Bucs/Steelers history not full on Quantity, but Quality happenings!

Eight Games. That is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs Pittsburgh Steelers history folks. Thirty five years, 8 games, and a TON of major events. The series includes….

• Doug Williams throwing the ball away on 4th down thinking it was 1st
• Bucs kicker Matt Bryant kicking a FG with 4 seconds left in the game; down 17-0 just to prevent a shutout
• A game played at 1PM in 39 degree weather; IN TAMPA!
• Steelers scoring 14 points in the first three minutes against the Bucs SuperBowl team
• The Birth of James Wilder as a tailback with his first 100 yard game
• Bucs QB Brad Johnson getting sacked 10 times!

Thats a lot of stuff packed in only 8 games, but they all happened! The last time the Bucs hosted the Steelers, it was 2002 and our Super Bowl team was missing Brad Johnson. Shawn King started but the Steelers took the opening Kick Off and scored in three minutes, followed by Kings first series that was picked off for a Pittsburgh TD! The final score was 17-7, so the game was  very close the rest of the way, but the damage was done. Of course the pregame romp through the Steeler warmups by Warren Sapp didn’t fire them up at all. Most Bucs fans will remember the game in 2006 where Buccaneer Bruce Gradkowski was the Pittsburgh native who was our QB, was getting shut out by the Steelers until the end of the game when the Bucs started driving on the Steelers. This was after Michael Clayton dropped a sure TD catch! Well with 4 seconds left in THE GAME, Jon Gruden decided to kick the FG on 4th down to

prevent the shutout. Steeler coach Bill Cowher said in post game interview he had respect for Gruden, and that he thought about  doing the same thing once, but he didnt do it. hmmm. In a huge 1980 match that for Bucs fans represented the the Super Bowl should have been! (Steelers played the Rams in the Super Bowl, the Rams beat the Bucs in the 79 NFC Championship game). The Game was very close, Pittsburgh scored on a blocked punt and a tipped pass right into Lynn Swans waiting arms! But Doug Williams had the Bucs driving, and tossed a nice pass to Kevin House on third down. It was marked just short of the first, but Doug couldnt tell, he thought he got the first down. He tossed the next pass harmlessly away to kill the clock, not knowing the game was now over!

Any Bucs fan for more than a few years knows about the Bucs jinx in cold weather; for years they used to say 0 wins under 40 degrees, till wins over Bears and Philly in 2002. But back in 1989, the Bucs played a week 16 game in very very cold 39 degree weather, IN TAMPA BAY! Thats right, that was Christmas 1989 and some kid got his wish to come true, because it snowed all day long the next day for Xmas! This game is still the coldest game day temperature in Tampa Sports history. So far we havn’t talked about the record; this is where Tampa Bay has the odds in their favor. Pittsburgh Steelers have only lost to the Bucs on one occasion; a 1998 game in Raymond  James where the Bucs handled Pittsburgh by holding them to only 168 total yards of offense, as Kordell Stewart was picked off 3 times.

3 Years later Pittsburgh came back to Tampa and sacked Brad Johnson 10 times, beat us, and Safety Lee Flowers of Georgia Tech called us Paper Champions. Well Steelers, you may have your 6, but we got our 1, and we’re going to take win No.2 this week with Charlie Batch or Byron Statue Leftwich!