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Get over it

Bucs can't wait to end cold-weather futility

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Buccaneers kicker Martin Gramatica reacts after missing a field goal in the final seconds against the Packers. AP

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will hear about cold weather until they win in it. They'll get another chance this week.

The Bucs are 0-19 when it's been 40 degrees or colder at kickoff. With forecasts of more than a foot of snow this weekend, it should be well below that at Veterans Stadium when Tampa plays the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday.

But everyone from the Buccaneers to the Eagles is tired of hearing about weather being a factor.

"When you play better than the other team, you win," Bucs head coach Tony Dungy said. "You have to know you'll be uncomfortable for three hours, you're not going to be as warm as you are used to being. But it's not that big a deal. People are making a mistake if they are trying to read too much into it. Philadelphia has an outstanding team and that's what we have to deal with, not the weather."

Eagles defensive end Hugh Douglas took offense to all the talk this week about Tampa's performance in cold weather.

Wiggin: Bucs-Eagles Paul Wiggin, the Minnesota Vikings' director of pro personnel, will have a keen eye on this weekend's playoff games. Wiggin, who has spent more than 40 years in the NFL, is responsible for league-wide player evaluation and advance scouting of opponents. Wiggin breaks down the Bucs-Eagles wild-card matchup for CNNSI.com: The Bucs will beat the Eagles if ... they keep Donovan McNabb from making first downs. He's a master of making first downs. He makes more first downs probably than anybody in football. I can't believe how many times he moves the chains by himself. McNabb is as important to that team as any player is to any team in football. The Bucs have to minimize him, and if they do that -- even though the Eagles are a good team defensively -- that will be enough. The Eagles will beat the Bucs if ... they match Tampa Bay's defense and let McNabb do it for them on offense. The thing is, McNabb is going to have to be better than the combination of Shaun King, Warrick Dunn, Mike Alstott and Keyshawn Johnson. He's one man who'll have to offset what four guys can do, and he might be able to do it. That's how good he is. I was so impressed with him last week, and they were playing for very little against Cincinnati. He can do an awful lot of things for a team.

"It's like people are saying the only way we can beat Tampa is if it's cold," Douglas said. "Like that's our crutch and we need that. I don't care what the weather is. We're going to go out and play football."

The Bucs realize Donovan McNabb should be their biggest concern. McNabb received a rude introduction in his NFL debut as Tampa sacked him six times in a 19-5 victory on Sept. 19, 1999.

Warren Sapp, last year's defensive player of the year, had three of those sacks. But Sapp knows this isn't the same quarterback.

"He's grown up a lot and you can see it in his play and the way his team is performing," Sapp said. "He makes them go and he's doing a great job for them with throwing the ball and being able to scramble, providing some time. He's playing real well and we're going to have to combat that full force."

McNabb's passing and running -- he had a team-high 629 yards on the ground -- accounted for 79.8 percent of the Eagles' offense this season. He was the one most responsible for Philadelphia's amazing turnaround and finished second to Marshall Faulk for league MVP.

Dungy hasn't ruled out using a specific player to key on McNabb, and suggested the second-year quarterback may see a few more blitzes.

"I don't think that we're going to be able to keep him in the pocket, but I think we've got to stay up on our feet, use our speed and try to chase him down when he does move around," Dungy said. "He's a difficult guy to tackle, and we're going to have to use everybody, our defensive linemen, linebackers, to try to keep him under control."

McNabb isn't the first running quarterback the Bucs face this season. Tampa shut down Chicago's Cade McNown in a 41-0 victory on Sept. 10 and contained Minnesota's Daunte Culpepper in a 41-13 victory on Oct. 29 after the Vikings won the first meeting, 30-23, earlier that month.

"You have to rush him a little smarter, not with as much reckless abandon as a guy who doesn't scramble as well," said defensive tackle Steve White, a former Eagle. "But we've had experience with mobile quarterbacks and we've done a pretty good job with those guys."

Tampa's defense won't be strange to McNabb, either. The Eagles have faced other speed defenses and had some success, going 2-3 against the New York Giants, Pittsburgh and Washington.

"We sort of have a good feel of the speed of a defense and the different blitzes," McNabb said.

The Eagles plan to run the ball with Chris Warren to take some pressure off McNabb. Warren carried 15 times for 42 yards in his first game with Philadelphia last week, but lost two fumbles.

Tampa has a better running game with Warrick Dunn and Mike Alstott and that could be crucial on a cold, windy day. But if the Bucs fall behind, they could be in trouble because quarterback Shaun King hasn't fared well throwing in those conditions.

One way or another, it appears the weather will be a factor, no matter how much both teams try to avoid it.

 

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