Buccaneers 30, Packers 21 (Game #4) [3-1-0]

Derrick Brooks hasn’t been himself this season. A sore hamstring has seen to that, feeding the perception that the 10-time Pro Bowl linebacker and Tampa Bay’s aging defense are slowing down.
Aaron Rodgers will tell you otherwise.
Brooks had one of three interceptions off Green Bay’s young quarterback and also forced a fumble that Jermaine Phillips returned 38 yards for a touchdown Sunday, helping the Bucs (3-1) beat the Packers 30-21.
“Unbelieveable,” Bucs coach Jon Gruden said. “We know he’s been nursing and working through an injury. What he played like today was the Derrick Brooks that everybody recognizes. He made plays sideline to sideline. There’s a lot of strength left in Derrick Brooks and we need him in the final 12 weeks.”
Rogers threw for two touchdowns to Greg Jennings, who had six receptions for 109 yards, but was sacked three times and left the game for one series with a shoulder injury midway through the fourth quarter.
The fourth-year pro returned briefly after Green Bay (2-2) fell behind 23-21 on Matt Bryant’s third field goal of the game. But he was hit from the blindside as he launched a pass on second down, and the ball was picked off by Gaines Adams with just over two minutes to go.
The Packers said Rodgers will be examined Monday. The quarterback thinks he might have separated the shoulder when he was tackled after scrambling for a 7-yard gain in the third quarter.
Both Rodgers and coach Mike McCarthy said it was too early to predict whether he’ll be able to play next week against Atlanta.
“I’m sure we’ll take a look at it (Monday),” Rodgers said. “If there’s a way I can go, I’ll go.”
Earnest Graham put away Tampa Bay’s third straight victory with Brian Griese at quarterback, breaking a 47-yard run to the Packers 1 and then scoring on the next play to make it 30-21. He finished with 111 yards rushing on 20 carries.
Rodgers was 14-of-27 for 165 yards. He threw a 25-yard TD pass to Jennings on Green Bay’s opening drive of the game, then threw a 48-yarder to Jennings on the last play before he was removed from the game to trim Tampa Bay’s lead to 20-14.
When Bryant, kicking four days after his infant son died at home, booted a 23-yarder to put the Bucs ahead, coach Mike McCarthy didn’t hesitate to send his starter back onto the field to try to pull out a win.
Matt Flynn was 2-of-5 for 6 yards on the two possessions he replaced Rodgers. The Packers finished with 181 yards total offense and just eight first downs—one in the second half, on Rodgers’ long TD throw to Jennings.
Still, the Packers had a chance to win, thanks to mistakes by Griese, who threw three interceptions for the second straight week. Charles Woodson returned the last pick 62 yards for a TD that gave Green Bay a 21-20 lead early in the fourth quarter.
“Offensively we were poor. We’ve just made a number of the same mistakes that we’ve made the first three weeks. Penalties. Turnovers,” McCarthy said. “It’s very difficult to win a football game like that.”
A week after throwing a franchise-record 67 times and accumulating a career-high 407 yards passing in an overtime win over Chicago, Griese completed 15 of 30 passes for 149 yards. But the day belonged to the defense, and Bryant, whose 3-month-old son Tryson, died at home on Wednesday.
“It’s been a very, very difficult week, especially for Matt,” Gruden said. “You have to pray for him. He’s a man of very few words, always has been, always will be. I think he needed the game today. He needed football today, and did he really perform.”
The Packers played nearly the entire second quarter in their own territory, with Rodgers throwing two interceptions to set up 10 points and a short punt giving the Bucs the ball at the Green Bay 41 leading to one of Bryant’s field goals.
Rodgers was one of just three starting quarterbacks who didn’t throw an interception during the first three weeks of the season. He extended his streak of consecutive attempts without a pick to 108 before a throw intended for Brandon Jackson deflected off the running back’s hands into Brooks’ arms on the first play of the second quarter.
Brooks, slowed by a hamstring injury sustained during a season-opening loss at New Orleans, nearly had two other interceptions. He forced Ryan Grant’s fumble midway through the third quarter, and Phillips scooped up the ball and raced to the end zone for a 20-7 lead.
“This is a testament to this team, just finding a way to win in the fourth quarter,” Brooks said. “No matter what phase of the game or who it is, we’ve been able to come up with big plays. To me, that’s the sign of a good football team.” (Associated Press - Sports).

