Buccaneers Earn Right to Get Testaverde After 21-17 Loss to Cardinals

Tampa Bay Buccaneer Coach Leeman Bennett Sunday said he isn’t sure yet if the club will use the first pick of the April 28 NFL draft on Miami quarterback Vinny Testaverde.

“Myself, I haven’t spent that much time on personnel,” Bennett said after Tampa Bay sealed the top pick for the second straight year with a 21-17 loss Sunday to the St. Louis Cardinal. “I know he’s the No. 1-rated right now. But we’ve still got all the all-star games and bowl games to go. We’ll have to see what happens.”

Testaverde repeated Sunday that he would be happy to play for any NFL team that drafts him, while Buccaneer owner Hugh Culverhouse said he is not ruling out a trade.

The Buccaneers were assured of gaining the top pick when rookie Vai Sikahema returned two punts for touchdowns to spark the Cardinals to the win. Tampa Bay finished 2-14 with its seventh straight loss. The Buccaneers own the rights to the first pick in the draft for the sixth time in the franchise’s 11-year history.

“It’s good to get the season over with even though it was another loss,” said Bennett, whose job may be in jeopardy because of the club’s poor record. “I thought the players gave good effort. We just weren’t strong enough to win.”

Sikahema, who was selected for the NFC Pro Bowl team as a kick returner, ran back two Frank Garcia punts in the second quarter for touchdowns runs of 71 and 60 yards before a crowd of 23,957--the second-lowest in the Cardinals’ 26 years in St. Louis. In Gene Stallings’ first year as coach, the Cardinals finished 4-11-1 for their worst record since moving to St. Louis.

St. Louis quarterback Neil Lomax, who rushed for a touchdown, completed 19 of 31 passes for 144 yards and two interceptions. J.T. Smith caught five passes to set a single-season St. Louis record of 80 receptions and 1,014 yards. The Cardinals were hurt by the loss of Stump Mitchell, who suffered a knee injury and will undergo surgery today at Jewish Hospital.

Tampa Bay quarterback Steve Young completed 13 of 34 passes for 157 yards and two interceptions. Young’s receivers dropped pass after pass.

“I’ve done what I can,” Young said. “I’ve given it everything I can give. I’ll just let the situation rest where it may.”

“I’ve learned a lot and I fought a lot. I’ll never look back; I’ll keep going forward and whatever happens, happens. I’m getting married in January if she’ll still marry me after all of this.”

Sikahema, a 10th-round draft choice out of Brigham Young, broke two tackles on his first touchdown run. He caught the punt along the right sideline, headed to the middle of the field and then streaked down the right sideline for the score with 13:41 left in the first half to tie the score 7-7.

With 3:27 left in the half, Sikahema bolted 60 yards up the middle for his second touchdown. Tampa Bay’s Chris Washington grabbed him at the seven, but Sikahema dragged him to the three before diving for the end zone.

“I was just trying to make something happen,” Sikahema said of his touchdown runs. “On the first one, I got a terrific block. On the second one, I thought they had me and I just tried to dive over.”

Sikahema wound up with 145 yards on four punt returns for the afternoon, giving him 502 yards for the year, to break teammate Mitchell’s old Cardinal team record of 425 yards.

It marked only the sixth time in NFL history that a player has scored twice on punt returns in one game. The last time was on Oct. 11, 1981, when the Rams’ LeRoy Irvin did it against the Atlanta Falcons.