This Sunday, the Pittsburgh Steelers travel to Tampa, where they are 6-1. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers joined the league in 1976 and have not enjoyed success against the Steelers who dominate the series overall 10-2.
In 2000, Pittsburgh went 9-7, finishing third in the AFC Central behind Tennessee and Baltimore and missing the playoffs. In the following year’s draft, they selected Casey Hampton with their first-round pick and Kendrell Bell with their second.
Kordell Stewart was still firmly ensconced as the Steelers starting quarterback, supported by Tommy Maddox who they signed in June.
Maddox had won the XFL’s MVP award earlier that year. After being drafted by Denver in 1992, Maddox played briefly with three different NFL teams. He showed enough to Coach Cowher in the Steelers preseason to beat out Tee Martin as Stewart’s backup.
For the first time in thirty years, the Steelers hired a quarterback coach. After Coach Cowher fired his offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride, he promoted the team’s tight end coach Mike Mularkey to replace him. Stewart was excited about the change and with the addition of the quarterback coach.
Following a 21-3 loss in the season opener to the Jaguars, the Steelers won three straight before traveling to Tampa.
The Buccaneers were coached by former Steelers defensive coordinator Tony Dungy. They were led by 7-year veteran quarterback Brad Johnson who they picked up as a free agent during the offseason.
The (3-1) Steelers at (2-2) Buccaneers; October 21, 2001
In a game where both offences failed to turn up, it was the teams’ defenses that kept the interest of the fans. Tampa made the first impact, intercepting Kordell Stewart on the Steelers first series. They failed to capitalize on the turnover as the first quarter became a punting competition with the result, the scoreboard remained static.
In the second quarter, Deshea Townsend’s sack for a 9-yard loss stopped a Tampa drive that finished when they kicked a 31-yard field goal.
The following Steelers drive saw Stewart connecting with Troy Edwards, Hines Ward and Plaxico Burress, moving the chains to their opponent’s 32. On third down and 2, Jerome Bettis catches Stewart’s pitch, runs to his right drawing the defense towards him before he tossed a pass over the defense to Jerame Tuman for a touchdown of 32 yards. After Kris Brown kicked the extra point, the Steelers took a 7-3 advantage into the locker room at the half.
Tampa went three and out on the second half’s first series, before Bettis added to his touchdown pass. After taking a handoff, he weaved his way through the Tampa defensive line before outrunning their secondary with a touchdown run of 46 yards.
Kris Brown would kick a field goal from 35 yards to extend the Steelers lead to 17-3 before the game entered the final period.
Both defenses continued to restrict their opponents until, with four minutes remaining, the Buccaneers began a drive on their 20. Brad Johnson finally strung some passes together and finished the series with a 5-yard touchdown pass to Frank Murphy.
The game finished when Mark Bruener recovered Tampa’s onside kick.
The Pittsburgh Steelers 17 at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 10
The touchdown pass by Jerome Bettis was the second of his NFL career. Bettis would retire with three touchdown passes on his statistics. His others were in 1999 to Hines Ward of 21 yards against the Ravens, and in 2004 to Jerame Tuman again of 10 yards against the Jets.
“I knew we could get after the quarterback,” said Joey Porter, who had a career high four sacks, one short of Joe Greene’s team record.
Steelers defensive coordinator Tim Lewis acknowledged, “Almost every third down we came after them. I was bringing everybody. I brought everybody but Coach Cowher.”
The Steelers and Kordell Stewart would finish the season 13-3 to win their 15th division title and earn the number one seed in the AFC. A 27-10 win over the Ravens was followed by a 24-17 loss to the Patriots in the AFC Championship game.
The following season, the Buccaneers would make it to their first Super Bowl (XXXVII). Brad Johnson would lead his team to a 48-21 win over the Raiders.
