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Bucs Defense Comes Up Big During First Half

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By BOB HURST

Tribune correspondent

Published: September 22, 2008

CHICAGO - Tampa Bay's defensive players gave credit to the offense for bailing them out after Sunday's overtime win at Soldier Field. But they shouldn't have been so hard on themselves.

Although Chicago shredded the Bucs defense in the second half, it was the big-play capability of the defense in the first 30 minutes that played a huge role in Tampa's 27-24 victory.

Three sacks, an end-zone interception and a pick returned for a touchdown helped the Buccaneers take a 14-9 lead at halftime.

After Brian Griese was intercepted on Tampa's opening possession, cornerback Ronde Barber sacked Bears quarterback Kyle Orton for a 7-yard loss, forcing a field goal.

"That was a huge sequence," Bucs' coach Jon Gruden said. "And then we held them at the end of the ballgame and gave our offense a chance. There were some critical defensive stops today."

Early in the second quarter, middle linebacker Barrett Ruud stole the ball out of Matt Forte's hands in the end zone, denying the Bears a 34-yard touchdown pass.

"Once he turned, his eyes got big and I figured it was the real deal," Ruud said. "I knew he had a half-step on me and I knew by his eyes that the ball was coming our way.

"I tried to go up when he went up and try to put my hands between the ball. I tried to get as much of the ball in his hands as I could and on the way down, I felt it kind of rolling down my body and luckily I got my hands on it just before it hit the ground."

It was another key play in the red zone for the Bucs defense.

"Last week and this week our red-zone defense was solid, especially in the first half of this game," Barber said.

But Barber and the secondary weren't so sharp in the second half, when Orton went 5-for-5 for 74 yards on a third-quarter scoring drive, and 5-for-5 for 57 yards on a fourth-quarter TD march. That resulted in a 19-yard scoring pass to Brandon Lloyd, who got by Barber in the end zone. That made it 24-14 Chicago.

"Two of their scoring drives in the second half, they capitalized and we weren't able to get off the field," Barber said. "They had us in the right coverage. We're bailing out there, they're running three steps and I'm kind of in no-man's land.

"At the end of the day it ended up being a dogfight and our offense bailed our defense out today, no doubt about it."

The biggest defensive play of the first half belonged to defensive end Gaines Adams. After Orton was rattled on a 9-yard sack by Kevin Carter, he threw a pass into the hands of Adams, who rumbled 45 yards down the left sideline for a touchdown. The play was ruled down at the 1, but the replay review showed Adams sneaked the ball over the goal line before going out of bounds. That gave the Bucs a 14-6 lead with 5:26 to play in the second quarter.

It was Adams' first career interception and touchdown.

"I think it was a screen and I just read the play perfectly and the quarterback just threw the ball to me," Adams said. "I was fortunate to have caught the ball and ran it in.

"I was just excited. It's a great feeling. Hopefully there's more to come."

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