Table of contents |
2 Tampa Bay Buccaneers 48, Oakland Raiders 21 |
Playoffs
January 26, 2003, San Diego, California
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 48, Oakland Raiders 21
Before the Game
The Jets squeaked into the playoffs on the last week of the regular season. New York QB Chad Pennington, making his playoff debut, threw three touchdowns. His counterpart on the Colts, Peyton Manning, was not as spectacular, completing less than half his passes and throwing two interceptions.
The Packers lost at home for the first time in playoff history as Atlanta QB Michael Vick continued his hot streak. The Falcons also blocked a punt that was recovered for a touchdown and caused five turnovers.
The Steelers, behind journeyman quarterback Tommy Maddox, exploded for 22 fourth-quarter points as the Browns suffered one of their famous playoff collapses. A 3-yard touchdown run by Chris Fuamatu-Ma'afala with 54 seconds left capped the game-winning 58 yard drive.
The Steelers' comeback earlier in the day was matched by San Francisco's similar late drive. Down 38-14 in the third quarter, the 49ers' offense led by Jeff Garcia fired up, with Tai Streets scoring what proved to be the game-winning touchdown with one minute left. The Giants still had a chance, though, but a botched snap by Trey Junkin on the final play resulted in a field goal attempt turning into a feeble pass play. After the Giants were penalized for having an illegal man downfield on the play, the game ended. But it was revealed the following day that he had checked in as an eligible receiver, and that the Giants should have gotten another chance to win.
- byes: AFC: Oakland Raiders, Tennessee Titans; NFC: Philadelphia Eagles, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- byes: AFC: Oakland Raiders, Tennessee Titans; NFC: Philadelphia Eagles, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Divisional Round:
- 1/11/2003: AFC: Tennessee Titans 34, Pittsburgh Steelers 31 (OT)
- 1/11/2003: AFC: Tennessee Titans 34, Pittsburgh Steelers 31 (OT)
- 1/11/2003: NFC: Philadelphia Eagles 20, Atlanta Falcons 6
- 1/11/2003: NFC: Philadelphia Eagles 20, Atlanta Falcons 6
- 1/12/2003: NFC: Tampa Bay Buccaneers 31, San Francisco 49ers 6
- 1/12/2003: NFC: Tampa Bay Buccaneers 31, San Francisco 49ers 6
- 1/12/2003: AFC: Oakland Raiders 30, New York Jets 10
- 1/12/2003: AFC: Oakland Raiders 30, New York Jets 10
- Conference Championships:
- 1/19/2003: NFC: Tampa Bay Buccaneers 27, Philadelphia Eagles 10
- 1/19/2003: NFC: Tampa Bay Buccaneers 27, Philadelphia Eagles 10
- 1/19/2003: AFC: Oakland Raiders 41, Tennessee Titans 24
- 1/19/2003: AFC: Oakland Raiders 41, Tennessee Titans 24
The Raiders were favored to win their first Super Bowl in 19 years during the lead-up to the game. However, Buccaneers coach Jon Gruden, who coached the Raiders until 2001, was thought to still have an idea of what Oakland's game plans would be, and the game turned into a blowout. The fact that Raiders' center Barrett Robbins went missing for most of the week and ended up in the hospital did not help the team either.
Raiders' quarterback Rich Gannon threw a Super Bowl record five interceptions, three of which were returned for touchdowns. Bucs safety Dexter Jackson, who had two of those interceptions, was named MVP. Dwight Smith also had two interceptions for Tampa Bay.
The Raiders took an early 3-0 lead after Charles Woodson returned an interception by Tampa quarterback Brad Johnson to the Bucs' 36-yard line. Sebastian Janikowski kicked a 40-yard field goal seven plays later to open the scoring.
The Buccaneers came back to tie the game on the next drive on a 31-yard field goal by Martin Grammatica, and then took the lead on another Grammatica field goal (from 43 yards) early in the second quarter. Shortly afterward, Tampa Bay then scored their first touchdown, a 2-yard run by fullback Mike Alstott. Another touchdown by wide receiver Keenan McCardell put Tampa Bay up 20-3 at halftime.
McCardell scored a second touchdown to open the scoring in the third quarter. 43 seconds later, Dwight Smith returned a Rich Gannon interception 44 yards for yet another touchdown.
Oakland finally got in the end zone late in the third quarter when Jerry Porter caught a 39-yard pass in stride. After initially being ruled out of bounds, it was determined that Porter had one foor in the end zone and used it to drag the other foot out. The two-point conversion failed, so the Raiders were still down 34-9. The Raiders scored two more touchdowns in the fourth quarter, the first when a Tom Tupa punt was blocked and returned by Eric Johnson, and the second on a 48-yard pass to Jerry Rice. In both cases, Oakland went for two points and could not convert. The score was now 34-21.
At this point, the Raiders had visions of a miraculous combeback, but that was thwarted when Derrick Brooks returned an interception 44 yards for a touchdown with 1:18 to play in the game. The victory for Tampa Bay was sealed when Dwight Smith scored on another interception return with two seconds left.The Game