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5 Plays That Made A Difference

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 21, 2007

The Bucs gained 39 yards on their second, third and fourth plays from scrimmage, but an incomplete pass and a sack of Jeff Garcia forced them to punt from their 44 at the end of their first drive. The Bucs didn't succeed in getting the ball away. Corey Smith cut through the middle and easily blocked the kick. When Casey FitzSimmons fell on it at the Bucs' 39, the stage was set for the Lions' first score, a 34-yard Jason Hanson field goal that came six plays later.

It has been said that the simplest thing anyone does in football is turn around and hand the ball off. That may be true, but Jeff Garcia had a difficult time handing the ball off to Earnest Graham on a first-and-10 play at the Lions' 37 eight plays into the Bucs' second drive. Garcia's handoff bounced off Graham's chest and into the hands of defensive tackle Shaun Rogers. Rogers lost the ball for a moment, but he eventually fell on it, giving the Lions possession at the Bucs' 49. Five plays later, Kevin Jones ran for one of his 42 first-quarter yards to help the Lions increase their lead to 10-0.

Penalties were a problem for the Bucs on Sunday, and never were they more of a problem than at the end of the third-and-6 play the Bucs ran from the Lions' 25 late in the second quarter. The Bucs had gained 11 yards to the 14 off a Jeff Garcia dump-off to B.J. Askew, but a personal-foul penalty on guard Davin Joseph erased the gain and pushed the Bucs back to the Lions' 29. Three plays later, Matt Bryant pushed a 40-yard field goal try wide left. That left the Bucs with nothing to show for one of their better drives of the game. It also allowed the Lions to use the time left before halftime to drive down the field and tack on three more points.

It was late in the third quarter, and the Bucs were driving again. Trailing 16-7, you could feel the momentum shifting back their way. After all, they already had overcome one mistake on the drive - a delay-of-game penalty they somehow took following a timeout nearly a dozen plays earlier. They wouldn't overcome the next one. It came on a first-and-goal play from the 1-yard line. When Garcia pulled out from behind center and the ball didn't come with him, the Lions took both the ball and the momentum back when defensive end Jared DeVries recovered the fumble. Not long after, the Lions secured the victory as well.

Following that last turnover, the Bucs defense needed to get the ball back - fast. Instead, Lions quarterback Jon Kitna dinked and dunked them with short passes for a few yards, Kevin Jones piled on a few yards of his own, and then came the hammer to the gut. Wide receiver Calvin Johnson, whom the Bucs considered trading up for on draft day, slipped past Tampa Bay once more, this time on his way to the end zone. On a first-down end-around run, he clipped off 32 yards to score the touchdown that put this one out of reach.

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