San Diego Chargers 41,
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 24
Sunday, December 21 Raymond James Stadium Attendance: 64,778 Bucs 9-6, Chargers 7-8
Tampa Bay's loss to San
Diego in Week 16 left the
Buccaneers alive but in need
of help in the NFC playoff race, but
the team's veterans didn't want to
hear about it in the aftermath of the
disappointing outcome. After three
straight losses took the team from a
9-3 catbird's seat to the 9-6 fringes,
the Buccaneers are simply hungry
for the taste of victory, one way or
another.
“We have to win a game, period,"
said CB Ronde Barber in
clipped tones in the locker room
after the game. "The heck with the
playoffs, we have to win a game.
We have Oakland next week, that is
all that we can worry about. I don’t
know our scenarios; we just have to
win a football game.”
After losing consecutive road
games at Carolina and Atlanta – two
NFC South teams that are in the
playoffs – the Bucs returned to
Raymond James Stadium in the season's
penultimate week to try to
maintain their perfect home record
in 2008. Instead the San Diego
Chargers, in their own mortal fight
for a playoff spot, used a pinpoint
passing attack and unstoppable
return man Darren Sproles to pull
off the 17-point victory. Tampa Bay
actually had a 24-20 edge heading
into the fourth quarter but lost for
the first time in seven tries this season
when leading after three periods.
Philip Rivers, the NFL's leading
passer coming into the game,
backed up those credentials by completing
68% of his passes for 287
yards, four touchdowns and no
interceptions. The San Diego
defense came up with the game's
only three turnovers, returning the
last one, an Antoine Cason interception,
59 yards for a touchdown to
put the game away in the closing
minutes. Despite being 6-8 coming
into the weekend, the Chargers
pulled within a game of Denver for
first place in the AFC West and will
have a chance to take the division in
Week 17.
"I realize their record didn’t
indicate that today, but with their
backs against the wall, they played a
fine football game," said Buccaneers
Head Coach Jon Gruden. "They did
not turn the ball over and they
made some big plays. Obviously, I’m
very disappointed.”
Tampa Bay's entire team was
disappointed but unbowed after the
defeat. Quarterback Jeff Garcia,
who started the game with a stilllingering
calf injury and ended it
with blood streaming down his face
from a helmet-to-helmet hit, said
his team will live to fight at least
one more day.
“One day at a time," said Garcia.
"We just have to refocus and try to
finish off this last game of the regular
season on a positive note. It’s
been very disappointing over the
past three weeks to play the way we
have and not finish games off the
way we are capable of finishing. We
have one more opportunity this next
Sunday and we have to do what we
are capable of doing."
San Diego scored first on the
first of Rivers' TD passes following
WR Antonio Bryant's fumble. The
Bucs answered on their next drive
as FB B.J. Askew dived over the top
for a one-yard score following
Clifton Smith's 73-yard kickoff
return. However, Rivers put the
Chargers back on top with their
next drive following a formula that
would work for most of the afternoon:
Deep sideline outs to WR
Vincent Jackson and TE Antonio
Gates in the end zone.
Trailing 20-10 at halftime, the
Bucs stormed out in the second half
with a TD drive that took 13 plays,
78 yards and 7:19 to complete.
Facing a third-and-two at the seven,
Garcia faked to Askew and ran the
ball around left end himself for his
first touchdown of the year. After a
San Diego punt, Garcia put the Bucs
on top by scrambling to his right
and throwing a 71-yard touchdown
pass to Bryant, who was all alone
behind the defense.
The Bucs' lead was short-lived,
as Rivers found Gates on another
third-down scramble to complete a
63-yard drive on the next possession.
A long return by Sproles set
up another score and San Diego
clinched the game when Cason
caught a deflected pass and took it
the distance.
After the game, veteran center
Jeff Faine was asked if the
Buccaneers, who had been on the
verge of the playoffs just a few
weeks earlier, were out of their collective
groove.
"We are definitely not in our
groove," Faine replied. "We are not
flowing the way we should, we definitely
are not doing the things we
need to do. We are not executing,
we are not making plays, so we have
to change that.”
The Bucs have one more week
to make that happen.
action replay
TURNINGPOINT
Down by 10 at halftime, the
Buccaneers had stormed back
with a big third quarter to take
a 24-20 lead. San Diego took
some of the momentum back
with a touchdown on the first
play of the fourth period, but
there was still plenty of time for
Tampa Bay's rejuvenated offense
to put the home team back on top.
Minutes later, the Buccaneers
were punting from their own 31,
hoping to flip the field-position
advantage and set themselves
up to retake the lead. P Josh
Bidwell helped out by booming a
high, hanging 58-yard punt.
Unfortunately, San Diego return
man Darren Sproles negated
most of that with a hard-cutting
43-yard return that got the ball
back into Buccaneer territory.
The Chargers scored four plays
later and the Bucs would never
get any closer.
PLAYEROFTHEGAME
QB JEFF GARCIA
The Bucs have had some outstanding
individual performances
this season, even in losses, but
perhaps none were as gritty as
the one turned in by Garcia
against the Chargers. He threw
for 232 yards, often making plays
outside the pocket, and also led
the team with 45 yards and a
touchdown on the
ground. When his
head was split
open during
the tense
final
moments of
the game,
Garcia
played several
more
minutes with
blood streaming down
his face.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. Oakland Raiders
STATISTICS
Tampa Bay San Diego
342
111
231
20
43%
0
370
90
280
21
54%
3
Total Yards
Rushing Yds
Passing Yds
First Downs
3rd Down %
Takeaways
T