Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
© St. Petersburg Times, published December 30, 2001
TALK OF THE TOWN
Five topics suitable for inane debate on talk radio:
SUPER RESULTS: If nothing else, the Bucs know how to take down a bully. For the third straight year, Tampa Bay has beaten the defending Super Bowl champion. They took down Denver 13-10 in 1999 and beat St. Louis 38-35 in 2000 before beating the Ravens Saturday night.
LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION: How does a team gain less than 100 yards of total offense and still take a 16-7 halftime lead? It's called field position. The Bucs began in Baltimore territory on five of eight first-half possessions, thanks to two interceptions, a blocked punt and two defensive stands. Tampa Bay's average starting field position in the first half was the Baltimore 44. The Ravens average field position was their 26.
PERSPECTIVE, PLEASE: Considering the cost of tickets and the salaries of players, fans are well within their rights to jeer subpar performances. But before booing Warrick Dunn, please remember what he has done for this franchise and this community in the past five years.
SPECIAL ORDERS: What is it about ABC night games that brings out the dramatics in Tampa Bay special teams? The Bucs blocked a punt on Monday night against St. Louis. They blocked one Saturday night. They missed field goals and botched a fake punt against St. Louis. They missed a field goal and took themselves out of range on another attempt because of a penalty.
A CASE OF GREED?: The Ravens could not move quickly enough to dump Trent Dilfer and pursue free-agent quarterbacks after the Super Bowl. It has turned out to be a case of reaping a so-so passer. Elvis Grbac has a lower quarterback rating than Dilfer did last season and has thrown more interceptions than touchdowns. In case you were wondering, the Ravens were 11-1 when Dilfer started, including the postseason. With other quarterbacks, Baltimore is 14-9 the past two years.
Five reasons quarterback Brad Johnson signed with the Bucs instead of the Ravens:
5: Got the shivers every time he thought about seeing Tony Siragusa naked.
4: Baltimore's Inner Harbor and St. Petersburg's Pier? Same thing.
3: Refused to sign waiver that required him to refer to Baltimore coach Brian Billick as "Your Excellence."
2: Did not have Trent Dilfer's phone number.
1: What? And miss out on this offense?
Checking out the best bets (and the Bucs) for Super Bowl XXXVI in New Orleans:
1. RAMS: The sixth team since the NFL merger to go undefeated on the road. Four of the previous five went on to win the Super Bowl.
2. STEELERS: A victory on the road today against Cincinnati would give Pittsburgh homefield advantage in the AFC throughout the playoffs.
3. PACKERS: The team most likely to follow the path taken by Baltimore last season and reach the Super Bowl by way of the wild card.
4. 49ERS: Jeff Garcia has put up numbers in recent years that rival, or surpass, Joe Montana and Steve Young. But it means very little without a Super Bowl.
10. BUCS: That didn't take too long. Just 22 weeks of training camp and regular season games for the Bucs to look like a playoff team.
So, did Ray Lewis dance?