TAMPA, Fla. -- In the Raymond James Stadium press box, an alleged sanctuary that typically includes more hangers-on than any other in the league and where local members of the Fourth Estate have been known to openly toast the home team's efforts, a loud cheer erupted about halfway through the first quarter of Sunday night's game between the Eagles and Buccaneers.

So, what, a touchdown reception by Bucs wide receiver Keyshawn Johnson on a long bomb by Brad Johnson that precipitated the huzzahs? Perhaps a skitterish run by lightning-quick tailback Warrick Dunn? Or maybe a sack from defensive end Marcus Jones, huh?

	Eagles linebacker Quinton Caver sacks Bucs backup QB Shaun King in the third quarter.

Uh, try none of the above, folks. Fact is, none of those players were even in the game at the time and three of them didn't so much as pull on a uniform for the meaningless contest.

The source of the uproar from the back of the press box was the media corps huddled in front of a television monitor, anxiously watching the final seconds of a college hoops game, Florida State's one-point upset of top-ranked Duke. That moment, when Mike Dunleavy missed an open tip-in which would have bailed out the previously undefeated Dookies, pretty much defined the Bucs-Eagles contest, essentially an exhibition opener masquerading as the regular-season finale.

"I've heard of playing your cards close to the vest," said Tampa Bay middle linebacker Jamie Duncan after his team's 17-13 loss, a defeat that precluded the Bucs from reaching double-digit wins for a third straight season. "But this was a game where both teams pretty much took the deck and hid the whole thing."

Well, all except for the Joker, which clearly was the trump card on Sunday night.

This was, in essence, a game even more bogus than that record-breaking sack (wink, wink) that New York Giants defensive end Michael Strahan had on Brett Favre earlier in the day. "Going through the motions, holding your breath that everyone picked himself up after the play, just trying to get it over with," summed up Eagles strong safety Damon Moore of the game. "It's great to get a win, especially the way we did it, but this was one we just wanted to put behind us."

Halfway through the first quarter it was obvious that, if there were to be any secrets revealed at all, one of the coaches would have had to somehow resurrect Mata Hari. Halfway through the third quarter, most of the announced crowd of 65,541 had hustled for the exits, deciding that a good night's sleep was preferable to a bad evening's football game.

There was more action packed into the final 2:12, when Eagles wideout Dameane Douglas caught a pair of scoring passes in a 26-second span to rally Philadelphia from a 13-3 deficit, than in the nearly 58 minutes that preceded the stirring finish. Rookie quarterback A.J. Feeley, who wasn't even a starter in college last year when he played behind Joey Harrington at Oregon, tossed the two touchdown passes and the evening for him was certainly a memorable one.

But outside of Douglas and Feeley, the proceedings were eminently forgettable. And except for that pair, the "Irrelevant Bowl" pretty much lived down to its name.

More circumstantial evidence that this was just a scrum all gussied up to look like something more: In NFL preseason games, some teams typically hand out halftime quotes to help newspaper scribes meet their early deadlines, and the ever-diligent Tampa Bay public relations staff handled that chore on Saturday.

Want a sample of halftime bon mots? "We wanted to come out here and play for a couple of reasons," insisted Bucs strong safety John Lynch. But shy of having to show up to collect their paychecks, few players could delineate those reasons.

In another week, when the Bucs visit the Eagles in a wild-card matchup at Veterans Stadium, the game will be a "who's who" of standout performers on both sides of the football. But on Sunday evening, with both head coaches not even attempting pretense that this contest was anything more than 60 minutes of garbage time for second-string players, it was more like a "Who's that?"

Big plays came from roster bottom feeders like Tampa Bay wide receiver Milton Wynn (36-yard reception), Bucs tailback Aaron Stecker (12 carries, 35 yards), backup quarterbacks Feeley and Shaun King (a combined 29 completions) and Philly backup safety Rashard Cook (interception, forced fumble and fumble recovery). Before he bowed out in the second quarter with a sprained foot even Eagles fourth-unit tailback Rod Smart -- yeah, the infamous "He Hate Me" tailback of the late and lamented XFL -- saw a smidgeon of playing time.

Stecker was the only Bucs player to break the plane of the goal line, scoring on a 4-yard run in the second quarter.

Truth be told, though, hardly anyone broke a sweat all night as both coaches took their "A" game plans and buried them somewhere in a sandy bunker on one of the many championship golf courses nearby. The most effort exerted by Eagles starting quarterback Donovan McNabb all night was a sideline interview with ESPN's Suzy Kolber in the third quarter.

