Ones to grow on

Defense, Gruden pay off for Buccaneers with title

SAN DIEGO -- That's the thing about No. 1's -- they're not all created equal.

Some mean little, and wind up ringing hollow. Some mean everything, and wind up earning you a ring.

If you're searching for the most obvious reason the Tampa Bay Buccaneers finished Sunday night sitting atop the NFL for the first time in their mostly star-crossed 27-year history, the answer is going to sound a lot like a truism that's as old as the game itself. And as simple and straightforward as a plunge into the line.

In a Super Bowl matchup that featured a No. 1 offense against a No. 1 defense, an awful lot of people forgot the No. 1 rule in these situations: Great defense usually beats great offense. Case closed. Don't ask why. Just accept it and move on.

Kind of like the Bucs did Sunday at Qualcomm Stadium. The only thing is, for the Bucs, there's nowhere left to go in the wake of their 48-21 Super Bowl conquest of Oakland. This was the sort of No. 1 that means there's nothing left to count.

"Both philosophies came to a head, and clashed today," said Bucs defensive end Simeon Rice. "Better offense? Better defense? Can old players play? Everything. All those different things played out today. But the truest story that's known to man today is that we're truly No. 1."

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After a shaky start, the Bucs' offense had a huge hand in delivering a Super Bowl victory to Tampa Bay. To claim otherwise would be to denigrate the fine work handed in by Michael Pittman (124 yards rushing), Keenan McCardell (two touchdowns catches) and Brad Johnson (two touchdown passes and 215 yards) against the Raiders. The Bucs had 303 yards of offense through three quarters and held a 34-9 lead at that point. That's not second-class status by anyone's standards.

Still, the Bucs made their way to the postgame victory platform the same way they got to San Diego in the first place -- by grabbing on and boosting themselves up on the strength of their tone-setting, signature defensive dominance.

To underline that point, the Bucs' defense picked off Raiders quarterback Rich Gannon a Super Bowl record five times -- including two each by free safety and game MVP Dexter Jackson and cornerback Dwight Smith -- and matched the Tampa Bay offense touchdown for touchdown, returning three Gannon picks for scores.

Pirates, indeed. More like the Tampa Bay Bandits.

Up 20-3 at the half, the Bucs had limited the Raiders to just three first downs and 62 total yards on 30 plays. That was the second lowest total in Super Bowl history, besting only the Patriots in Super Bowl XX, who were held to minus-19 yards at the break by the 1985 Bears.

"We went in at halftime and it was 20-3," Bucs defensive tackle Warren Sapp said. "We dug the hole, and at that point, we're pretty good at putting you in and putting the dirt on top of you."

The old debate about the offense selling tickets but defense winning championships bore itself out fittingly Sunday.

Gannon won the league MVP this season and all the glitter that goes with it. Tampa Bay had the league's defensive player of the year in linebacker Derrick Brooks.

Guess which one means more today? Brooks has another piece of hardware coming. Gannon does not.

"You have to give credit where credit is due," said Raiders Pro Bowl offensive tackle Lincoln Kennedy, part of an Oakland offensive line that allowed Gannon to be sacked five times and harassed all night. "Tampa Bay has a pretty good defense. We knew they had a good pass rush, but we felt confident we could hold up. But we didn't. We just didn't get it done today. We didn't give Rich enough time to make plays."

Though Raider after Raider said it wasn't the Bucs' defensive speed that made the difference, in truth it was. And it was obvious. Speed kills in football, and the Raiders were as good as dead from the middle of the second quarter on, once that speed forced Gannon into his Craig Morton impersonation.

Older and slower than their opponents, Oakland's offense was off balance and out of rhythm, seemingly from the opening snap. Giving the Bucs' No. 1-ranked defense -- which had long since proved to be too quick and too physical for the Raiders to handle -- a 17-point halftime lead to protect was almost unfair.

"It wasn't their speed; it was that we didn't execute," said Oakland head coach Bill Callahan, in unconvincing fashion. "I really thought it was more us. We just couldn't get our sync going, or our rhythm. We didn't come out and play our usual game today."

Funny, but nobody does against the Bucs' defense. Coming into the game, Tampa Bay had held opposing quarterbacks to a 48.4 rating this season. Gannon's QB rating on Sunday? An almost dead-on average 48.9. That statistic alone should have told us not to expect Gannon to be his MVP self against the Bucs.

"This is the truth, this is not virtual reality any more," said Rice, who had a team-high two of the Bucs' five sacks. "This is straight up and down. It's a matter of fact. We're world champions."

Here's another reality: With their resounding victory in the 37th Super Bowl, the Bucs' defense can now be validated as one of the game's best of recent vintage.

"When you win a championship, it solidifies everything," Sapp said. "People never talk about the Purple People Eaters [of Minnesota], or the Fearsome Foursome [of the Los Angeles Rams] in the same light as the Steel Curtain [of Pittsburgh] or the Doomsday Defense of the Cowboys. Right now we're in the same class. We won a championship, and we play lights-out defense."

Added Jackson: "How good is this defense? Man, we're champions. We said we couldn't say anything until we won a championship. But now we've won it, so you can say we're a great defense."

Bucs head coach Jon Gruden's familiarity with the Raiders team he coached until this season was a big pregame story line. But in the end, that knowledge paid off handsomely, because in practice on Thursday, Gruden took a turn imitating Gannon's cadences and on-field habits on the Bucs' scout team. The move was wildly beneficial to the Tampa Bay defense.

Something clicked, because the Bucs' defense played as if it was in Gannon's head all night. After Oakland scored a field goal on its opening drive, which was set up by a Bucs turnover, it went nine consecutive possessions without scoring. By then, Tampa Bay had scored 34 unanswered points and led 34-3.

"I don't think any of those other defenses that came in [to the Super Bowl] ranked No. 1 had to face the type of offense that we had to face tonight," Sapp said. "And we put the choke hold on them."

And that made the Bucs the ultimate No. 1 in Sunday's battle of No. 1's.

Oh, and about those other two No. 1's? The draft picks that Tampa Bay sent to the Raiders for its part in the Gruden trade?

I'd say they were worth it.

Don Banks covers pro football for CNNSI.com.

 

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