Buccaneers Get In Their Licks, Kicks

By STEVE SPRINGER

Nov. 29, 1999 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

SEATTLE —

Ugly ball.

That’s just another term for Tampa Bay Buccaneer football, which consists of a little offense, a lot of Warren Sapp making saps of opposing quarterbacks and a lot of Martin Gramatica making good on field-goal attempts.

So what does that make Seattle Seahawk football?

Sunday, it was hideous ball.

It used to be that way quite a bit, but rarely if at all this season until Sunday.

Reborn under new Coach Mike Holmgren, the Seahawks, on track for their best season in 15 years, were derailed by the Buccaneers, 16-3, Sunday in front of a stunned Kingdome crowd of 66,314.

An off day might be understandable for a Seattle team that had won five in a row to soar to 8-2 and a team-record three-game lead in the AFC West.

What turned the off day ugly was the fact that the Seahawks were beaten so soundly by a team with an already anemic offense that was further weakened in the third quarter when quarterback Trent Dilfer was lost, probably for the season, because of a broken right collarbone.

How did the Seahawks lose to a Buccaneer team that finished with only 156 total yards and untested rookie quarterback Shaun King at the controls?

Same old answers for Tampa Bay: Sapp and his fellow defenders, and Gramatica.

The Buccaneer defense picked off five of Seattle quarterback Jon Kitna’s passes, sacked him three times and limited the Seahawk ground game to 89 yards.

And Gramatica, who had kicked four field goals a week earlier, responded with three more, from 42, 40 and 37 yards.

“They’ve been talking about our playing ugly ball for a long time,” Tampa Bay Coach Tony Dungy said. “And I’m sure [Sunday] parts of it were ugly. But we’ve got seven wins [7-4] and I’m happy about that.”

But the joy of Sunday’s win against a team the Buccaneers had lost to in all four previous meetings was tempered somewhat by the sight of Dilfer on the sidelines in the closing minutes in street clothes, his right arm in a sling.

After Todd Peterson had kicked Seattle into the early lead with a 25-yard field goal, Dilfer had maneuvered his team into position for Gramatica to kick the first two of his three three-pointers, enabling the Buccaneers to leave the field at halftime with a 6-3 lead.

On the first series of the third quarter, on a second and 10 from his own 28-yard line, Dilfer went back to pass, looked and looked some more without spotting an open receiver.

Seattle defender Phillip Daniels made it into the Tampa Bay backfield but seemed to give up for an instant as Dilfer took off scrambling. But Dilfer slowed down, his eyes still searching downfield, and Daniels got his second wind, took off and caught up to Dilfer, slamming the quarterback to the artificial turf, his 6-foot-5, 263-pound frame landing squarely on Dilfer.

Dilfer, a six-year veteran, didn’t need the subsequent MRI to tell him what had happened. He heard the pop coming from his right shoulder.

“It’s every quarterback’s nightmare,” Dilfer said. “This is the one injury that is always around the corner for us if we land wrong. It’s one of those deals where, if you land on the artificial turf with a guy big enough and strong enough on top of you, it’s going to happen. The shoulder is going to break.”

When Dilfer was ineffective a few weeks ago, he was benched and veteran Eric Zeier was inserted by Dungy. But Sunday, Zeier was still sidelined because of a rib injury.

So on came King, a second-round draft choice out of Tulane, who had yet to throw a pass in the NFL.

But King, who is deeply religious, was confident his faith would carry him through.

“A man who prays isn’t worried,” King said. “And a man who is worried isn’t praying. I pray every day.”

Confidence or no confidence, King struggled at first. Of the first five times King went back to pass, he wound up with four incompletions and a sack.

He finally broke through with a six-yard completion to Jacquez Green on the final series of the third quarter.

And, early in the fourth quarter, King broke into the scoring column as well, connecting with tight end Patrick Hape, uncovered at the back of the end zone, for a two-yard touchdown pass.

Of course King’s defensive teammates made things considerably easier for him by getting the ball back to him as they had done for Dilfer earlier. Cornerbacks Ronde Barber, Brian Kelly and Donnie Abraham and linebackers Derrick Brooks and Alshermond Singleton each picked off a pass before Kitna’s long afternoon finally ended.

And always, it seemed, there was Sapp, barreling toward Kitna with the intent of separating the quarterback from the ball.

On one occasion in the fourth quarter, Sapp did just that, first getting his arms around Kitna, then his hands on the ball to knock it loose, and finally, managing to control the loose ball for the trifecta.

Sack.

Forced fumble.

Fumble recovery.

All by the same guy. For a defensive lineman, it doesn’t get any better than that.

“Sometimes the ball bounces away from you,” said the 6-2, 303-pound Sapp, “and sometimes it bounces to you. I got a lucky bounce.

“That was a big play, but that’s how we live. It’s just in us. We like banging the rock. You never know which hit will make the rock crack.”

Sunday, it was Kitna who cracked.

Ugly ball? It wasn’t pretty unless you happened to be wearing a Buccaneer uniform.

NFL / WEEK 12

ST. LOUIS 43, NEW ORLEANS 12

Kurt Warner was bad for a half, but it didn’t matter because the Rams were playing the Saints. Warner threw for 153 yards in the second half. Page 8

JACKSONVILLE 30, BALTIMORE 23