Bucs: 1 and out ? again
31-9 playoff loss to Eagles seals team's 2001 season and possibly the fate of head coach Tony Dungy.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - The Philadelphia Eagles are headed for Chicago and the second round of the playoffs, and Bill Parcells might be headed for Tampa Bay to replace Tony Dungy as the Buccaneers' coach.
Donovan McNabb threw for two touchdowns and 194 yards Saturday and ran for 57 more as the Eagles beat Tampa Bay 31-9 Saturday, the second straight season they've beaten the Bucs in the first round of the playoffs.
The Eagles' win was overshadowed by reports that this would be Dungy's last game after six seasons as the only winning coach in Bucs' history. He could be replaced by Parcells, who led the New York Giants to two Super Bowl victories, took New England to the Super Bowl and the New York Jets to the AFC title game.
The loss was typical of Tampa Bay's offensive failures -- the Bucs have had three starting quarterbacks and three offensive coordinators in the last three seasons and just don't score enough touchdowns -- this was the third straight playoff game they didn't score a TD.
In the first half, the Bucs matched Philadelphia drive for drive, but went to the locker room trailing 17-9 because they managed just three field goals while the Eagles scored two TDs to go with David Akers' field goal.
The Bucs' cold-weather jinx wasn't a factor -- the team entered the game 0-20 in games begun in temperatures under 40 degrees. It was a balmy 46 as the late-afternoon game began Saturday, but it made no difference.
The Eagles (12-5) will face the Bears (13-3) in Chicago next Saturday. The Bucs (9-8) go home -- wondering whether their future is under Dungy, Parcells or perhaps Steve Spurrier if the notoriously fickle Parcells decides not to take the job. Reports out of Tampa Bay say he already has agreed to a 5-year contract.
The Bucs took a 3-0 lead on their first possession after Dexter Jackson intercepted a pass from McNabb at the Philadelphia 39. McNabb's 39-yard scramble on the next series set up a 26-yard field goal by Akers that tied it.
From then on, Philadelphia dominated, with McNabb accounting for 161 of the Eagles' 190 first-half yards.
McNabb had both of his TD passes in the second quarter -- 15 yards to Chad Lewis and 23 yards on a swing pass to Duce Staley. The first TD was set up by a 40-yard pass to Todd Pinkston on which McNabb scrambled away from the Bucs' rush and found Pinkston all alone.
The Tampa Bay offense couldn't match that.
After Philadelphia's first score, the Bucs drove from their own 36 to the Eagles 10. But a third-down swing pass from Brad Johnson to Warrick Dunn -- a typical Tampa play -- lost 4 yards, and Tampa Bay had to settle for Martin Gramatica's 32-yard field goal.
The TD pass to Staley came with 35 seconds left in the half and made it 17-6.
The Bucs threatened again -- Brad Johnson finding Keyshawn Johnson for 46 yards to the Philadelphia 12 with 11 seconds left. But once again, the Bucs tried a swing pass that got little, and once again Gramatica settled for a field goal.
Philadelphia clinched it when Correll Buckhalter went 25 yards up the middle to make it 24-9 midway through the third quarter. McNabb even had a role in that -- his fake on a reverse helped open a huge hole in the middle of the Tampa defense.
The final TD came on Damon Moore's 59-yard interception return with 2:08 left. Moore had two interceptions, part of a defense that totally shut down Tampa Bay after halftime.
Bucs continue offensive woes in postseason
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Three offensive coordinators. Two quarterbacks. Same result.
For the third straight year, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' season ended because the offense couldn't find the end zone.
They gained only 258 yards -- 101 in the fourth quarter -- and lost 31-9 to the Philadelphia Eagles in an NFC wild-card game Saturday.
The Bucs had just 199 yards in a 21-3 loss to the Eagles in a wild-card game last season. They managed only two field goals in an 11-6 loss to the St. Louis Rams in the 1999 NFC championship game.
After each loss, Tampa changed offensive coordinators, going from Mike Shula to Les Steckel to Clyde Christensen. This time, the Bucs might get a new coach. Speculation that Bill Parcells is headed to Tampa to replace Tony Dungy overshadowed the game.
If Dungy is fired after six seasons, the offense will be most responsible for his departure. The Bucs signed Brad Johnson to a five-year, $28 million contract, hoping he could provide stability the offense lacked with Shaun King at quarterback last year. King took over for Trent Dilfer in 1999.
But Tampa had the league's second-worst ground game, and the passing attack ranked 15th mainly as a result of having to throw so much in an effort to catch up or win games in the fourth quarter.
The Bucs' inability to move the ball cost them on their first possession Saturday. After getting the ball at Philadelphia's 39 on an interception by Dexter Jackson, the offense couldn't get past the 17 and settled for a 36-yard field goal by Martin Gramatica.
Late in the first quarter, the Bucs took over at their own 35. Warrick Dunn carried twice up the middle for 8 yards, setting up a third-and-2. But a wide pitch to Dunn lost 3 yards, forcing a punt.
After the Eagles took a 10-3 lead in the second, the Bucs drove down the field. A 7-yard pass to Mike Alstott and a 15-yard face-mask penalty gave Tampa Bay a first down at the 15. But two runs by Alstott and a screen pass to Dunn failed to produce anything, forcing the Bucs to settle for a 32-yard field goal by Gramatica.
The worst blunder came late in the first half. A 46-yard pass from Johnson to Keyshawn Johnson gave the Bucs a first down at the 12 with 11 seconds left. Instead of taking one or two shots at the end zone with one timeout left, Johnson threw a 3-yard screen pass to Alstott that used up 9 seconds, forcing the Bucs to settle for their third field goal -- a 27-yarder.
