TAMPA - Funny thing about reunions, they often go late into the night.
Tony Dungy finally returned to Raymond James Stadium on Monday night. And from the looks of things, he didn't want to leave.
The Bucs blew a three-touchdown lead in the final five minutes and found it hard to say goodbye to their former coach.
Behind quarterback Peyton Manning, the Colts scored all of their points in the second half, including three touchdowns during the final five minutes, sending the game into overtime on Ricky Williams' 1-yard run with 38 seconds left.
Mike Vanderjagt kicked a 29-yard field goal with 3:47 left in overtime to give Dungy and the Colts a 38-35 victory.
The winning kick, which deflected off the right upright, came one play after Vanderjagt missed a 40-yarder but was awarded another chance when defensive end Simeon Rice was penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct.
Replays indicated Rice jumped straight up in an attempt to block the kick. But officials called Rice for illegally leaping.
"The explanation we got was (Rice) jumped and landed on several players, and that's an illegal act," Bucs coach Jon Gruden said. "I can't imagine a call being made in that situation. For a game to be impacted on a call like that, I'm disappointed, obviously, and we'll look into that."
Referee Johnny Grier said, "Leaping is a player starting more than 1 yard off the line of scrimmage and running forward and landing on players."
Rice said he did nothing wrong.
"It was a bad call," Rice said. "I jumped up to block it and came down on my feet. It was as simple as that. Things went their way. That's how we live, week to week, minute to minute. What are you going to do about it?
"It was the wrong call. But we should've never been in that position. It wouldn't have mattered."
The victory was sweet for Dungy, who was fired after taking the Bucs to four playoff appearances in six seasons.
"It's not very often you come back to score 35 points in a half," Dungy said. "We did that, and that's the good news. The bad news is ... we had a little bit of stage fright and did some uncharacteristic things.
"When you fight against guys you've gone to war with, it's a tough situation."
The Bucs won the coin flip and took the ball first in overtime, driving to the Indianapolis 41. But they could get no farther despite benefitting from a running into the punter penalty.
Manning took over at the Colts 13 and drove the Colts to the Bucs 22, completing third-down passes to Reggie Wayne, Marvin Harrison and Troy Walters.
Of course, it never should have come to overtime.
Manning engineered a comeback the likes that has never been seen against the NFL's No. 1 defense.
A 90-yard kickoff return by Brad Pyatt set up a 3-yard touchdown run by James Mungro. Colts' defensive back Idrees Bashir recovered the ensuing onside kick, setting up Manning's 28-yard touchdown pass to Harrison with 2:29 left to cut the lead to a touchdown.
All the Bucs needed to do was pick up a few first downs and kill the clock. But Keyshawn Johnson was sidelined with a leg bruise, and running back Michael Pittman was out because of cramps.
When Manning got the ball back, he continued to have the hot hand. After a roughing-the-passer penalty on Warren Sapp, Manning hit Harrison for a 52-yard completion. Two plays later, Williams tied the score with a 1-yard run with 38 seconds left.
Martin Gramatica attempted a 62-yard field goal on the final play of regulation, but it was blocked.
Quarterback Brad Johnson threw three touchdowns, two to Keenan McCardell. The Bucs receiver added a 57-yard return of a fumble recovery for a touchdown.
Two of McCardell's touchdowns came during the first half to help the Bucs build a 21-0 lead.
McCardell's 74-yard touchdown reception, the longest of his career, came barely five minutes into the game. A few minutes later, he recovered a fumble by Colts safety Mike Doss during an interception return and raced to the end zone.
The Colts entered Raymond James Stadium with the league's hottest offense, having blasted New Orleans 55-10 on six touchdown passes by Manning.
But Tampa Bay boasted the league's top pass defense and limited Manning to 66 yards passing in the first half.
On McCardell's first touchdown, Johnson held the ball for what seemed like a minute, releasing it just as he was sandwiched by Colts defensive linemen Josh Williams and Larry Triplett.
With both Colts safeties jumping on outside routes, McCardell was left alone to work the middle of the field against linebacker Rob Morris. McCardell slowed down for a second then turned on the jets, separating from Morris at the Tampa Bay 43.
Johnson put plenty of air under his pass and gave McCardell a chance to run under it. Five minutes later, McCardell was in the end zone again.
But even when things went right for the Colts, they went wrong.
Johnson badly overthrew tight end Ken Dilger and was intercepted by Doss. But center John Wade punched the ball out of Moss' hands.
McCardell scooped up the bouncing ball at the Tampa Bay 43 and returned it 57 yards for his second touchdown with 10:05 gone in the first quarter.
McCardell gave the Bucs some breathing room when he tightroped the end zone on his third touchdown, a 15-yarder with 1:14 left in the third quarter.
Click for
