One Man, One Play, One Catch; Could 2006 have been different?

Torrie Cox was always a special teamer first and foremost. He had a year where he looked like the best bet to return one for the record books, but kick returner wasnt for him. He was a great tackler on Special Teams and that was his forte. At times though, the defensive back by nature would have to work in the secondary, and one has to wonder what would have happened to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 2006 season, had Torrie Cox hung onto one ball. The scene is 2006 game 3, Panthers at Bucs. Tampa Bay had lost to the Ravens at home, and Falcons on the road, mostly behind poor QB play from Chris Simms. No matter in our scenario, Simms would be lost for the year in this Carolina game with his spleen injury. Yet the Bucs were in the lead with less than a minute to go, and on a miraculous 4th down, Jake Delhomme, well he went Jake Delhomme on us and got the first down and drove his team to the winning FG. The Bucs fell to 0-3. But in true Doctor Who fashion, what would have been had one play gone different? On the last drive, on second down, Torrie Cox steps in front of a Delhomme pass and drops an easy Pick 6, if not just a game ending interception. The Bucs would have won, and gone to 1-2. Trick is, the Bucs won two of the next three games that year. After a close loss to the Saints in which Bruce Gradkowski played his best game, the Bucs beat the Bengals on a last minute overturned play resulting in a Clayton TD, and the Philadelphia game where Matt Bryant kicked the 62 yarder. Even if the results stayed, that would have put the Bucs at 3-3. What if, at 1-2 following the Panther game, Head Coach Jon Gruden did not feel the same about an 0-3 season, and went with the more veteran Tim Rattay at QB instead of the Rookie from Toledo? Could that have been what it took to get that win over the Saints in game 4? If you give the Bucs the wins over Cinci and Phily, doesn’t that put them at 4-2 on the year? Suddenly its a different year for Tampa Bay. Suddenly Jeff Garcia is not needed, and many other players would have taken different paths as would the Bucs. Alas, it wasn’t to happen. Torrie DID drop that ball, and here it is for the world to see!