Winning crown back-to-back not a habit in the NFL

[THEFOOTBALLPIRATE]

By GLENN MILLER, gmiller@news-press.com
Published by news-press.com on September 4, 2003

The past is the only witness the skeptics need. They zip along the NFL highway and see the carcasses of recent Super Bowl champions littering the roadside, discarded and forgotten, all but covered by weeds.

That’s proof enough, in this school of thought, to understand why the Tampa Bay Buccaneers won’t repeat as NFL champs.
They won Super Bowl XXXVII in January, and Monday begin their quest to repeat when they play the Philadelphia Eagles.
Repeating isn’t easy, of course. There have been five different champs in the past five seasons.

The NFL season opens Thursday night when the New York Jets play the Washington Redskins. There will be a full slate of games Sunday and then the big Monday game.


History can be a guide.
The New England Patriots won Super Bowl XXXVI. They didn’t make the playoffs last year.
The Baltimore Ravens won Super Bowl XXXV, hammering the New York Giants 34-7 in Raymond James Stadium. In 2001, the Ravens were bounced out of the AFC playoffs and didn’t reach the conference title game.
The St. Louis Rams won Super Bowl XXXIV and followed that up by losing a wild-card playoff game.
What makes the Bucs different? What makes them special? Why do they think they can do what others can’t? Just who do they think they are anyway?
No team has repeated as Super Bowl champion since the Denver Broncos won the 1997 and 1998 league titles.

Here, with apologies to both Fox News and Al Franken, is a fair and balanced look at that quest:
Five factors in Tampa Bay’s favor




• FOCUS: The Bucs, apparently, haven’t lost their focus. Coach Jon Gruden has praised his players for months. He likes their focus, dedication and conditioning.

The team that rocked the Oakland Raiders 48-21 in the Super Bowl returns with virtually all its starters. They returned in shape.

The Bucs had the league’s No. 1 defense in 2002. They had the league’s No. 1 defense in the preseason and didn’t allow their final two exhibition opponents to score a touchdown.

Maybe their condition has something to do with this. All their starters go into the season healthy.

• OFFENSE CLICKING: The offense is in gear, ready to pick up where it left off in the 2002 postseason.

Sure, Tampa Bay’s offense was ranked 24th in the 2002 season. But look at what the Bucs did in the postseason, scoring 106 points in three games.

They sputtered early last year while learning Gruden’s complicated offense. Now, this veteran team has mastered the offense.
Quarterback Brad Johnson led the NFC in passing last year. He did that behind a makeshift line. He did it with a new running back in Michael Pittman and two new receivers in Keenan McCardell and Joe Jurevicius.

• LUCKY DAYS: In a league where devastating injuries are as common as colds, the Bucs breezed through the 2002 season with most of their starters playing virtually every game.
The Bucs weren’t that much better than their division rivals.







http://www.news-press.com/news/sports/0309003bucs.html

Originally posted by THEFOOTBALLPIRATE
By GLENN MILLER, gmiller@news-press.com
Published by news-press.com on September 4, 2003

I thought Glenn Miller was dead. How bout that? Now he's turned to
sports writing.

I collect his music, for sure. "Army Air Force Band" is a 4-CD masterpiece!