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Time after time Bucs' road back takes three years, two hours, 12 minutesPosted: Monday January 13, 2003 5:45 PM
TAMPA -- They were all a bunch of young Bucs back then, so naturally, players like John Lynch, Mike Alstott and Derrick Brooks assumed that they'd get at least another shot or two. And quickly. When Tampa Bay fell six points shy of going to the Super Bowl in January 2000, losing 11-6 at St. Louis in the NFC title game, taking the next step as a franchise didn't look like it'd be a long, painful process. But six points turned into three years. "It was difficult," said Alstott, whose Bucs are back in the NFC title game for the first time since that narrow loss to the Rams. "When we think about that game, we think about that call [a controversial non-catch call that over-turned a reception by Bucs receiver Bert Emanuel late in the game]. "We were coming back. We were making our move. It was tough to swallow. It was a matter of so close, but yet so far. That's how we are right now, so close, but so far." On Monday at the Bucs' team complex, that proximity was everyone's first topic of conversation. When the Bucs travel to Philadelphia and play Sunday for a berth in Super Bowl XXXVII, most of Tampa Bay's roster will carry with it the realization of how rare their opportunity is. There's a world of difference between reaching the conference championship and winning it, and if you don't believe that, just ask the Steelers and Eagles how fondly they recall last year's denouement. "Everybody understands the opportunity we have," said Brooks, the NFL's Defensive Player of the Year this season. "After that game [in St. Louis], I prepared myself to be back here in 2000 and 2001. But it didn't happen. That's why you've got to take advantage when your chance comes." By almost any measure, the NFL's final four is filled with teams that share Tampa Bay's sense of urgency in terms of their Super Bowl window of opportunity. The Bucs' opponent, those plucky Eagles, came up 52 yards short of a win in last year's NFC title game at St. Louis, losing 29-24. In the AFC, the Raiders haven't been to the Super Bowl in 19 years, lost at home to Baltimore in the conference championship game two years ago, and feature a roster filled with veterans who are at the point of their careers where they plan no further than three weeks at a time. Tennessee went to the Super Bowl three years ago, came up one agonizing yard shy of forcing overtime against the Rams, and somewhat like the Bucs, have been waiting another three years to make up for that near miss. But while the Eagles, Raiders and Titans organizations all can look back on at least one Super Bowl appearance in their history. Tampa Bay, in its 27th season of existence, is still waiting for that featured turn on the NFL's grandest stage. "We don't have one player or coach on our team who has ever won a Super Bowl," Bucs head coach Jon Gruden said. "This is the most exciting times of our lives in football." Gruden is only technically incorrect. As a rookie in 1991, Bucs receiver Keenan McCardell got a ring for the Redskins' Super Bowl triumph against Buffalo. But in reality McCardell spent the season on injured reserve and was no factor in Washington's championship run. In another category are the three current Bucs who two years ago were members of the losing Giants team in Super Bowl XXXV: Lomas Brown, Joe Jurevicius and Jack Golden. Otherwise, the Bucs' roster is dotted with players who have gotten to the cusp of the Super Bowl, and fallen one win shy: Brad Johnson and Jeff Christy with the 1998 Vikings; Keyshawn Johnson and Tom Tupa with the '98 Jets; McCardell with the 1996 and '99 Jaguars, and the 13 remaining members of 1999 team. "Young guys will never understand," said Brad Johnson, asked whether Tampa Bay's entire roster grasps the opportunity at hand. "It's unfortunate that rookies sometimes win a Super Bowl. Rookies will never understand what they're about to go through." Between the Vikings, Redskins and Bucs, Johnson has been on a playoff team in nine of his 11 NFL seasons. But before this year, the only time his team made it to a conference final was in 1998 in Minnesota, when injuries cost him most of the season and Randall Cunningham wound up taking the league by storm. Then there's Lynch, a 1993 Bucs draft pick, and the senior member of the team in terms of continuous service. "I think having gone through the days when we were the Yucks makes you appreciate it a little more," said Lynch, who started his career by playing on four consecutive losing teams in Tampa Bay. "But we're past that now. "I think in 1999 when we did it [getting to the NFC title game], we had the feeling we'd be back next year. In many respects this is a new team, but I think anyone draws upon their experiences of the past." Gruden, of course, is here because of that past. Tampa Bay is the only NFL team to make the playoffs in each of the past four seasons, but it was Tony Dungy's playoff failures that prompted the Bucs' ownership to dismiss him last January, despite four post-season berths in his six-year tenure. It's not as if we shouldn't have seen the change coming. At the beginning of last season, Tampa Bay defensive tackle Warren Sapp was quoted as saying team management should blow up the roster if the 2001 Bucs didn't fulfill their Super Bowl promise. They didn't, and the Glazer family did the predictable, blaming the head coach. "Obviously, [that] Tony Dungy's mark on this team goes without saying," Brooks said. "He built this defense, and that defense is still here. ... But we've got a very different driver, a new driver, in coach Gruden." This time, standing in the way of the Bucs and the Super Bowl are the Eagles, who have quickly become Tampa Bay's arch-nemesis. Since Dec. 31, 2000, the Bucs are 22-9 against the rest of the NFL, and 0-4 against the Eagles. That includes, of course, back-to-back first-round playoff losses at Philadelphia the past two seasons. Gruden, a onetime Eagles assistant, wasted no time Monday trying to keep his team's eyes on the prize. Sunday's game is the last ever at Philadelphia's Veterans Stadium, a venue that doubles as the Bucs' personal house of horrors. Gruden, however, is 1-0 there in his head coaching career, posting a win last year with Oakland. "Veterans Stadium is a historic landmark as far as I'm concerned," Gruden said with a smile. "I hate to see that place go. I lived under the Vet for three years. ... Our offices at that time were underneath Veterans Stadium. I can recall a lot of interesting things I saw early in the morning underneath the Vet. They were crawling. ... I think it's fitting for Veterans Stadium to close with an NFC Championship Game of this magnitude." But it is what can be won there at Veterans Stadium that Gruden will stress this week. Only the victory matters, not the venue. "Philadelphia is in America, now, we're not going across the world," Gruden said. "We're going to try and convey that to our team. ... We're going to play this game. We're getting on a plane. It's only a two-hour and 12-minute flight, and we're going." Two hours and 12 minutes to get there, but if the Bucs don't win, maybe as long as three years to get back.
Don Banks covers pro football for CNNSI.com.
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