2002 Tampa Bay Buccaneers season
[11] In January 2002, after losing in the wild card round to the Eagles for the second consecutive year, the Buccaneers fired head coach Tony Dungy.
[15] Upon his arrival in Tampa Bay, Gruden immediately went to work, acquiring former Jaguars WR Keenan McCardell, and RB Michael Pittman from the Cardinals.
Brad Johnson was back in the lineup, and guided Tampa Bay to three straight wins (throwing nine touchdown passes and zero interceptions over the three games) to improve to 9–2 on the season.
Tampa Bay pulled out the victory against the Lions, and secured a playoff berth, but were forced to start third-string QB Shaun King on Monday night against the Steelers in Week 16.
Tampa Bay won the NFC South title with the team's best ever record, 12–4, and then defeated the 49ers in the divisional round in what became coach Steve Mariucci's last game with that franchise.
Cornerback Ronde Barber capped off the win by intercepting a Donovan McNabb pass and returning it 92 yards for a touchdown late in the fourth quarter.
[18] Running backs (RB) Wide receivers (WR) Tight ends (TE) Defensive linemen (DL) Defensive backs (DB) Special teams Reserve During the offseason, the Buccaneers signed a new deal with Walt Disney World, and moved their Training Camp from the University of Tampa to Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex outside of Orlando.
Jon Gruden's era in Tampa Bay began at home against new division rival, the New Orleans Saints, a team they'd soundly beaten the year before.
The Saints held a 20–10 lead late in the fourth quarter, while Tampa Bay's offense had only 161 yards through three periods, and quarterback Brad Johnson was sacked three times, on a hot, humid 90° afternoon.
Johnson completed all five of his passes on the Bucs’ opening drive, leading to a 36-yard Martin Gramatica field goal, and WR Karl Williams followed five minutes later with a 56-yard punt return for a touchdown.
The Bucs’ D, somewhat perturbed at its own performance in last Sunday's opener, even tied a bow on the affair in the final minutes when LB Derrick Brooks intercepted QB Chris Redman's pass at Tampa Bay's three and returned it 97 yards for a touchdown.
With just over a minute to go, Warner drove the Rams to their 34-yard line, but Derrick Brooks intercepted his pass and returned it 39 yards for a touchdown, his second such score in two weeks.
Brad Johnson, who had yet another strong day, pump-faked left from the Bengals' 35-yard line, drawing coverage away from Rickey Dudley down the middle of the field.
Derrick Brooks recovered and returned a Donovan McNabb fumble for a touchdown (his fourth defensive score of the season), but Tampa Bay could not prevail over the Eagles at Veterans Stadium, falling 20–10.
The Bucs reached that franchise high-water mark on Sunday with a 23–10 victory over Carolina, in the process moving into a tie with former division rival Green Bay for the best record in the NFL.
Mike Alstott scored a 44-yard touchdown catch, and Keenan McCardell caught another late in the game, but the Buccaneers fell to the Saints, 23–20 on Sunday Night Football.
QB Brad Johnson was also intercepted for the first time in four games, and those three giveaways, plus a pair of long returns by Michael Lewis in the third quarter turned a 9–6 halftime lead into a 20–9 deficit.
Plus, any thought that the second-year scrambler would run wild on the Bucs’ defense effectively ended on the third play of the game when LB Derrick Brooks hit him square in the chest after a one-yard scramble.
Mike Alstott and Michael Pittman each scored a rushing touchdown, but the visiting Buccaneers found themselves still tied 20–20 late in the fourth quarter with the 3–10 Lions.
On the second play of Tampa Bay's first drive, King was intercepted by Chad Scott, who returned the ball 30 yards for a touchdown, and a 14–0 lead less than four minutes into the game.
The Buccaneers hosted the 49ers, who were fresh off of the second largest comeback game in NFL post-season history at the time in the 39–38 wildcard round victory over the Giants.
With time running out in the half, Donovan McNabb led the Eagles to the Tampa Bay 24-yard line, only to lose a fumble while being sacked by his high school teammate Simeon Rice, who stripped the ball away and recovered it himself.
But 6 plays later, Tampa Bay defensive end Simeon Rice sacked Raiders quarterback Rich Gannon on third down, forcing Oakland to settle for kicker Sebastian Janikowski's 40-yard field goal to give them a 3–0 lead.
Although the officials initially ruled that the ball was recovered by Oakland's Eric Johnson, the play was reviewed by instant replay and the fumble was overturned, and thus Tampa Bay retained possession.
Fortunately for Tampa Bay, they got a big assist from their punter Tom Tupa, who managed to pin Oakland all the way back at their own 11-yard line with his punt.
Then on the second play of Oakland's ensuing drive, Buccaneers defensive back Dwight Smith intercepted Gannon's pass and returned it 44 yards for a touchdown, making the score 34–3.
After giving up 34 unanswered points, Oakland finally managed to drive 82 yards down the field and score on a 39-yard touchdown pass from Gannon to receiver Jerry Porter.
Tampa Bay responded by moving the ball to the Oakland 9-yard line on their ensuing drive, featuring a 24-yard run by Pittman, but they came up empty after Tupa fumbled the snap on a field goal attempt.
The two-point conversion failed when Jerry Porter caught the ball and was forced out of bounds; while the official did not judge it to be a force-out, (judgement call) hence, that part of the play was non reviewable.
Then on third and 18 from the Oakland 29-yard line, Tampa Bay linebacker Derrick Brooks intercepted a pass from Gannon and returned it 44 yards for a touchdown, giving the Buccaneers a 41–21 lead with only 1:18 left putting the game out of reach.
