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2002 Tampa Bay Buccaneers

The 2002 Tampa Bay Buccaneers Come Through The Cold To Super Bowl Warmth

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The 2002 Tampa Bay Buccaneers were coming off two straight years of being knocked out in the first round of the playoffs, each time on the road against the Philadelphia Eagles. Tampa Bay decided to shake things up.

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The Buccaneers fired head coach Tony Dungy, and hired Jon Gruden, who was fresh off taking the Oakland Raiders into the playoffs before suffering an excruciating loss to the destiny tale that was the 2001 New England Patriots. 

Tampa Bay’s basic parameters of a strong defense combined with a tolerable offense continued to hold form, even with the shift from the defensive-minded Dungy to the offense-oriented Gruden. The Bucs had the best defense in the NFL. Warren Sapp, Simeon Rice, Derrick Brook, Shelton Quarles and John Lynch were all Pro Bowlers. That doesn’t include a young corner in Ronde Barber, who would go on to a long career in the NFL.

But offensively was a different story. Tampa Bay ranked just 18th in points scored, but quarterback Brad Johnson threw only six interceptions. It was enough to put him in the Pro Bowl. The same went for fullback Mike Alstott, while wide receiver Keshawn Johnson had 1,000 yards in the air. The combination of an offense that could run the ball, avoid mistakes and get a little bit of big-play action down the field was all this defense needed to lead the way to wins.

Tampa Bay started the season 9-2, including a hard-fought 21-7 win over Brett Favre’s Green Bay Packers on November 24, a victory that would prove critical in the tiebreakers. A pair of late losses appeared ready to confine the Bucs to the 3-seed, meaning no first-round bye and potential road dates in both Green Bay and Philadelphia.

Then the Buccaneers got a break. Green Bay lost to a surging New York Jets’ team in Week 17, and Tampa Bay, Green Bay and Philadelphia all ended the season at 12-4. Tampa Bay’s win over Green Bay nudged them into the 2-seed behind the Eagles. The Bucs would at least get a bye, and only one potential cold weather game.

The issue of Tampa Bay playing in the cold was a prominent issue at the time. Not only is this a topic for conversation any time a warm weather team goes north, but the Bucs own recent history had seen consecutive playoff losses in Philly. What’s more, they had just won for the first time in franchise history when the weather was below 32 degrees—and that was against the 4-12 Chicago Bears.

After Tampa Bay blasted the San Francisco 49ers in the second round, the stage was set for a return to Philadelphia, this time for the NFC Championship Game.

In 20-degree temperatures, the Buccaneers exorcised their demons. The defense shut down the Eagle running game and forced Donovan McNabb into an erratic 26-for-49 for 243 yards showing. Tampa Bay won the turnover battle 3-1 and led 20-10 in the fourth quarter. Philadelphia drove to get back in the game, but Barber intercepted a McNabb pass on the Tampa Bay 8-yard line and took it back 92 yards to the house. Tampa Bay won 27-10 and was going to the Super Bowl for the first time in franchise history.

It was an ironic matchup in the Super Bowl–the Oakland Raiders were the opponent, as Gruden faced his old team. But the NFC was where the power was this season. The Raiders’ 11-5 record was the best in the AFC, yet inferior to Tampa Bay, Green Bay and Philadelphia. And this game was no contest.

Tampa Bay forced five turnovers, scored three defensive touchdowns and Dexter Jackson, the free safety who had two interceptions, was named game MVP. The defensive display at the Super Bowl in San Diego was a fitting end to a great season for the 2002 Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

What’s perhaps most surprising is that this is where the run ended. The Tampa Bay defense continued to be an elite unit, but the offense never materialized. A team that looked like a potential dynasty didn’t even get back to the playoffs until 2005 and they haven’t won a postseason game since the run of 2002.

2002 Sports: The Rally Monkey & A Dispute In The Desert

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The two most dramatic events of the year that was 2002 sports came towards the end, with the World Series and college football’s national championship game, played that year in the Fiesta Bowl.

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The Anaheim Angels won the Series after trailing a must-win Game 6 by five runs in the seventh inning. Aided by “The Rally Monkey”, the Angels won that game, won the next night and made amends to a fan base that had suffered through some tough collapses in the playoffs.
Miami was the defending national champion in college football and looked poised to repeat, entering the Fiesta Bowl against Ohio State as a solid favorite. The game proved to be an epic, going double overtime and the Buckeyes winning.
Hurricane fans feel forever jobbed over a controversial pass interference call at the end of the first overtime. Buckeye fans feel like there’s more to the story. But college football fans in a general sense, were the big winners, because this was not just one of the best games ever played, but the storylines remain rich to this day.
Another storyline coming out of the college football season as a whole was the re-emergence of USC. The Trojans had not won the Rose Bowl since 1996 and had not been the clear power of the Pac-10 since 1987-89. In their second year under Pete Carroll, USC lost a couple early games to good teams in Kansas State and Washington State, but then took off.
The Trojans moved their record to 8-2 and then closed on a tear. They beat crosstown rival, #25 UCLA, 52-21. USC then took on traditional rival, #7 Notre Dame and won 44-13. The Trojans finished the job in the Orange Bowl when they hammered third-ranked Iowa 38-17. Quarterback Carson Palmer won the Heisman Trophy and USC would be the dominant force in college football through 2008.
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Read more about the Miami-Ohio State Fiesta Bowl
The Maryland Terrapins had knocked on the door of a national title in basketball in 2001 and in 2002 they broke it down. Veteran head coach Gary Williams produced an outstanding team, reached the Final Four in Atlanta and then squared off with Indiana, who was in the odd position of being a Cinderella.
After the firing of Bob Knight prior to the 2001 season, the Hoosiers somehow ended up in the Final Four a year later. It proved to be lightning in a bottle, for Knight-haters, it was a magical March, at least in the moment. Indiana gave Maryland a tough game in the NCAA final before the veteran Terps pulled away down the stretch.
Read more about the 2002 Final Four
The Detroit Red Wings already had veteran talent, and they went out and added more of it prior to the 2002 season, including one of the league’s best goalies in Dominic Hasek. The end result was the best record in the NHL and a Stanley Cup, though there were some interesting moments along the way to getting there.
Read more about the 2002 Detroit Red Wings
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers had a franchise reputation for ineptitude in the cold weather. But they also had an elite defense, and that proved to be enough to get them through a road trip to Philadelphia in January and ultimately a Super Bowl title.
Read more about the 2002 Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The Los Angeles Lakers had won the NBA title in 2000 and 2001 and behind great years from Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant, went 58-24 in the 2002 NBA season. They had a worthy challenger in the Sacramento Kings, who went 61-21.
By rights, this should have been Sacramento’s championship. The two teams played in the Western Conference Finals. The Kings led the series 3-2 and were in position to win Game 6. The officiating then took over and put the Lakers on the line 27 times in the fourth quarter, making it all but impossible for Sacramento to win.
Los Angeles won Game 7 on the road and then beat a completely overmatched New Jersey Nets team in four straight. Shaq averaged 36 points/12 rebounds against the Nets to win his third straight Finals MVP.
The Lakers were a very good team in 2002–good enough that asking Sacramento to, in effect, beat them five times in seven games is asking too much. Laker fans who can’t acknowledge the tainted quality of this three-peat should put down the Kool-Aid.
Read more about the 2002 Sacramento Kings