 |
| |
|
 |
 |
||
 |
 |
||
 |
|||
EVENTS
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE |
Turf wars Vet's notorious surface may pose as many problems as cold
Updated: Friday December 29, 2000 10:50 PM
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) -- Tampa Bay assistant coach Herman Edwards played nine seasons for the Philadelphia Eagles, so he knows a little bit about what the Buccaneers can expect when they arrive at Veterans Stadium for Sunday's NFC wild-card playoff game. It might be snowy and cold. The fans will not give the team a warm greeting. And, the infamous artificial surface in the aging stadium will be as hard as concrete -- all factors that Edwards said the players will need to block out of their minds to succeed. "It's like this right here," Edwards said, motioning with his foot to the floor of the Bucs' locker room. "The only difference is it's green." The Bucs have grown weary of answering questions about faulty artificial turf as well as bad weather after squandering an opportunity to assure themselves a first-round bye and at least one home playoff game by losing at Green Bay in their regular-season finale.
Tampa Bay is 0-19 when the temperature at kickoff is below 40 degrees. The weekend forecast for Philadelphia calls for snow and cold temperatures, although conditions shouldn't be as harsh as the minus-15 wind chill factor the team encountered against the Packers. "You have to decide if you're going up there to be comfortable or to win," head coach Tony Dungy said. "If you're going up there to win, then it doesn't matter how cold it is. You have to do whatever it takes to get the job done." Edwards said the same holds true for the playing surface, which historically has ranked among the worst in the NFL. But regardless of how bad the turf might seem, he added, players cannot let it affect the way they approach the game. Bucs offensive tackle George Hegamin, who played for the Eagles in 1998, agreed. "Whether you're playing on grass, turf, bottle caps or glass, it's the playoffs and you can't worry about the surface you're on," he said. "You just have to go out there and play the game and win." Last week's 17-14 overtime loss to the Packers denied Tampa Bay the NFC Central title and means the Bucs might have to win three road games to get the Super Bowl, which will be played in Tampa on Jan. 28. Seven wild-card teams have advanced to the Super Bowl, but only one -- the 1985 New England Patriots -- did so by winning three games on the road. "We did what we had to do to get ourselves to this point, but now all that goes out the window," said defensive tackle Warren Sapp, who tied for second in the league with a franchise-record 16 1/2 sacks. "You walk into the playoffs 0-0. You've got one game, and it's go on or go home. "And like I've always said, you get us in that situation and I like my chances with this ball club. Sunday, we find out what we got."
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
