The Bucs, under Jon Gruden, were able to master the dunk and dink. Last year, the organization tried to get vertical by hiring coordinator Jeff Jagodzinski. However before the season began they told him to get lost.

Greg Olson became the coordinator. However many of the same offensive principles stayed the same. This year they are reverting back to an approach that is more of a traditional West Coast one according to Tampa Tribune’s Roy Cummings.

It’s kind of a strange fit on paper for Josh Freeman, strong armed quarterback. However Freeman lacks accuracy on the deeper routes. Tampa Bay feels he’s better suited for the short, timing attack.

This offseason Freeman has received a lot of glowing praise due to his hard work and leadership. That is very important. For the Bucs what is even more important is to discover an offense which is compatible for Freeman and sticking to it.

The leadership of Freeman’s wasn’t doubted going into this year’s draft. The question was his accuracy.

For an area that had wanted a pro football team for a long time, Tampa Bay really did know what they were getting into when the Buccaneers started to first play in 1976.

John McKay, the first coach for the team, didn’t know either.

After twenty six losses in a row, the fan base had become irate with McKay who felt they had gotten a lot less than they had bargained for. Among other things, fan inside Tampa Stadium would shout, “throw McKay into the bay.”

The Bucs announcement on Wednesday that they planned on enshrining the late John McKay into the organization’s Ring of Honor, for these reasons, was quite satisfying for the organization and McKay family. As history shows, the same man who led the team during some of their darkest days, also later led them to some of their highest achievements.

Rich McKay, John’s son, who is also a former general manager of the Bucs and current Falcons president said, I think the thing he would have been proud of the most is that in this community where during the first few years it was such a struggle and to a certain degree where he was vilified, that he was able to turn things around.

It was the first appearance for Rich McKay in a Bucs facility since 2004 when he had an unceremonious exit. He attended a news conference that featured Lee Roy Selmon, Hall of Famer for the Bucs, and Wayne Fontes, former assistant under McKay, among others. Terri Flori, John McKay’s daughter, was also in attendance. During a game on December 5 versus the Falcons, the Buccaneers will be honoring John McKay, which will allow Rich McKay to be part of the ceremony. That day the Bucs will be wearing their throwback orange uniforms.

Rich McKay said, he had plenty of opportunities where he might have walked away, saying this was harder than I was thinking it would be. He took pride I think in the fact he finished the job.

From 1979 to 1982, John McKay led the Buccaneers to the playoffs four times, including a 1979 appearance in the NFC Championship Game. However on Wednesday the people who knew him remember him for more than just the wins and losses he had.

He was remembered for his stubbornness by some, and for others for his deadpan, witty comments.

Selmon said I remember him saying, I will build with young players. I will build using a 3-4 defense. The old school NFL people said it couldn’t happen. That a 3-4 defense couldn’t be used in the NFL. He didn’t change his mind and stuck with it. Our team built the 3-4 defense. We played it pretty well, then in the next year lots of other teams started to run it too.

Rich McKay has never forgotten that his father was such an intense competitor, despite his public persona as a happy go lucky man. Just the idea of losing a game was quite nerve racking for him, which for Rich and siblings was very clear when their father was coaching the very successful University of Southern California team before he joined Tampa Bay.

Rich McKay said, I remember sitting in Los Angeles Coliseum many times. He looked very calm. However, he was very nervous. He would look at us. We would be scared to death. He would then go out, putting a persona out that it wasn’t a big deal. He could control his emotions. I could see it though. Definitely he was nervous. He was a very fierce competitor.

Florio said, I didn’t remember that he has been gone for nine years. My father had a very powerful personality. It feels like he is right next to me here.

Her father, once he is enshrined in Tampa Bay’s ring, won’t ever be forgotten.

Bryan Glazer, Bucs co-chairman said, Tampa Bay will feel the legacy of John’s forever. He led our franchise from the very start. John and Lee Roy Selmon were the men who set the standard of what it means being a Buccaneer.

Atlanta (6-5) was in deep trouble following another missed field goal attempt by Jason Elam. This one came from 43 yards away, and Tampa Bay (1-10) drove into Falcons territory.

