Winning Could Be Bad for Buccaneers, Titans

To the victors go the spoils ... and in the case of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Tennessee Titans, the fruits of victory appear to be spoiled.

By routing the San Francisco 49ers, 31-6, Sunday, Tampa Bay earned itself a berth in the NFC championship game and a trip to Philadelphia, where the Buccaneers are winless in their last three visits, getting outscored, 72-22, in the process.

A day earlier, Tennessee hung on to beat Pittsburgh in overtime, earning the Titans a spot in the AFC final and a trip to Oakland, where the Titans last played on Sept. 29 and lost, 52-25.

If these are the rewards for a job well done in the divisional playoffs, the Buccaneers and Titans should have taken a closer look at the fine print in the rewards package.

The Buccaneers overwhelmed Jeff Garcia and a 49er team that proved conclusively what the rest of the country suspected ever since the chaotic ending to their 39-38 wild-card victory over the New York Giants: The 49ers didn’t belong in the second round.

The Buccaneers forced five San Francisco turnovers, sacked Garcia four times and scored four touchdowns -- their first postseason touchdowns since the second round in 1999.

For their effort, the Buccaneers have been sentenced to four quarters of hard time in their personal Alcatraz, Philadelphia’s Veterans Stadium. A brief history:

* 2000: After a stop-start 10-6 regular season leaves them the NFC’s second wild card, the Buccaneers open the playoffs in Philadelphia and lose, 21-3.

* 2001: With 2000 looking like the good old days, the Buccaneers stumbled through a 9-7 regular season, culminated by a 17-13 home loss to the Eagles in their finale. A rematch is set for the next week in the wild-card round. Tampa Bay loses, 31-9, and Tony Dungy is fired as coach.

* 2002: Jon Gruden, former Eagle offensive coordinator, is hired to replace Dungy and find a way past Philadelphia in the playoffs. On Sept. 29, he gets a test run at the Vet. Brad Johnson passes for only 124 yards before being replaced by Rob Johnson in the fourth quarter, both Johnsons are sacked a combined six times and the Eagles win again, 20-10. The lone Tampa Bay touchdown: an 11-yard fumble return by linebacker Derrick Brooks.

Some other numbers the Buccaneers would prefer to forget: In those three defeats, Tampa Bay averaged 7.3 points, 13.7 first downs and 221.1 yards.

Sunday, after scoring four touchdowns in their first six possessions against San Francisco, the Buccaneers were professing this to be a new day and a different team, sounding as if they were trying to convince themselves.

The reality is that these Buccaneers win the same way as Dungy’s Buccaneers did -- with defense and field position. And they lose the same way -- with their limited skill-position speed unable to cope with fast, aggressive defenses. Such as the one waiting for them in Philadelphia.

San Francisco was a mirage, in more ways than one. Had the 49ers’ first-round game been officiated properly, there’s a fair chance the Giants would have spent Sunday trying to block Warren Sapp. But the calls didn’t go the Giants’ way -- or maybe they did, considering what awaited San Francisco in Tampa.

The 49ers were champions of the league’s softest division, the NFC West, and almost lost at home to the wild-card Giants. They arrived in Tampa with a depleted secondary and then lost cornerback Ahmed Plummer early in the first quarter. Unable to run the ball, the 49er offense became one-dimensional -- serving up Garcia to the Buccaneers’ hounding defenders on a platter.

Tampa Bay’s forte is its defense -- Brooks running back interceptions and fumbles is the biggest scoring threat on the team. But the Eagles are the only team in the league with defensive personnel that can match Tampa Bay’s -- and they are superior in virtually every other department.

McNabb looked mobile enough in Philadelphia’s 20-6 victory over Atlanta on Saturday. Duce Staley rushed for 152 yards against Tampa Bay in October. And as reliant as the Buccaneers are on kicker Martin Gramatica, the Eagles have the most dependable field-goal man left in the playoffs in David Akers.

Tennessee, it appears, has painted itself into a similar corner. The Titans have lost only twice since their September blowout in Oakland, but barely emerged intact from their playoff victory over Pittsburgh. Quarterback Steve McNair injured his throwing hand, running back Eddie George suffered a concussion and the Tennessee defense is banged up.

This is the team the Titans will take to Oakland, where the Raiders on Sunday shut down the supposedly peaking-in-the-nick-of-time New York Jets, 30-10.

Chad Pennington, the next Joe Montana? Yes, there had been written testimony to that effect in the week after the Jets’ 41-0 triumph over Indianapolis by people who had forgotten that this is what Indianapolis does in January.

In Oakland, the Raiders played copy editor as Pennington opened the second half by completing three of 17 passes and throwing interceptions on consecutive attempts. No doubt, the Jets’ move from Vinny Testaverde to Pennington turned their season around. But the next move -- Pennington to the Super Bowl -- is a steep one and very much a work in progress.

Next, the Raiders and Titans return to the scene of 52-25, a result that equaled the Raider record for most points scored in a game and represented the Titans’ worst defeat since 1989. Rich Gannon passed for four touchdowns in that one. McNair was intercepted four times.

Of course, this season has been a bad one for track records and recent history. Every week, this league gets blindsided and turned on its head.

But this is Tampa Bay at Philadelphia. This is Tennessee at Oakland. Tradition digs in for its last stand.

*

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Bye and Bye

Since the current playoff format began in 1990, 43 of the 52 teams that received first-round byes have gone on to the conference title game, including 24 of 26 in the NFC. A look (teams that did not advance are in bold, teams that advanced to the Super Bowl are in CAPITAL LETTERS, teams that won Super Bowl are indicated by *CAPITAL LETTERS):

*--* Season AFC Byes NFC Byes 1990 BUFFALO, L.A. Raiders San Francisco, *N.Y. GIANTS 1991 BUFFALO, Denver *WASHINGTON, Detroit 1992 Miami, Pittsburgh San Francisco, *DALLAS 1993 BUFFALO, Houston San Francisco, *DALLAS 1994 Pittsburgh, SAN DIEGO *SAN FRANCISCO, Dallas 1995 Kansas City, PITTSBURGH San Francisco, *DALLAS 1996 Denver, NEW ENGLAND *GREEN BAY, Carolina 1997 Kansas City, Pittsburgh GREEN BAY, San Francisco 1998 *DENVER, N.Y. Jets Minnesota, ATLANTA 1999 Jacksonville, Indianapolis *ST. LOUIS, Tampa Bay 2000 Tennessee, Oakland N.Y. Giants, Minnesota 2001 Pittsburgh, *NEW ENGLAND ST. LOUIS, Chicago 2002 Oakland, Tennessee Philadelphia, Tampa Bay

*--*

-- Houston Mitchell