Seven ways to victory
By Pat Kirwan
Special to SuperBowl.com
(Jan. 27, 2003) -- A day after the big game, here are the seven things Tampa Bay did to pull off a successful Super Bowl XXXVII victory.
1. Bucs broke down the blockers
Tampa Bay defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin and his coaches broke down Oakland's blocking schemes. The Bucs built a pressure scheme where Barry Sims had little or no help with Simeon Rice. Ronde Barber lined up as the outside linebacker in the nickel defense and blitzed the guard-tackle gap enough to occupy the running back or guard, and prevent help for Sims when he could have used it. One of Rice's sacks was caused by Sims stepping down inside because he thought Barber was coming -- and when he didn't blitz, it was too late to get back outside to Rice.
2. Eliminating Gannon's guys
The Bucs' defense took the Raiders' primary receiver away from Rich Gannon most of the time and made him hold the ball. Gannon is a rhythm passer, and the Bucs were not going to let him take a three-step drop and release the ball. Need proof? Through the first three quarters, Jerry Rice and Tim Brown combined for two receptions and 15 yards. Whenever Jerry Porter was in the slot position during the first quarter, he was doubled off with Barber and a safety -- Tampa was not going to let him run a deep route. Last week, the Bucs got Donovan McNabb to hold the ball -- and they did it again this week. Gannon likes to pump-fake a receiver to get the secondary to move out of their zones, but the Bucs' defensive backs held their ground because they believed the pump fake was just that -- a fake.
3. Field position
Oakland couldn't take advantage of early field position. The Raiders had three half-field or better situations in the first five drives of the game and came away with only three points. That came back to haunt them -- the third drive started on the 49-yard line. After two Zack Crockett runs and an incomplete pass, the Raiders punted. Two drives later, punt returner Darrien Gordon set the offense up at midfield again and the three-play drive ended with an interception. With a kicker like Sebastian Janikowski, the Raiders had to come out of the first quarter with no fewer than nine points. That didn't happen.
4. Quality Buccaneer time
Tampa Bay's long offensive drives just before and just after halftime did a lot of damage to the Raiders' defense. With under four minutes left in the first half, Tampa went on a 10-play drive -- which was really 12 plays with two penalties -- that ended up in a touchdown. Oakland couldn't stop Michael Pittman during the drive and it damaged the Silver & Black psychologically.
The first Bucs' drive of the third quarter was worse for Bill Callahan's team. When I was at Tampa Bay's preseason camp, Jon Gruden practiced the first drive of the third quarter every practice by stopping practice for 15 minutes to create a "halftime" atmosphere for his team. Then the coaches would come into the tent where the players were relaxing, announce the kickoff team was up, have a kickoff and then try to orchestrate a successful drive. I thought it was a great way to coach a team about the third quarter. In the Super Bowl, it was just the way they practiced it all summer: Fourteen plays, 89 yards, and a touchdown -- and in a little under eight minutes.
Rich Gannon had a tough time getting into a rhythm, thanks to the Bucs' defense.
5. Tackle, tackle, tackle
Simply stated, the Bucs didn't miss any tackles and the Raiders did. Mike Alstott wore down the linebackers with his inside running, then caught a pass in the flat late in the second quarter. The Raiders dripped off him and Alstott got down to the 5-yard line to set up Keenan McCardell's first touchdown pass. McCardell scored his second touchdown when a Oakland defender missed another tackle on the 8-yard touchdown pass. It happened all day.
6. Keyshawn the blocker!
Jon Gruden decided that the toss play would be effective against the Raiders. The big inside defensive tackles would have to run to the ball, and when it came time to rush the passer, they would be fatigued. To make the eight toss plays work, Gruden put Keyshawn Johnson in a tight-end alignment and had him block the defensive end! And guess what? Key did a great job of blocking the big defenders and set up the corner for Pittman.
7. Twenty-one defensive points don't hurt, either
Probably the most critical component of the lopsided victory was the three interceptions for scores. But everyone knew that already, so I left it down here at the bottom of my list.
