Champs Feeling Pain of Life Without Elway

The stage was set for another Denver fourth-quarter comeback, only this time there was no John Elway to lead it.

Tampa Bay’s defense lived up to its ranking as the stingiest in the NFL, preying on Brian Griese’s inexperience in the closing minutes to hold off the winless defending Super Bowl champions for a 13-10 victory.

The defense once again saved the day for the Buccaneers, whose offense has had trouble scoring and had only 243 total yards against the banged-up Broncos.

Said Warren Sapp, Tampa Bay’s Pro Bowl defensive tackle. “Elway could not have got them down the field. They were going to lose this ball game.”

Denver became the first defending Super Bowl champion to begin a season with three consecutive losses in a nonstrike season. “Teams have started out slowly and come back strong, so hopefully we’ll be able to do that,” said Bronco Coach Mike Shanahan.

But no reigning champion has ever dug itself out of a deeper hole to successfully defend its title. The Dallas Cowboys were 0-2 when Emmitt Smith ended a contract holdout in 1993, then went on to win the Super Bowl again.

Terrell Davis, the NFL’s leading rusher last season with 2,008 yards, failed to gain 100 yards for the third consecutive game, getting 53 in 19 carries. And Griese failed to lead the Broncos--who had only 173 total yards--to a first down on two possessions in the final 4:08.

The Buccaneers (2-1) intercepted Griese once, setting up one of Martin Gramatica’s two field goals, and he was sacked twice on the last two drives.

Mike Alstott rushed for a career-high 131 yards and had a 28-yard touchdown run in the first quarter for Tampa Bay.