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Bay Buccaneers History
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Tampa Bay Buccaneers, professional
football team and one of five teams in the Central Division
of the National Football Conference (NFC) of the National Football
League (NFL). Under the league’s realignment plan, which
will take affect in 2002, the Buccaneers will play in the South
Division of the NFC. The Buccaneers play at Raymond James Stadium
in Tampa, Florida, and wear uniforms of red, silver, and white.
The Buccaneers joined the NFL in 1976 as an expansion team.
Former University of Southern California (USC) head coach John
McKay was hired to pilot the club, but Tampa Bay’s first
season was a dismal one. The club became the first team in NFL
history to lose all 14 regular-season games, suffering five
shutouts and fielding the conference’s worst offense and
defense. The Buccaneers’ losing streak grew to a league-record
26 consecutive games as the club lost the first 12 games of
its second season.
Tampa Bay improved in 1978, winning five games behind running
backs Ricky Bell and Anthony Davis, rookie quarterback Doug
Williams, and brothers Lee Roy and Dewey Selmon, who played
defensive end and linebacker, respectively. A year later, in
1979, the Buccaneers stunned the league, winning their first
five games en route to a first-place tie with the Chicago Bears
in the Central Division. Williams had an excellent season, and
Bell ran for more than 1,250 yards. The Selmon brothers led
a top-rated defense, and McKay was named coach of the year.
In the playoffs Tampa Bay upset the Philadelphia Eagles before
falling to the Los Angeles Rams (now St. Louis Rams) in the
NFC Championship Game.
After an injury-plagued 1980 season, Tampa Bay qualified for
the playoffs in 1981 and 1982 behind Williams, who continued
to be one of the best quarterbacks in the NFC. Both years the
Buccaneers lost in the first round of the playoffs. Tampa Bay’s
5-4 win-loss record in the strike-shortened 1982 season was
followed by a long series of losing seasons through the mid-1990s,
as the Buccaneers perennially ranked as one of the NFL’s
worst-performing teams.
In 1996 Tony Dungy, a former defensive coordinator for the Minnesota
Vikings, was hired as the Buccaneers’ head coach. He rebuilt
the team with young, talented players such as running backs
Mike Alstott and Warrick Dunn, quarterback Trent Dilfer, and
cornerback Donnie Abraham. Tampa Bay began the 1997 season with
five consecutive wins and finished the season with a 10-6 win-loss
record, advancing to the playoffs for the first time in 15 years.
After defeating the Detroit Lions in the first round, the Buccaneers
lost to the Green Bay Packers, the eventual NFC champions. After
the 1999 season the Buccaneers reached the NFC Championship
game for the first time since 1979, but lost to the Rams.
In the playoffs following both the 2000 and 2001 seasons Tampa
Bay lost in the first round. Team officials then used money
and draft picks to lure coach Jon Gruden away from the Oakland
Raiders. The move paid off as the next year Gruden led the Buccaneers
all the way to the Super Bowl, where they beat the favored Raiders,
48-21.
2003 Super Bowl XXXVII Tampa Bay Buccaneers Defeated Oakland
Raider 48-21. |
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