Welcome to the post-Rays, almost-all-Bucs version of the sports roundup.
The Bucs 30-27 overtime victory over the Kansas City Chiefs — the first time they had played in K.C. since 1986 — was one of the most nerve-racking, entertaining Bucs games I've seen in a good long while. A gyroscope-inside-a-cement-mixer-on-a-rollercoaster type game. Much weirdness:
The 21-point comeback (from 24-3) was, according to local radio announcers, the biggest in Bucs history.
Steady Earnest Graham fumbled twice, at very inopportune times. Funny enough, it was after his second fumble, with 3:28 left in the game, when the Bucs were about to score a TD to pull within two points, that I said to my deflated group of fellow watchers: Plenty of time left. The Bucs'll score, get the two-point conversion and win it in overtime. That, of course, is what happened. How's that for pigskin prognosticating?
Rookie Clifton Smith, just put on the active roster last week to return kicks, provided the big momentum shift with a 97-yard kickoff return for a touchdown, closing the gap to 24-10. It was the second kickoff return for a touchdown in Bucs franchise history. Smith later fumbled in a key spot (as he did last week). Even though he's a terrific upgrade at returner (over deactivated Dexter Jackson), he doesn't want to be the kind of player who, when carrying the ball, has fans yelling, "Hold on to it. Just hold on to it!"
In the first half, Fox play-by-play guy Ron Pitts, speaking of receiver Michael Clayton, said, "Clayton's starting to get some balls." What he meant was: Clayton's starting to make some catches. Pitts' comment must've been a good omen. Clayton's 35-yard catch-and-run in overtime was the key play in the final drive.
Jeremy Trueblood's false start penalty before Matt Bryant's 38-yard field goal try in OT turned out to be a good thing. Bryant missed the kick (whether it was because the whistle blew, we'll never know); the Bucs backed up five yards, but because the attempt was on third down, they went back on offense, Gracia threw a nine-yard pass to fullback Jameel Cook, which set up Bryant's 34-yard try, which he knocked straight through.
This article appears in Oct 29 – Nov 4, 2008.