Remember, this is the town where the late Bucs coach John McKay, when asked what he thought about his team's execution, responded: "I'm in favor of it." Sunday's game desperately cried out for a lethal injection. Or some football equivalent of softball's "mercy" rule. Or maybe an electrical outage that forced the contest to be played in the dark, not that anyone would have noticed since even under the wattage provided by the huge banks of lights there was a notable lack of action.

Whoever the estimable Raymond James is, or was, he was probably turning over in his grave like a rotisserie chicken at the spectacle of such a contest being played in his namesake stadium. When referee Walt Coleman flipped on his field microphone to note the conclusion of the third quarter, the announcement was met with the smattering of applause in the press box and stands.

Early last week, ESPN.com pointed out the unique nature of this matchup, a game in which not a thing that transpired would remotely effect the playoff rematch of the two teams. OK, so maybe a dramatic injury -- McNabb spraining his ankle, Mike Alstott twisting his knee, Brad Johnson suffering a concussion -- would have impacted next Saturday's first-round playoff contest.

But coaches Tony Dungy of Tampa Bay and Andy Reid of Philadelphia ensured that no such tragedy would befall their clubs. Johnson stuck around for eight snaps, the opening series which concluded in Doug Brien's 42-yard field goal, before taking the night off. Put down McNabb for exactly two plays, both handoffs, before Reid yanked him on the first third-and-long in favor of backup Koy Detmer.

Give the plu-patient Dungy credit for at least paying attention into the fourth quarter. He actually challenged an on-field ruling by the officials and, bigger upset given his lack of success in such circumstances, got the zebras to reverse the call. The reversal gained the Bucs an interception by Donnie Abraham and gained the usually luckless Dungy a small victory in the replay war.

Kudos as well to Eagles public relations ace Derek Boyko, who stayed awake long enough to cipher that Philadelphia tailback Correll Buckhalter broke the franchise record for most rushing yards by a rookie late in the fourth quarter. And congratulations to Reid, who was somehow able to keep a straight face as he proclaimed the comeback win "a heck of a game."

	“	People can say, 'Well, these teams are familiar with each other anyway, so why not just play the game normally?' Well, we wanted to win, and I'm sure the Eagles did, too. But neither of us wanted to give anything away. ”
		— Tony Dungy, Buccaneers head coach

This prevailing ennui was, in hindsight, totally predictable. Dating back to the 1970 merger of the NFL and AFL, there have been seven occasions on which teams met in the regular-season finale and then just a week later in a first-round playoff game. But on all seven previous instances there was something on the line in the regular-season ender: homefield advantage, a playoff berth or better seeding in the conference playoff bracket.

The two teams came into the game knowing that Philadelphia was locked in as the No. 3 seed in the NFC and Tampa Bay as the sixth seed. Ergo the already settled first-round matchup and the reluctance of either team to show anything at all that might be of aid in preparation for the postseason encounter. Had the league permitted it, the teams might even have ripped the players' names off the back of their game jerseys, to ensure more anonymity. Then again, most of the guys who suited up were relatively nondescript, even with their identities revealed throughout the game.

An hour before kickoff, when the "inactive list" was distributed, it was pretty obvious what kind of night if would be. Reid deactivated seven starters -- including his leading rusher (Duce Staley), best deep threat (James Thrash), top sackman (Hugh Douglas), marquee cover defender (Troy Vincent), best pass protector (Tra Thomas), Pro Bowl free safety (Brian Dawkins) and primary intermediate receiver (Chad Lewis) -- for the game. Dungy ordered four starters, and that's not counting ailing kicker Martin Gramatica, to stay in civilian clothes for the evening.

Said the ever-classy Dungy, who despite the death of his mother only three days earlier, still showed up for the cumbersome encounter: "People can say, 'Well, these teams are familiar with each other anyway, so why not just play the game normally?' Well, we wanted to win, and I'm sure the Eagles did, too. But neither of us wanted to give anything away. We'll just have to go back and look at tape, prepare hard, get ready for a game that means something."

The Eagles drummed the Bucs from the playoffs last season with a 21-3 rout that embarrassed some of the Tampa Bay veterans. They will be reminded of that contest -- and their failure to ever win a game in temperatures of 40 degrees or lower during their 26-year history -- all week as they prepare once again to expunge the label of playoff underachievers. The quirky loss on Sunday, if it had really meant something, would have further frustrated Bucs players.

As it was, most shrugged it off, preferring to look ahead to the Philadelphia battle that actually has some significance attached to it.

"The best thing you could say about this game," allowed Bucs cornerback Brian Kelly, "is that it's all over."

Amen to that.

Len Pasquarelli is a senior NFL writer for ESPN.com.