Buccaneers 27, Bears 24 [OT] (Game #3) [2-1-0]

For one brief moment, Brian Griese acknowledged a little extra satisfaction.
He refused to take shots at his former team during the week, but landed a big one at the last moment on a day when he was off target.
“I can’t lie to you guys,” he said. “The game meant a lot to me, personally, coming back.”
Griese set up Matt Bryant’s winning 21-yard field goal in overtime with a 38-yard pass to Antonio Bryant, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers rallied to beat the Chicago Bears 27-24 on Sunday.
After blowing a 14-point lead in a 20-17 loss at Carolina last week, the Bears couldn’t protect a 24-14 advantage in the fourth quarter.
The Buccaneers got a 35-yard field goal from Matt Bryant with 3:11 left, and Griese orchestrated a 79-yard touchdown drive in the final 1:49, hitting Jerramy Stevens with a 1-yard pass in the closing seconds of regulation. Several key mistakes cost Chicago (1-2) in overtime.
After Tampa Bay (2-1) punted, Rashied Davis dropped a third-down pass near the Buccaneers 35. Tampa Bay then took over at its own 7 and had third-and-9 at the 8 when Griese hit Stevens with a 2-yard pass.
There was a pileup and Charles Tillman jumped in late, leading to an unnecessary roughness penalty that gave the Buccaneers a first down at the 24. Tampa Bay was at the Chicago 44 when Antonio Bryant beat Nathan Vasher for a 38-yard pass that set up the winning field goal.
“It was a costly mistake on my part,” said Tillman, who had a shoving match with Tampa Bay’s Donald Penn after the game’s first play from scrimmage.
Griese said he “kept preaching” that his teammates maintain their focus after that skirmish and “it ended up paying off for us,” he said.
Traded by the Bears in the offseason, Griese threw a franchise-record 67 passes, completing 38 for 407 yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions in his second straight start. The man he replaced last week, Jeff Garcia, was listed as the third quarterback.
The Buccaneers were leading 14-9 when Vasher picked off Griese midway through the third quarter, and the Bears immediately grabbed the lead.
Kyle Orton, who struggled in the first half, orchestrated an 86-yard touchdown drive that ended with a 6-yard pass to Matt Forte. Brandon Lloyd caught the conversion pass to give the Bears a 17-14 lead and added a 19-yard TD that made it a 10-point game midway through the fourth quarter.
Orton was 22-for-34 for 268 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. Not bad, considering he passed for just 76 yards in the first half, got sacked three times and had one pass intercepted in the end zone by Barrett Ruud and another returned 45 yards by Gaines Adams for a TD.
“I think we kept them off balance a little bit (in the second half),” Orton said. “Basically I think we executed and that’s what it always comes down to, is execution. And I thought we were put in good position all day. We really got it going there for a stretch, we were executing and moving the chains.”
Lloyd had six catches for 124 yards, and Forte caught seven for 66. The rookie also ran for 89 yards on 27 attempts.
The Bears were able to get good field position because of their defense even though Pro Bowl kick returner Devin Hester was sidelined by a rib injury, but they missed several touchdown chances early on.
Chicago took away the run game, holding Warrick Dunn to 31 yards on five carries and Earnest Graham to 16 on 12 attempts. Antonio Bryant caught 10 passes for 138 yards, none bigger than the last one. And Ike Hilliard added six catches and 57 yards with Joey Galloway nursing a sprained foot.
“It was just a great ball and a great catch,” Vasher said, referring to Antonio Bryant’s 38-yarder. “It was a long game and they made some plays when they needed to.”
That Griese led a late rally was ironic. And just to be clear: He called some plays while others came from the sideline as the Buccaneers made their run.
Why bring that up?
Because Griese found himself in an awkward situation after his finest moment as a Bear last season.
He led Chicago on a 97-yard touchdown drive with no timeouts in the final two minutes of a 19-16 win at Philadelphia and mentioned afterward that he had to call all but the final play because the audio in his helmet wasn’t working. The next day, he was at the podium to clear up a “miscommunication” and say some of the plays were, in fact, called from the sideline.
“This is huge,” coach Jon Gruden said. “We lost a difficult game at the end of regulation in New Orleans, and we didn’t want to lose another in a similar fashion.”

