Bucs/NFL

Nullified score frustrates defense

By JOANNE KORTH
Published September 18, 2006

ATLANTA - Derrick Brooks looked a tad like Michael Vick, changing directions, looking for blockers, summoning a second gear as he sprinted into the end zone at the end of a 63-yard interception return.

Wait, not so fast.

The play the Bucs so desperately needed to kick-start a possible comeback, trailing 14-3 in the third quarter, was nullified by a penalty against linebacker Ryan Nece for an illegal block.

By the end of the game, Tampa Bay still had not scored a touchdown. Nor won its first game.

"Tough," Nece said. "Tough call."

That, of course, was Nece's best-behavior way of avoiding the word he really wanted to use to describe the call: bad. As Nece explained it, Falcons running back Warrick Dunn backed into him and fell, making it appear as if he had been blocked in the back.

According to Nece and several teammates, the only thing Nece was guilty of was loitering.

"I stood behind him," Nece said of Dunn. "It was a bad place to stand, I guess. I was looking dead at (the official), and I held up my hands showing him I wasn't blocking in the back."

Perhaps the "not-me" signal made him seem guilty. No matter. The Bucs were penalized 10 yards from the spot of the foul. Instead of six points and a wave of momentum, the Bucs faced first and 10 at their 48.

The ensuing drive resulted in a missed 43-yard field goal by Matt Bryant.

"It was huge," Nece said. "Any time that Brooks can get a ball in the end zone, that's big for us. Those are the kind of plays we're looking for, plays to ignite us, impact plays. To get a penalty of that sort, to bring it back is frustrating."

Nece's teammates agreed.

"He didn't do anything," linebacker Shelton Quarles said. "He stood there and put his hands up to make sure he didn't do anything wrong. It was a bad call by the referees. We went from getting a touchdown and being down four points to having to drive for a touchdown."

Cornerback Brian Kelly, who did not play because of a lingering turf toe injury, had a perfect view of the play from the sideline. He just shook his head.

"That was pretty bad," Kelly said of the call. "It turned the game around."

The touchdown would have been the eighth of Brooks' career and first in nearly three years, since a 44-yard interception return at Washington on Oct. 12, 2003. It also might have served as evidence that the Bucs defense, which scored only two touchdowns on returns last season, hasn't lost its big-play ability.

Sunday, the Bucs struggled to contain the Falcons' top-ranked running game, allowing a franchise-worst 306 yards, including 134 by Dunn and 127 by Vick. An interception returned for a touchdown might have changed the game's complexion.

"In the second half, we came in and shut it down and, in my opinion, did a good job keeping them off the scoreboard in some tough situations," said Brooks, who intercepted Vick by dropping into coverage in front of tight end Alge Crumpler.

"The play we did have on defense, from my point of view, I don't think Ryan blocked him in the back. But you have to overcome those type of calls in this type of ballgame."

[Last modified September 18, 2006, 05:26:29]