Fred Bowen's "The Score" column,
January 24, 2003, Washington Post

Bucs Won't Stop Here

The Super Bowl is Sunday, and as sports fans know it's not just any football game. It's the game that decides who is the champion of the National Football League.

Sometimes that's hard to remember. There's all the talk about commercials that cost $2.2 million for half a minute (that's $73,333 a second) and who will be performing at halftime. But I guarantee you, the big, bad Oakland Raiders and the upstart Tampa Bay Buccaneers haven't forgotten what's it all about. Each team wants to win this game.

But who will? To figure that out, let's look at the two teams, piece by piece.

Quarterback -- One thing that the Raiders' Rich Gannon and the Bucs' Brad Johnson have in common is that they both used to play for the Washington Redskins. That's right: The Redskins, who spent most of the 2002 season trying to decide who should play quarterback, gave away two of the game's best QBs.

Gannon was voted the Most Valuable Player for the regular season and set NFL marks for passes attempted (618) and passes completed (418). He's fun to watch because he can scramble and he throws the ball from every angle. He also has some great receivers in future Hall of Famers Jerry Rice and Tim Brown, and hot new wideout Jerry Porter. So expect Gannon to fill the air with footballs.

Brad Johnson is a quieter kind of quarterback. He doesn't run around as much as Gannon, but Johnson gets the job done. He is a very accurate passer. He threw 22 touchdowns and only six interceptions this season. Johnson should be able to move the ball against the Oakland defensive backs.

Offense -- The Raiders have the No. 1 offense in the NFL. Enough said. The Silver and Black averaged more than 27 points a game. The Raiders love to throw lots of short passes. Even running back Charlie Garner caught more than 90 passes this season.

The Bucs are a bit more balanced. They have big, bruising fullback Mike Alstott and shifty Michael Pittman to pound away at the Oakland line. So the Bucs should have better luck running the ball. And that will set up Brad Johnson's passes over the middle to the Bucs' other Johnson, star receiver Keyshawn Johnson.

Defense -- I just don't think the Raiders defense is very good. Every time I've seen the Raiders play, teams have been able to move the ball against them. I figure the Bucs should be able to score at least three touchdowns against these guys. Plenty of teams have.

That means the Raiders might have to score more than 20 points against the Bucs to have a chance to win the Vince Lombardi trophy. No way that's going to happen. Only three teams have put up more than 20 points against the Bucs in 18 games this year. The Bucs defense is stacked with superstars: Derrick Brooks, Simeon Rice, Warren Sapp, Ronde Barber. They are the best in the business. The Bucs won't budge, even against the high-powered Oakland air attack.

Prediction -- They say that offense wins games but defense wins championships. The Bucs have the best defense, so expect them to win the Super Bowl XXXVII. Tampa Bay 28, Oakland 17.