Xtra, xtra: Brad Johnson threw 61 passes for the Buccaneers against Carolina on Sept. 14, 2003. The 67 passes by Griese were the most by a Bears opponent (Associated Press - Sports).

Buccaneers 24, Falcons 9 (Game #2) [1-1-0]

Brian Griese played smart, if not especially well, giving the Tampa Bay Buccaneers what they needed most: a win.
The Bucs turned two early mistakes by Atlanta’s Matt Ryan into 10 points, and Griese “managed” the team’s offense well enough to likely hold on to the starting quarterback job after a 24-9 victory over the Falcons on Sunday.
“I wanted to come out and get the win. That was my goal,” said Griese, starting in place of Jeff Garcia, who was benched after playing poorly in Tampa Bay’s season-opening loss at New Orleans.
“Secondly, I wanted to knock the rust off myself and get a rhythm going. I think we did some good things that we can improve on. At the same time, I’m grateful for the opportunity to play.”
A week after beating Detroit in his pro debut, Ryan threw incompletions on his first nine passes before settling down to keep Atlanta (1-1) in the game with three field goal drives that trimmed a 17-point deficit to eight with five minutes to go.
The Bucs (1-1) ended any hopes the rookie would finish an improbable comeback when Earnest Graham took a handoff and barreled around right end on a 68-yard TD run that put the game out of reach.
“As a rookie, it’s not going to be easy. There’s going to be ups and downs. You’ve got to weather the storm,” Ryan said. “You’ve got to learn from experiences like this, take what you can from the film and get better.”
Ryan completed 13 of 33 passes for 158 yards. Aqib Talib’s interception on Atlanta’s third play set up Griese’s 5-yard TD throw to John Gilmore, and Sabby Piscitelli’s second-quarter pick positioned the Bucs for a field goal that made it 17-0.
Atlanta scored on Jason Elam’s 32-yard field goal in the closing seconds of the half, then Ryan led two long field-goal drives that gave the Falcons a chance if they could get the ball back.
Graham finished with 116 yards on 15 carries. Warrick Dunn had a 17-yard TD run in the second quarter and wound up with 49 yards on 12 carries.
But the Bucs were impressed with Ryan’s ability to retain his composure after the slow start. The rookie didn’t complete a throw until hitting Roddy White for a 9-yard gain with six minutes left in the second quarter.
“He battled through some bad passes, but he settled down because he’s big, he’s got strong arms, and he definitely doesn’t lack confidence,” cornerback Ronde Barber said.
Griese was 18-of-31 for 160 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions. John Abraham sacked him in the fourth quarter, forcing Tampa Bay’s lone turnover.
Although Garcia twisted an ankle during the season opener, the injury wasn’t why coach Jon benched him.
Griese helped Tampa Bay to a 5-1 start before a season-ending knee injury in 2005, and the Bucs had hoped to re-sign him the following offseason before he agreed to a contract with Chicago.
Gruden reacquired him in a trade this year.
“I foresee Brian being the starter next week, but I’m not going to say it until I talk to both guys,” Gruden said.
“He managed the game. It’s his first game back here as a starter, and to win is quite an accomplishment. He missed a couple of guys he would normally hit, but he managed the game and will get better and better.”
With Michael Turner running for a franchise-record 220 yards in his Falcons debut, Ryan only threw the ball 13 times against Detroit. Sunday, he had more attempts than that in the first half alone.
Some of the throws were high, one was thrown behind a receiver and intercepted by Piscitelli, and another was launched backward toward the sideline, bouncing 11 yards in the wrong direction before rolling out of bounds.
“Obviously, you don’t want to start 0-for-9 and throw two interceptions. But you’ve got to keep battling,” Ryan said. “Everybody on our team did that. You’ve got to love that.”
Xtra, xtra: The Bucs limited Turner to 42 yards on 14 carries. WR Joey Galloway, who did not play in the preseason because of a sore groin, sprained an ankle in the fourth quarter (Associated Press - Sports).

