SAN DIEGO – Days before he took the field to confront a pair of living legends, Buccaneer cornerback Ronde Barber said “It’s almost like an honor to go against these guys. They were great players when I was playing Pop Warner, it seems like.”
Barber was talking about Jerry Rice and Tim Brown, Oakland’s starting receivers, who one day will both be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. After what transpired down on the field last night at Qualcomm Stadium, retirement may be sooner than anyone anticipated for a duo that was anything but dynamic.
This was no contest, as Tampa’s jet-quick secondary, which at times gets overshadowed by Warren Sapp on the line and Derrick Brooks at linebacker, came through with a dominating performance, turning Super Bowl XXXVII into a showcase event. The Bucs won easily, 48-21, and made Oakland’s passing game look feeble.
That high-powered passing game of the Raiders, the No. 1-ranked offense in the league? Left behind in the Bay Area. Sure, receiver Jerry Porter hauled in a 39-yard touchdown pass late in the third quarter, and Rice finally found the end zone on a 48-yard TD catch in the fourth. But it was far too little, too late.
This was a startling, devastating mismatch. Rice and Brown looked old and slow, while the Bucs rocketed around the field as if they had jet packs on their backs.
A rout was already in the works when, with 4:47 left in the third, nickel back Dwight Smith stepped in front of Rice on the right sideline, intercepted a weak Rich Gannon throw and sprinted 44 yards for the touchdown that inflated Tampa’s cushion to an unfathomable 34-3. Rice, bumped to the grass by Smith, laid motionless as Smith sped on by, a fitting sight on this night.
Smith put the capper on the rout when he picked off Gannon again and raced 50 yards for a second TD with two seconds remaining in the game. Linebacker Derrick Brooks also returned an interception for a touchdown as Gannon was picked off a Super Bowl record five times.
The tone was set early. Tampa free safety Dexter Jackson had three interceptions all season, but he picked Gannon off twice in the first half, becoming the first player in Super Bowl history with two first-half interceptions. Those thefts, along with blanket coverage, gave the Bucs’ defense bark and bite.
Brown caught a pass good for nine yards on Oakland’s third play, but that was it for the Raiders’ receivers in the first quarter. Neither Brown nor Rice was able to escape the clutches of the Bucs’ secondary, leaving Gannon no option other than to dump the ball off to running back Charlie Garner.
Late in the first quarter, Jackson anticipated beautifully and stepped in front of tight end Doug Jolley for the interception. On the play, Gannon was flushed out of the pocket, scrambled to his right and never saw Jackson lurking. Jackson returned the ball nine yards to the Tampa 49, providing the field position the Bucs needed to mount a drive that ended with a field goal for a 6-3 lead.
Early in the second quarter, Tampa’s defense again befuddled Gannon. Barber rushed in on a blitz. Gannon pump-faked left, looked right and must have figured he had man-to-man coverage when he fired to Porter. Wrong. Jackson made like a centerfielder, stepping in for the interception, and speeding off on a return to the Oakland 45.