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By SHARON GINN
© St. Petersburg Times, published December 31, 2000
This game is going to be one of those knockdown-brawl defensive games that will probably be low-scoring. It'll probably go right down to the last two minutes of the game. Someone will kick or miss a field goal. It's not going to be pretty.
Even with the injuries, the Bucs defense will still play well. They have a good defense, and while a big part of it is the players they have, part of it is their scheme and what they do. But it's hard to be quick and fast on a frozen field -- and Tampa Bay's defense is quick and fast. They just fly to the ball and they're real fast, and you can try to fool 'em and they go the other way. You take those guys and put them on an ice rink, and now you don't have that.
At the same time, Philadelphia is not an offensive juggernaut. The Eagles are as close to a one-man gang as I've seen in a long time. It's all about stopping Donovan McNabb.
It's going to be hard for the Bucs offense to be really effective and efficient. You would like to say it would be the same offense you saw that Monday night against St. Louis, but that was different circumstances. I don't think the Bucs can look like that at 4 p.m. in Philadelphia, and I don't think that has anything to do with the Bucs. St. Louis wouldn't have looked like that either.
As for how Martin Gramatica will recover from missing that field goal Sunday, it depends upon what kind of memory he has. If he has a good memory, it's going to hurt him. Kickers have to have a bad memory. They have to go out and kick and they can't think about the last one.
It's going to be a close, hard-fought, tough game. It's going to be ugly. It's going to be low-scoring. I think this is as close as it can get.
Philadelphia earned the right to play at home, and the Bucs put themselves in this position. Had they won another game or so and had a bye, and then got to play a home game, it would be a totally different thing. This is what their season earned them. And Warrick Dunn isn't going to be able to run up and down this field.