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Bucs

6 feet just as much to blame for loss as one bad foot

By GARY SHELTON
Published November 28, 2005

TAMPA - Go ahead. Curse the foot.

While you're at it, curse the 6 feet, too.

The game being what it was, and blame being what it is, it is fairly easy to hang Matt Bryant by his own shoestrings today. Bryant missed a gimmie Sunday afternoon, clanking a point-blank field goal with 2:47 to go, and the Bucs lost a game and a grip on opportunity because of it.

Bryant missed a layup. He blew a short putt. He dropped the baton. Twenty-nine yards? A high school kicker could make that. A Punt, Pass & Kick contestant could make that. A Gramatica could make that.

Go ahead. Blame Bryant for 7 and 4.

While you're at it, feel free to grumble about third and 2.

Rewind to one play before the crime, and you will find the real culprit in the Bucs' 13-10 loss to the Chicago Bears on Sunday. It was then, on a little play called Spider 3, that the wonder went out of the Bucs' afternoon.

Third and 2, and all things were possible. Chris Simms was about to be the Comeback Kid, and the Bucs were about to be Team Destiny, and the playoffs were about to extend a bowl bid. Six feet, and Alex Brown no longer would have looked like the love child of Deacon Jones and Bill Russell. One play, and everyone would have decided that, upon further review, the Bears defense was really more like the team of '75, not '85.

Then the Bucs botched the third down.

Of course they did. With the Bucs, third down is where the botching generally is born.

For the Bucs, this is a problem that is bigger than a missed kick and more dangerous than a squandered opportunity. On this Bucs team, third down is the rash that will not go away. The Bucs were 2-of-12 on the afternoon, which fits just fine in a season that has featured 2-of-14 against the Jets, 3-of-14 against the 49ers and 4-of-12 against the Panthers. Around here, the pet name for third down is "kickers get ready."

It was the latest failure, however, that will linger with the Bucs the longest. This one led to a missed kick, a lost game and a new sense of reality.

When the play began, it should be said, the situation appeared to be going swimmingly for the Bucs. For the third straight week, Simms was leading the Bucs from behind, and the temptation was to notice that it's been years since Joe Montana managed a comeback. One more, and even Steve Young was going to be impressed. The Bears didn't look quite as fierce, and the Bucs offensive line didn't look quite as outmatched. The Bucs were within reach of 8-3, and in the Nobody's Fantastic League, that would have been splendid.

Then came Spider 3. So named, one assumes, because the Bucs hope that if the safety blitzes, he'll trip on one.

The call? The call made sense. Coach Jon Gruden was asked if he considered running instead, but with a little more than 2 yards to go, against a defensive line that had won most of the afternoon, running for a first down seemed like a lot to ask. Besides, if the Bucs had run the ball unsuccessful, wouldn't we all have screamed at Gruden for not trusting the quarterback who had led all of the comebacks?

As for Simms, he later said he loved the play and the idea of putting the ball in Mike Alstott's hands near the goal. "Nine out of 10 times," Simms said, "we're going to make 2 yards."

The throw? The throw made sense, too. Nobody likes to see the quarterback sling the ball out of bounds on a big third down, but when safety Mike Brown came free on the blitz, Simms had a quick decision to make. Although Alstott looked open, Simms said, he saw a defensive back driving hard toward his receiver.

"If I had thrown the ball, it might have been picked off and returned 80 yards," Simms said. "For the play we ran, that was the perfect defense."

In other words, yeah, if Simms read the play correctly, he was right in throwing it out of bounds and settling for the point-blank field goal.

The scheme? Aha. There is where you might have a problem. On third and 2, with a young quarterback, how surprising should a blitz be? But Michael Pittman was blocking down on the defensive end on the play, freeing Brown.

Still, here is the point. The NFL is a one-play league. Third downs happen. Blitzes happen. Defensive backs driving on the receiver happen. If the Bucs are going to be anyone this year, they're going to have to make a few third downs along the way. Editorially speaking, the St. Petersburg Times endorses "more than two."

Oddly enough, the Bucs didn't seem to be beating themselves up over the missed kick or the third-down failures. Or their inability to block or to force turnovers. Or anything else, for that matter.

During the past few weeks, it is as if a new self-image has taken over for the Bucs. During the past two years, as the Bucs lost games, they acted like victims of some freak accident that kept happening. It was as if they were trying mightily to think of themselves as champions attempting to convince fate of it.

Sunday? Gruden talked about how proud he was of his team. Simms referred to the offensive line as "incredible." Kenyatta Walker said it didn't feel nearly as bad as the loss to Carolina.

Perhaps this is good. Teeth-gnashing after a defeat never seemed to scare the next one away. Perhaps a little head-patting can't hurt.

Say what you will. A team cannot afford for its kicker to go all-Florida State on a 29-yard field goal. Six feet could have changed that.

On the other hand, the graveyards are filled with people who are only 6 feet away.

[Last modified November 28, 2005, 07:09:27]