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| Monday, January 1 Associated Press | |||
| PHILADELPHIA -- Keyshawn Johnson thought he'd make a
difference. Instead, he'll spend the offseason thinking about what
went wrong.
For the second straight year, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were
eliminated from the playoffs because the offense couldn't find the
end zone.
Tampa gained just 199 yards -- 98 in the fourth quarter -- in a
21-3 loss Sunday to the Philadelphia Eagles in an NFC wild-card
game. Last season, all the Bucs could muster were two field goals
in an 11-6 loss to the St. Louis Rams in the NFC Championship game.
"Hopefully in the offseason we will take a long look at what we
have gone through," said Johnson, who had six catches for 106
yards. "Hopefully the coach will look at what we're doing
offensively and see how we can get more productivity."
The Bucs hired Les Steckel to replace Mike Shula as offensive
coordinator after last season, and traded two first-round picks to the New York Jets for Johnson.
Steckel installed a new system to give Warrick Dunn an increased
workload and utilize Mike Alstott more as a blocker and receiver.
Tampa scored a franchise-record 388 points in the regular
season, highlighted by a thrilling 38-35 victory over St. Louis
three weeks ago.
But it was the same old Bucs offense against Philadelphia.
"It's frustrating because I thought we were the better team and
we didn't show it," said quarterback Shaun King. "We got a
frustrating offseason ahead. We know what it's like from last year.
We got a whole offseason of what-ifs."
Dunn, who ran for 1,133 yards this season, had 1 yard on eight
carries. He caught five passes for 28 yards. Alstott had 42 yards
rushing on seven carries, but caught only two passes for 14 yards.
"We were out of sync bad," Dunn said. "We didn't do anything
to help the defense at all."
Johnson thought the Eagles scouted Tampa's practices.
"Everything we did, they matched," he said.
The Bucs dropped one pass in each of their first three
possessions, including two third-down drops by Dunn. However, Tampa
began moving the ball when it got the wind in the second quarter.
King completed three straight passes for 34 yards, and the Bucs
easily moved down the field. But the drive stalled and Tampa
settled for a 29-yard field goal by Martin Grammatica, making it
3-0.
"When we got three points on that instead of seven, they were
probably thinking they were up 4-0 on us because they held us,"
Johnson said.
The turning point came on Tampa's next possession after the
Eagles stopped Dunn for losses of 4 and 5 yards, setting up a
third-and-19 from the Bucs 25. King dropped back to pass, was
sacked by Douglas, fumbled and Mike Mamula recovered for
Philadelphia at the 15.
Donovan McNabb made it 7-3 four plays later on a 5-yard
touchdown run, and the Bucs never recovered.
"It was a big play for them, but it's a play where we have to
bounce back, put together a drive and we didn't do it," King said.
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