Ha! Next year I'm going with my heart all the way. My heart and the better defense.
Still, the Bucs did do what I said they had to do: they got a turnover in the 1stQ and turned it into points.
The loss by Oakland of their center, Barret Robbins (the reasons for which are still elusive), was crucial. The main reason I thought the Raiders would win is that their offensive line would overpower the Buccaneers. Without Robbins, the Raider OL is not the same unit, clearly, and this turned out to be the worst game the Raider offensive line has played in weeks. All the protestations by the Raiders about how such an absence makes no difference are complete hogwash.
Which leads me to wonder what the hell Raiders coach Bill Callahan was thinking? There is a time for discipline and for laying down the law and there is a time for winning the Super Bowl. Those two things need not be incompatible, but there are other ways to do it rather than sending home a crucial piece of your puzzle.
I must also acknowledge that the way Buccaneer defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin called the game was fabulous. He knew when the Raiders were going to pass and he knew when they were going to run. Everyone knows how good the Bucs are at rushing the passer, and it was a refrain this week that the way to slow them down was to run the ball right at the line. However, it seemed that every time the Raiders ran, the Buc defensive line held their positions and collapsed toward the runner, rather than being caught charging the quarterback. Great play-calling. Also, the second interception was set up by the fact that the Bucs went out of their standard Cover 2 (two safeties back, each covering half the field) into a Cover 1 (with one safety back in the middle of the field) on that play. The Cover 2 is vulnerable to being split by a post route down the middle, but the Cover 1 turns the same route into a pick.
(Len Pasquarelli at ESPN.com, who knows a bit more about football--and contemporary coachspeak terminology--than I do, says the Bucs were actually in a "cover 3", which usually means that three players drop back and cover the field in thirds. Well, that isn't how the play looked to me, but I haven't reviewed the tape.)
I love great defense!
Posted by Martial