Saints 24, Buccaneers 20 (Game #1) [0-1-0]

Drew Brees delivered on his pledge to give the Saints’ storm-weary fans what he thought they deserved.
Brees passed for 343 yards and three touchdowns against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday, giving fans already jubilant about their team’s quick return from Hurricane Gustav a 24-20 season-opening triumph to celebrate as well.
Tampa Bay had a shot to win the brutal, back-and-forth contest until Scott Fujita intercepted Jeff Garcia’s fourth-down pass just inside the Saints 20-yard line with just under 40 seconds to go.
Brees’ scoring passes went for 39 yards to David Patten, 84 to Devery Henderson and 42 to Reggie Bush, with Bush’s score putting the Saints in the lead for good in the fourth quarter.
Garcia was 24-of-41 for 221 yards, including a 2-yard TD pass to Ike Hilliard, which gave the Bucs a brief 20-17 lead.
But Tampa Bay’s offense produced only one touchdown. The Bucs’ defense got the other in the first quarter, when blitzing linebacker Barrett Ruud hit Brees as he threw, causing a fluttering pass that Phillip Buchanon intercepted and returned 26 yards.
Bush, who vowed to come back strong from a down second season in which he never had a gain longer than 25 yards, had 112 yards receiving and 51 yards rushing. He did most of the work on what proved to be the winning drive, starting with a 29-yard gain on a short reception over the middle.
His touchdown came on a short third-down reception on which he juked Jermaine Phillips at the 25 and stiff-armed Buchanon at the 5 before diving for the pylon. Bush was close to stepping out of bounds before his dive, but Tampa Bay did not challenge the call.
After sitting out all four preseason games, flamboyant tight end Jeremy Shockey made his debut for New Orleans and had the crowd chanting his name while he celebrated a tough 10-yard catch on third-down. The play, just a few plays after his 26-yard reception, set up Martin Gramatica’s field goal late in the third quarter, which tied it at 10.
Shockey finished with six catches for 54 yards.
Henderson’s TD reception, a career-long catch for him, came after Brees had drawn the Bucs’ offside and then took a shot downfield for his fastest receiver, who was wide open after Ronde Barber fell down.
The play put the Saints up 17-13 in the final minute of the third quarter.
Tampa Bay finally converted its first third down early in the fourth quarter on Joey Galloway’s 13-yard reception, which extended an 11-play, 73-yard drive that ended with Hilliard’s score with 10:43 left.
Tampa Bay’s Earnest Graham led all rushers with 91 yards on 10 carries. His career-long 46-yard gain, on which he broke four tackles, set up Matt Bryant’s 33-yard field goal that gave the Bucs a 13-10 lead in the third quarter.
While practicing in Indianapolis last week, where the Saints set up shop to stay out of Gustav’s way, Brees said he was pleased the regular-season opener would be played in New Orleans, as scheduled, so the team could give the region’s fans “what they deserve.”
The Saints took the opening kickoff 76 yards on six plays, capped by Brees’ scoring pass to Patten on a third-and-short play. Phillips and fellow Bucs defensive back Aqib Talib hesitated on a play fake, letting Patten get behind them.
A rash of penalties helped stall New Orleans’ next few drives as the game evolved into a defensive struggle for the rest of the first half. The Bucs had only four first downs until their last drive of the second quarter, which covered 61 yards in 1:25 to set up Bryant’s 37-yard field goal, giving Tampa Bay a 10-7 halftime lead (Associated Press - Sports).