| | No. 1 ranked offense goes up against top defense
Associated Press
SAN DIEGO -- A Super Bowl of the high seas: the Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. the Oakland Raiders.
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Raiders favored
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LAS VEGAS -- Oddsmakers like the Oakland Raiders in the
Super Bowl just about as much as bettors do.
Before the Raiders were even finished beating Tennessee on
Sunday, they were made a 3½-point favorite over the Tampa Bay
Buccaneers in two of the city's largest sports books.
The line quickly moved to 4 points in some books and 5 points in
others as the early money was bet on the favored Raiders.
Stardust sports book director Bob Scucci said he posted a
3½-point line with a little more than 2 minutes left in the
Oakland-Tennessee game, and quickly found out the Raiders were
going to get a lot of action.
"I think we are going to be really heavy on the Raiders,''
Scucci said.
-- The Associated Press |
All that will be missing is the pirate ship.
Next weekend at Qualcomm Stadium, Tampa Bay coach Jon Gruden,
who left the Raiders this season, bringing draft picks and millions
of dollars to Oakland in exchange, meets his former team.
"I've got a lot of respect for where I come from,'' Gruden
said. "I do have some close relationships with some of those
players.''
His former boss, Al Davis, has been a thorn for the NFL for
nearly three decades. Is Paul Tagliabue looking forward to the
possibility of handing the Vince Lombardi Trophy to Davis?
And the Raiders have the league's No. 1 offense. Guess who has
the top defense?
How delicious.
Starting with Gruden vs. his buddies out west.
"We thought this could happen,'' said wide receiver Tim Brown,
the longest-tenured Raider. "For it to come to fruition, you
really can't dream about it. We're going to go get Jon.''
While the Buccaneers (14-4) coldly tore apart the Eagles 27-10
in frigid Philadelphia, the Raiders (13-5) rode the passing and
running of Rich Gannon past Tennessee 41-24.
Gruden, remember, first brought the journeyman Gannon to
Oakland. And now Gannon -- the 2002 NFL MVP -- stands in his way.
"We have some unfinished business,'' Gannon said. "We'll go
down and play our best game next week.''
The Raiders opened as a 3½-point favorite. Oakland and Tampa Bay
have not played since 1999, when the Raiders romped 45-0.
This will be the first Super Bowl for the Bucs, while the
Raiders have not been there since winning their third NFL title
after the 1983 season.
"We're a confident bunch and knew what we had to do to get it
done,'' Bucs All-Pro defensive tackle Warren Sapp said. "We didn't
have to talk about it, just let the pads do the talking.''
The NFC winners have been one of the NFL's worst franchises
since their inception, when the Buccaneers went 0-14 in 1976, then
lost the first 12 games the next season. At one point, from
1983-96, the Bucs had no winning seasons and lost at least 10 games
in 13 of 14 years.
Less than a minute into the NFC title game, it looked like the
sad-sack Bucs had returned as they fell behind 7-0. From there on,
however, Tampa Bay played like champions.
Now the Bucs get a chance to be NFL champions, taking on the
high-powered Raiders, who survived 14 penalties for 127 yards by
getting three touchdown passes and a TD run from Gannon.
Tampa Bay used its usual approach of aggressive defense and
enough timely offense to keep Philadelphia off-balance all day.
Oakland got big plays from its cast of veterans, from Gannon to
Brown to Jerry Rice to Bill Romanowski to Rod Woodson.
The Bucs had a plus-14 turnover differential this season, and
probably have more playmakers on defense than offense. In ranking
first against the pass and in overall defense, the Bucs had a
league-high 31 interceptions. Defensive player of the year Derrick
Brooks had four runbacks for touchdowns this season, but cornerback
Ronde Barber was Sunday's star.
"It was a play that I have to make,'' Barber said after he iced
the win with a 92-yard interception with 3:12 remaining. "I'd be
kicking myself for the next five weeks if I don't make that
interception. The touchdown was a bonus for it.
"We've got something bigger we are looking for. We are on a
path of destiny and we don't want to mess it up.''
The Raiders messed up enough times to keep matters close against
the Titans. But Tennessee had two critical fumbles and a botched
punt that were more costly, and the Raiders never stopped being
aggressive -- on Sunday or any time this season.
"We fought hard all year long, kept fighting,'' Rice said. "We
lost four games and we fought through it. And now we are going to
the Super Bowl.''
If the Bucs aren't as generous as the Titans, Oakland could have
a difficult time finding the end zone. However, Tampa hasn't faced
as versatile an offense as Oakland's all season.
And the Raiders are likely to have more fans on hand, given the
proximity of both teams' homes.
"One more to go,'' said Sapp. "We ain't going for no
vacation.''
Neither is Oakland.
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