Buccaneers Give Vick a Lesson in Reality

Stop the revolution, Michael Vick wants to get off.

If the Atlanta quarterback felt a touch of vertigo Sunday, it’s because Tampa Bay’s top-ranked defense spun him every direction, knocked him helmet over heels, and tried to corkscrew him into the Raymond James Stadium turf. The final tally: a 34-10 victory for the Buccaneers (10-3), and a revolting afternoon for the NFL’s Michael Jordan.

“We shut down what they said was unstoppable,” said defensive end Simeon Rice, part of a Buccaneer defense that limited Vick to 15 yards rushing and ended an eight-game unbeaten streak by Atlanta (8-4-1).

Consider this: With less than two minutes remaining in the third quarter -- just before Vick’s longest completion of the day -- his quarterback rating was a bottom-scraping 19.5 and the Falcons had amassed only 79 yards and four first downs.

“Those guys have speed,” said Vick, who has averaged eight yards rushing against the Buccaneers, 64.8 in his other 10 games. “They have speed that other teams don’t have. And when you have a defense with guys that can move around and can run as fast as the guys you have on offense, you’re going to have to fight for everything you get.”

The star quarterback of this game was Tampa Bay’s Brad Johnson, who completed 23 of 31 passes for 276 yards and four touchdowns. Two of those touchdowns went to Joe Jurevicius, who finished with a game-high eight catches for 100 yards.

The Buccaneers dominated in total yards, 421 to 181; first downs, 22 to 10; and time of possession, 33:58 to 26:02.

In his last five games, Johnson has 15 touchdown passes, one interception. And in the last three games, he has emerged triumphant against the NFC’s two most acclaimed quarterbacks: Green Bay’s Brett Favre and Vick.

At least temporarily, Tampa Bay’s performance should quiet those people who bemoan the offense’s No. 24 ranking and anemic running game, which is ranked second to last.

“Everything has been fairly negative,” Tampa Bay Coach Jon Gruden said of what he hears from “stat freaks” who criticize the offense. “With our players, they’re very sensitive to some of those things -- and they should be -- but there have been some promising things to happen offensively. But we’ve got to earn our respect, as a team and as an offensive club.”

The offense made up some ground Sunday. The resounding message, though, was the Buccaneer defense can’t be budged.

“The talk all week was, ‘How do you stop Michael Vick? How do you stop Michael Vick,’ ” Gruden said. “I didn’t hear anybody in America say, ‘How do you go up against this defense?’ We haven’t been chopped liver all season.”

It was the second time this season Vick was pushed through the Buccaneer meat grinder. In his first game against them -- a 20-6 victory by Tampa Bay two months ago -- Vick missed the second half because of a strained left shoulder. That left everyone wondering what might have happened had he been around for the whole game. Sunday, everyone got their answer.

The performance of the defense was even more impressive because it mostly came without the help of Pro Bowl safety John Lynch, who suffered a neck injury in the first quarter and watched the rest of the game from the sideline. He walked off the field on his own power and X-rays taken of his neck revealed no damage.

The Buccaneers intercepted one of Vick’s passes -- two if you count the pick by linebacker Derrick Brooks, whose 74-yard return for a touchdown was wiped out by an encroachment penalty -- and sacked him twice.

Vick didn’t see what hit him in the third quarter when he was flattened from behind by defensive end Greg Spires while dropping back to pass.

“The guy’s like Houdini back there in the pocket,” Spires said. “For me to get a sack on him, I was very happy. I hope they got a picture of that because I want to put that poster on my wall.”

Vick, who rushed for 173 yards against Minnesota last week, made one highlight-reel play against the Buccaneers. He dropped back in the second quarter, rolled left then right, avoided sack attempts by Warren Sapp and Rice, and just got off a pass to tight end Alge Crumpler, who made a one-handed grab for a 20-yard gain.

It was Crumpler who scored Atlanta’s lone touchdown, on a five-yard reception early in the fourth quarter. That also was the only touchdown the Falcons have scored against Tampa Bay this season.

The Buccaneers, who were coming off a 23-20 loss at New Orleans, have proven they can bounce back strong after defeat. They lost their opener to the Saints, then won five in a row. Then, after a loss at Philadelphia, they rebounded by winning four in a row.