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Bucs

Altered states

The Bucs have unseated the Dolphins for state supremacy. Here are seven events that led to this reversal of fortune.

By GARY SHELTON
Published October 16, 2005

The moment passed quietly. No one thought to call timeout and give Malcolm Glazer the ball.

No one thought to write down the date. No one bothered to check the time.

So when, exactly, did the Bucs replace the Miami Dolphins as the preeminent pro football team in the state?

Somebody should have noticed. Somebody should have taken a picture. One minute, one team was trying to relive the past and the other was trying desperately to run from it. Next thing you know, the two were running around in each other's pants.

The same thing happened to the prince. Also, the pauper.

There was a time, of course, when no one would confuse the Dolphins with the Bucs. Through the mid '90s, the Dolphins won two games for every one of the Bucs. Speaking nautically, the Dolphins were a yacht and the Bucs, of course, were a little dinghy.

	1. Glazer buys the team		2. 1-2 draft of Sapp, Brooks
	3. Better off with TD than JJ		4. Big win No. 1 over 'Skins, Frerotte
	5. King-size playoff win vs. Redskins		6. Bucs win Super Bowl XXXVII
	7. Williams goes up in smoke for Fins

The Dolphins were the franchise of Don Shula and Larry Csonka, of Dan Marino and Nick Buoniconti. The Bucs were the franchise of Ray Perkins and Lars Tate, of Jack Thompson and Booker Reese. The Dolphins went an entire season without losing; the Bucs went an entire season without winning. The Dolphins had a no-name defense. The Bucs had a good-idea-to-execute offense.

You know who the Bucs were? They were Oklahoma State. They were Michigan State and Auburn and Texas A&M, one of those in-the-shadows schools that is weary of hearing about the history of its well-heeled rival from across the state. Consider: The Dolphins played in three Super Bowls, and won two, before the Bucs were born. In the Bucs' first 21 seasons, they never had a better record than the Dolphins in any of them.

Until recently, do you know what Tampa Bay fans felt about the Dolphins? A bit of envy, perhaps. A measure of respect. A bit of affinity.

Until recently, do you know what Miami fans felt about the Bucs? Nothing. It was as if Tampa Bay was barely in the league.

In one of those mysteries of history, the last decade has been different. The Bucs won a Super Bowl and reached the conference championship game twice. The Dolphins have been to neither. In fact, Miami has not won a playoff game this millennium. The Bucs have had 48 Pro Bowl players since '96; the Dolphins have had 27.

It should be pointed out, of course, the Bucs have not exactly been the standard of the NFL the past two years, either. But the Dolphins seem to be operating under the Bucs' old laugh track. It was their coach, Dave Wannstedt, who resigned after nine games last season, and their star running back, Ricky Williams, who disappeared in a cloud of smoke and their Hall of Fame quarterback, Marino, who spent 15 minutes as a team vice president.

Today, when the teams play at RayJay, seems as good a time as any to wonder when everything changed.

Seven days of suspects:

JAN. 26, 1995: Glazer buys the Bucs. Considering the payrolls of former owner Hugh Culverhouse, who died five months earlier, it was a significant afternoon.

APRIL 23, 1995: This was the day the draft finally began to work out for the Bucs. Tampa Bay traded down to pick Warren Sapp, then used the extra selection to move up and pick Derrick Brooks. After years of wasted drafts, it was the key moment in the Bucs' defenses to come.

The Dolphins? They picked Billy Milner and Andrew Greene. The Dolphins have struggled in drafts since.

As a result, the Dolphins have not been to a conference championship game in more than 10 years, have not reached the Super Bowl in more than 20 and have not won a Super Bowl in more than 30.

JAN. 11, 1996: Both the Dolphins and the Bucs wanted to hire Jimmy Johnson as coach. As it turns out, Johnson picked the wrong prom date.

Johnson was offered more money with the Bucs, where he would have had more young talent, more draft picks and more salary-cap room. But Johnson was concerned about the possibility of the Bucs leaving Tampa Bay (they didn't) and preferred coaching Marino (whom he didn't mesh with) to Trent Dilfer. Also, he preferred trying to fill Don Shula's shoes instead of Sam Wyche's.

As history will note: Oops.

"I picked with my heart instead of my head," Johnson said at the time.

Instead, the Bucs hired Tony Dungy, who turned the franchise around, 11 days later.

DEC. 8, 1996: The Dolphins, fading fast, lost a miserable game to an inferior Giants team. The same day, the Bucs, finally blooming, upset a pretty good Washington team. Perhaps it was a hint of things to come. The Redskins' quarterback that day? Gus Frerotte, who starts today for Miami.

JAN. 15, 2000: The Bucs won their most improbable game when quarterback Shaun King completed a blind pass to tight end John Davis to rally them from a 13-point deficit to a 14-13 victory over Washington and a berth in the NFC title game. The same day, the Dolphins were sandblasted by Jacksonville, losing 62-7 in a game that ended the careers of Johnson and Marino.

Again, 62-7.

JAN. 26, 2003: Tampa Bay won the Super Bowl 48-21. The Dolphins had the day off.

JULY 26, 2004: The Bucs announce that controversial defensive tackle Darrell Russell has tested positive for drugs again and will not be with the team. The Dolphins felt no sympathy. The day before, Ricky Williams announced he was quitting.

In some ways, that is the point. A lot of things have gone rotten for the Bucs, but lately, it seems like the Dolphins always have worse news.

Funny. It used to be the other way around.

[Last modified October 16, 2005, 09:49:36]