TAMPA - The offense had finally awakened, the crowd was roaring and the momentum was going their way.
All the Bucs had to do in the final two minutes Sunday was what they'd been doing, and what they usually do best: Stop the Saints one final time and let their offense find a way to add on the winning points.
But a day that otherwise seemed a lot like old times didn't have a happy ending.
This time, the defense didn't hold.
And this time, the Bucs didn't win.
"We met the challenge every time but the last drive, and that's a shame," defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin said.
"I love those kind of games. You come back, the crowd's going nuts, no one's leaving early. I'm so fired up. We're kicking off and, ah, shoot. Gosh darn it. This is a tough business. It's a friggin' roller-coaster. Gosh dang it. ... We've been so close this year."
The lingering question was whether the Saints made the plays or the Bucs failed to.
On one side of the Bucs locker room, Warren Sapp insisted it was the former.
"We went through the whole first half of the game almost sleepwalking on offense and gave up two plays on defense and we're down 7-0, it's really not going to kill us," Sapp said. "We fought our way back into it and then they made a couple plays at the end of the game and got us again. They really executed down the stretch when they needed to."
But in the opposite corner, Derrick Brooks admitted it probably was the latter:
"We didn't make our plays when we had the opportunity to make our plays," Brooks said. "For whatever reason."
In the middle of the room, Simeon Rice took the middle ground.
"I have no idea what happened," he said. "They won the game. Period. Point blank."
In the first 58 minutes, the injury-depleted Bucs allowed the Saints 214 yards, 75 of that on two plays. The first New Orleans touchdown came one play after a Brad Johnson interception; the second was an interception return.
So when the Bucs tied the score at 14 and the Saints took over on their 28 with two minutes to play, the script looked familiar. Another stop, a quick three-and-out and the Bucs would be in good shape for a winning drive, having decent field position and all three timeouts.
"We just needed to make a stop there and get the ball back," Kiffin said.
A couple of short passes set up third and 1 at the 37 that turned out to be the biggest play of the game.
The Bucs were in a bump-and-run coverage, their defensive backs up tight on the line. Still, New Orleans quarterback Aaron Brooks hit Michael Lewis on a slant pattern, and the 17-yard gain was a huge one.
"It was probably the best ball he threw all day," Kiffin said. "He drilled it in there. We were right on the guy. It was a great throw and a heck of a catch. If that's incomplete, we get the ball back."
Instead, the Saints were in Bucs territory at the 46, but there was only 1:03 left and their kicker, John Carney, had missed a 39-yard field goal on their last possession.
On second and 8, Kiffin sent Derrick Brooks on a blitz, but Aaron Brooks got rid of the ball just in time, hitting tight end Boo Williams in the flat for what turned into a 13-yard gain.
"We'd gotten him earlier on it," Kiffin said. "Derrick's bearing right down on him, coming up the left side scot-free, and Aaron Brooks did a great job on that one."
A short run and an incomplete pass left the ball on the Bucs 29-yard line, and Carney knocked the 47-yard field goal through.
"It's disappointing, very disappointing," Kiffin said. "We answered the bell, but the big one we needed at the end, we couldn't finish at the end."
