
"They simply stepped up and met the challenge," Bucs defensive end Simeon Rice said. "There's not much more you can say about that."
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