Buccaneers, Eagles Will Just Chill

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will hear about cold weather until they win in it. They’ll get another chance Sunday.

The Buccaneers are 0-19 when it has been 40 degrees or colder at kickoff. With forecasts of more than a foot of snow this weekend, it should be well below that at Veterans Stadium when Tampa plays the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday.

The weather forced the Buccaneers to change their travel plans. They originally planned to fly in on Saturday afternoon, but instead pushed their departure up to Friday night in hopes of avoiding delays or the prospect that their charter flight might not be able to land in Philadelphia.

But everyone from the Buccaneers to the Eagles is tired of hearing about weather being a factor.

“When you play better than the other team, you win,” Buccaneer Coach Tony Dungy said. “You have to know you’ll be uncomfortable for three hours, you’re not going to be as warm as you are used to being. But it’s not that big a deal. People are making a mistake if they are trying to read too much into it. Philadelphia has an outstanding team and that’s what we have to deal with, not the weather.”

Eagle defensive end Hugh Douglas took offense to all the talk about Tampa’s performance in cold weather.

“It’s like people are saying the only way we can beat Tampa is if it’s cold,” Douglas said. “Like that’s our crutch and we need that. I don’t care what the weather is. We’re going to go out and play football.”

The Buccaneers realize Donovan McNabb should be their biggest concern. McNabb received a rude introduction in his NFL debut as Tampa sacked him six times in a 19-5 victory on Sept. 19, 1999.

Warren Sapp had three of those sacks. But Sapp knows this isn’t the same quarterback.

“He’s grown up a lot and you can see it in his play and the way his team is performing,” Sapp said.