FIRST QUARTER
No.1 defense looks like it
Nothing that happened in the first quarter indicated that the Bucs wouldn’t play like the NFL’s No. 1 defense one more time. Oakland’s top-ranked offense managed a paltry 29 yards in the first quarter and needed help from its defense to score its only points of the first 15 minutes, which ended with the score tied 3-3.
The defenses took the high ground early, and the Raiders made the first move. Regan Upshaw, a former first-round pick of the Bucs, pressured Brad Johnson and hit him as he threw, leading to a seriously underthrown pass that cornerback Charles Woodson intercepted and returned to the Bucs’ 36, setting up Sebastian Janikowski’s 40-yard field goal. That was it for Oakland’s offense in the quarter.
On the ensuing kickoff, instant replay kept the Raiders from taking charge. Officials on the field ruled the Bucs’ Aaron Stecker had fumbled and the Raiders recovered on the Tampa Bay 30. Replay clearly showed otherwise and the Bucs retained possession.
Tampa Bay then drove 58 yards to tie the score on Martin Gramatica’s 31-yard field goal.
Shane Lechler’s punting was allowing the Raiders to gradually win the field-position duel. But then Tampa Bay free safety Dexter Jackson intercepted and gave the Bucs the ball at their 49, indicating again that the Bucs’ defense had taken control.
MVP: Dexter Jackson, Tampa Bay
SECOND QUARTER
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Bucs’ rushers take control
If Oakland’s offense had a plan to attack the Tampa Bay defense, it remained tucked away in one of Al Davis’ notebooks as the second quarter unfolded. Gannon threw a second interception to Jackson, and defensive end Simeon Rice recorded his second sack.
And Tampa Bay running backs Michael Pittman and Mike Alstott allowed the Bucs to control the ball as they outscored the Raiders 17-0 to take a 20-3 lead at halftime. Pittman carried six times for 47 yards in the second quarter, giving him 75 yards on 12 carries by halftime.
The Bucs quickly cashed in on the momentum Jackson’s first interception gave them, driving for a 43-yard field goal by Gramatica and a 6-3 lead.
But just two plays later, Jackson did it again, stepping in front of a Gannon pass to kill another Oakland possession.
The Raiders continued to struggle, and their special teams let them down. Karl Williams’ 25-yard punt return set up the Bucs on the Raiders’ 27. The drive ended with Alstott’s 2-yard TD run.
As halftime approached, Tampa Bay continued to dominate time of possession. Alstott caught a 12-yard pass to the 5-yard line, setting up Brad Johnson’s 5-yard TD pass to Keenan McCardell for a 20-3 lead with 0:30 to play.
In the off-season, the Bucs signed Pittman and let Warrick Dunn leave for just this situation–they wanted a traditional tailback who could get yards any way needed.
MVP: Michael Pittman, Tampa Bay
THIRD QUARTER
Smith looks like supersub
It’s not unusual for one unit of a team to feed off the success of the other. And in the third quarter it appeared Tampa Bay’s defensive dominance had sparked the Bucs’ offense to play over its collective head, virtually ending any hopes for a Raiders rally.
There was Joe Jurevicius, making the kind of key plays he had in the NFC championship game and in the first quarter of this game. There was Brad Johnson, shaking off a poor first quarter and throwing with authority, completing 5-of-6 for 73 yards in a drive that ended with his 8-yard TD pass to Keenan McCardell that made it 27-3.
Of course, it’s easier to do all of this when the league’s best defense is playing like one of the best of all time.
When defensive end Greg Spires, a surprising force in the game, left with an injury, the Bucs found another relatively unknown hero in reserve defensive back Dwight Smith. The Bucs were using five defensive backs, and Smith stepped in front of Jerry Rice, intercepted a pass and returned it 44 yards for a 34-3 lead.
It mattered little that just moments later Smith let Jerry Porter get behind him for a 39-yard touchdown. The Raiders went for the two-point conversion but neglected to block Simeon Rice, who sacked Gannon to keep the score at 34-9 as the quarter ended.
MVP: Dwight Smith, Tampa Bay
FOURTH QUARTER
Brooks blunts Raiders’ rally
The fourth quarter of a lopsided Super Bowl can easily become a 15-minute coronation. The Raiders didn’t seem to be in the mood to watch such a show, though they were behind 34-9 and no team has overcome more than a 10-point deficit to win a Super Bowl.
The game will go down in history as an old-fashioned Super Bowl blowout, but the Raiders put up a fight at the beginning of the fourth quarter, scoring on Eric Johnson’s 13-yard return of a blocked punt and Rich Gannon’s 48-yard pass to Jerry Rice, making the score 34-21.
The score gave Rice another line in the record book: the oldest player to score a TD in a Super Bowl at 40 years 3 months 13 days.
That was trivia on a day Tampa Bay made history, becoming the first team to score three defensive touchdowns in a Super Bowl. Two of the defensive scores came in the fourth quarter as the Bucs won the first NFL title in their 27 seasons.
With 1:18 remaining, linebacker Derrick Brooks showed why he was the NFL’s defensive player of the year. Brooks, who scored four touchdowns in the regular season, picked off Gannon and returned it 44 yards for a touchdown.
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And when Dwight Smith capped it all off with his second interception return for a touchdown, this one a 50-yarder with two seconds left in the game, the scoring was over–and the history was made.
MVP: Derrick Brooks, Tampa Bay