Buccaneers Return to Stingy Ways

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are peaking and peeking--their eyes on the playoffs.

Back in the playoff contention after appearing eliminated three weeks ago, the Buccaneers beat the reeling Pittsburgh Steelers, 16-3, in the rain on Sunday for their first three-game winning streak of the season.

Mike Alstott had a three-yard touchdown run and the Buccaneer defense forced five turnovers. The Steelers (7-7), losers of three in a row, have not scored a touchdown in nine quarters.

Tampa Bay (7-7) is at .500 for only the second time this season.

The Buccaneers began the day tied with Arizona and New Orleans for the final NFC wild-card playoff spot. The Cardinals beat Philadelphia in overtime to keep pace, while the Saints lost to Atlanta.

“The greatest thing about this victory is we finally showed some consistency,” quarterback Trent Dilfer said. “We won all three of these games the way we like to--by playing unbelievably good defense, running the ball and making key plays in the passing game.”

Michael Husted kicked field goals of 39, 37 and 21 yards for the Buccaneers.

“As long we take care of business,” defensive tackle Warren Sapp said, “we will be all right.”

The AFC wild-card picture is more jumbled, but the loss was costly for Pittsburgh, which loses out in most tiebreakers.

The Steelers were limited to 168 yards total offense, and Kordell Stewart, benched by Coach Bill Cowher in the third quarter, was intercepted three times and Mike Tomczak once.

An upset Stewart could be seen lobbying Cowher to get back into the game. He did after Tomczak fumbled and threw an interception in two possessions.