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Carolina beating has Bucs seeing bright spots

Staff photo by CLIFF McBRIDE

Sammy Stroughter led the team in receiving yards and ran a kickoff back 97 yards for a touchdown.

By JOE HENDERSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 18, 2009

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What gives you the most hope looking ahead to the 2010 season?

We already know where this season is headed for the Tampa Bay Bucs and we've all moved on to lowered expectations and occasional moments of satisfaction. So it was Sunday at RayJay, where the Bucs put up a scrap against Carolina and provided some thrills.

They made some plays.

They showed some fight.

Of course they lost, but at least the outcome was in doubt until DeAngelo Williams' one-yard scoring run with 29 seconds to go gave Carolina a 28-21 victory.

In the absence of any reasonable hope for anything better, close-but-no-cigar will have to do for now.

Sammy Stroughter ran a kickoff back 97 yards for a touchdown. Tanard Jackson ran an interception back for a TD. The Bucs came from 14 points behind to tie the game before Carolina just rammed it down their throat on the ground in the final drive.

"Those (big) plays don't make it more frustrating, that makes it more exciting," head coach Raheem Morris said. "Those are the encouraging parts, those are the things you love to see."

So be it.

We'd beat up on the Bucs' run defense, except we already know they can't stop the run. We'd castigate their inability to beat a team that was 1-3 entering the game, except Carolina was feeling the same way about the Bucs, now 0-6.

So what to look for?

We watch for signs of hope, and there were a few. That's where this season is now.

We saw Stroughter thrust into the role of kick returner after an amazingly cheap shot late in the first half by Carolina's Dante Wesley, who left his feet to flatten a defenseless Clifton Smith while he was waiting for a punt.

The Bucs responded by charging out to his defense. It's the most fight they've shown this year.

Wesley was kicked out of the game. He'd better be suspended.

For a hit like that, he ought to be prosecuted.

But Stroughter made his mark by scoring the third touchdown off a kickoff return in Bucs history. He was also the team's leading receiver.

"Whenever your number is called, you just have to try and make the most of it," Stroughter said. "I know aren't clicking right now, but we are a good team ... . We are just a little bit away."

Signs of hope.

Jackson's interception return in the fourth quarter was a beauty and it ignited the crowd, sparse as it was. For a few seconds there was actually compelling football going on there.

And with rebuilding fully engaged now that Gaines Adams has been traded, it's natural to wonder when Josh Freeman will take over at quarterback.

Well, what's the hurry?

I know his numbers aren't great but I like the way Josh Johnson plays. He keeps plays alive. He shows some fire. We'll find out about Freeman eventually, but going forward the Bucs will need to develop two young quarterbacks and right now they could do worse than to keep giving Johnson the ball.

Yeah, they're 0-6 with a trip to London coming next week against the Patriots.

There are many, many more losses coming. Of course, 0-16 remains a possibility – maybe even a probability.

But at least make it entertaining. Sunday's game was as close as they've come to that this year.

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