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Yoder bullies Ravens rookie

By JAMAL THALJI, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published December 30, 2001

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TAMPA -- Bucs reserve tight end Todd Yoder put on a special-teams clinic for Baltimore long-snapper Joe Maese Saturday night.

Yoder overpowered Maese on three consecutive Baltimore punts in the first half. Yoder drove Maese back into punter Kyle Richardson on the first attempt; on the second Maese tackled Yoder and incurred a penalty (later declined); and on his third go at Maese, Yoder blew by the rookie, dove at the ball and cleanly knocked it off Richardson's leg as he was dropping the ball.

Rabih Abdullah recovered for Tampa Bay at Baltimore's 30-yard line with 6:02 left in the second quarter. That led to Doug Brien's third field goal of the night, a 24-yarder, that gave the Bucs a 9-7 lead.

The 6-foot, 241-pound Maese again held the 6-4, 250-pound Yoder on a third-quarter punt, incurring another penalty that was declined.

"We knew we had to go after the blocks because their punter doesn't punt a lot of returnable balls," Yoder said. "So that was our game plan going in. We knew he was a little smallish so we thought we might be able to overpower him and knock him down and that's just what we did."

In his second year, Yoder has developed into a special-teams standout; he entered the game tied for fifth on the team with 10 special-teams tackles and returned Ronde Barber's blocked punt 11 yards for a touchdown against Cincinnati on Dec. 2.

GOING DOWN: Another special-teams standout for the Bucs was rookie defensive back Dwight Smith, who downed three punts deep in Ravens territory to help Tampa Bay win the field-position battle.

The first came with 12:39 left in the first, as Smith was knocked onto the turf, but scrambled to his feet at the 1-yard line and batted the Bucs' punt back away from the end zone. Aaron Stecker downed it at the 2-yard line.

Smith did it again in the third quarter, fighting off a block to down the punt at the Baltimore 6-yard line. Smith did it again in the fourth quarter, downing another punt at the 2.

"I'm just trying to work hard," Smith said. "They singled me up, and I've got to make plays when I'm singled up out there."

OVERRULED: The Ravens challenged an Elvis Grbac interception midway through second quarter and won.

Facing third and 10 at his 38-yard line, Grbac took the snap and almost tripped stepping back into the pocket. He flicked an awkward pass to Qadry Ismail. But Bucs cornerback Donnie Abraham, reading the quarterback, broke early and dove for it. When he rolled off his back he had the ball in his hands and it was ruled an interception on the field at the Baltimore 46.

Ravens coach Brian Billick challenged the call, and though the different replay angles were unclear -- Abraham's body obscured the ball -- referee Dick Hantak ruled it an incompletion because the ball appeared to bounce off his thigh and touched the ground. But at the end of that series came Yoder's blocked punt.

PUSHING IT: One call that couldn't be challenged was Grbac's 14-yard touchdown pass to Ravens wideout Travis Taylor at the start of the second quarter.

The boos were quick to come after it appeared Taylor didn't get both feet inbounds. The replay showed he did, but it also revealed that Taylor may have pushed off Abraham with his left arm before catching the touchdown pass in the corner of the end zone.

Taylor said the tight end was the primary receiver but when Grbac saw Tampa Bay's corners playing press coverage, Taylor became the first read and was required to run an outside route.

"I ran a 9-route to the outside and Elvis just made a great throw," Taylor said, "and I just came down with it."

KEEP IT UP: The Bucs kept several streaks alive early.

Tampa Bay now has recorded a sack in 43 consecutive contests, the longest active streak in the NFL. The Bucs' two interceptions continued their streak of creating a turnover in every game this season. The Bucs also have forced a turnover in 24 consecutive regular-season games dating to last season.

THE LAST WORD: Waiting inside the locker room to greet the Bucs players and coaches was owner Malcolm Glazer and his sons, Bryan, Joel and Edward.

"It was a great win," the Glazer patriarch said, "for a great year."

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