However, with 2:30 left to play Connor Barth narrowly missed a field goal attempt from 51 yards to give Atlanta another opportunity. After taking over for Ryan following the injury to his big right toe in the first series of the game, Redman led the Falcons on a drive of 59 yards that just might have saved Atlanta’s season.

On fourth down and goal from the five yard line, Redman connected with White over the middle on a slant play while Derrick Roberson, cornerback, futilely swiped at the ball.

Early third quarter Corey Lynch blocked a punt to set up an 8 yard pass from Josh Freeman to Carnell Williams for a touchdown to give Tampa Bay the lead 17-10.

Tampa Bay’s lead almost held up. During the third quarter Atlanta lost Turner. The top runner for the Falcons appeared to have suffered a reinjury of his right ankle, an injury that had prevented him from playing during last week’s game.

Redman, who was a starter for the Falcons in 2007 following the suspension of Michael Vick, had only played in a few plays during the two years since Ryan had arrived.

However with Ryan in street clothes watching the game from the sideline with his right foot in a special shoe, Redman led the Falcons to a comeback victory in a game that Atlanta had to absolutely have to keep their NFC playoff hopes alive after losing four out of five games.

Redman passed to Tony Gonzalez four times for 34 yards. Atlanta received a huge break when Roberson got called for a holding penalty on a pass that was incomplete to the opposite side on the field.

However, Tampa Bay only needed to make one stop to get their second victory after Redman had three incomplete passes in a row from the five yard line. On the last try, White hauled a pass in and was then mobbed by teammates Eric Weems and Gonzales.

On Tampa Bay’s sideline Raheem Morris, head coach, kneeled in disbelief. Earlier this week, the embattled rookie head coach had taken the defensive play calling duties over after he had demoted Jim Bates, the defensive coordinator. The move almost paid instant dividends. The Bucs, instead, suffered yet another crushing loss this season.

Redman, despite suffering five sacks, completed 23 of his 41 passes for a total of 243 yards. He flipped a quick pass over to Jerious Norwood. It was just slight longer than a hand off. However, the play ended up as a touchdown of 22 yards to give Atlanta an early lead of 10-0.

Atlanta fought to tie the game up before halftime. Tampa Bay quarterback Josh Freeman threw deep to Antonio Bryant on the left sideline. Bryant lept up to grab the ball from Tye Hill, Falcons cornerback, and then rolled over into the end zone after realizing he had not been touched to score a touchdown of 42 yards. Then Barth kicked a field goal of 39 yards with only 20 seconds left in the first half.

Coming off last week’s performance where he had four turnovers in the Buccaneers 31 point loss to the Saints, Freeman bounced back in the fourth start of his career. He went 20 out of 29 for a total of 50 yards, with no turnovers. He had one fumble but managed to recover the ball himself.

Drew Brees, Saints quarterback said, I don’t think we have peaked yet. For this team the sky is the limit. On Sunday, Brees threw three touchdowns as New Orleans defeated struggling Tampa Bay 38-7.

It will only get harder. We cannot afford to sit back on the things we have been able to accomplish so far. Each team that we face wants to give us our first loss.

New Orleans (10-0) was able to shrug off a slow defensive start, shutting Tampa Bay down after they gave up a long drive for a touchdown at the start of the game. They took advantage offensively of the many mistakes made by Tampa Bay’s rookie quarterback Josh Freeman.

During the first half Robert Meacham caught 4 and 6 yard touchdown passes, and in the second half Mike Bell scored running touchdowns from 3 and 1 yard. The Saints gained 147 of their 183 rushing yards during the second half.

The ten game winning streak of the Saints is the longest in their franchise history.

Sean Payton, Saints coach said, I like where we are at. Our record is 10-0. We beat one of our division opponents playing on the road. I think today we got better.

Over the last month a rash of turnovers made the Saints appear to be more vulnerable. However Brees didn’t have an interception in the game, the first time that has happened in the last five games. It was also the first time that New Orleans didn’t allow any sacks since playing the Giants on October 18.

According to Brees the No. 1 offense in the NFL can become more efficient even.

Brees said, during our past four games, we have kind of gotten back into some of our old habits we didn’t want to get into, like negative plays and turnovers. We needed to have a game just like this, come out and just look sharp in every phase of the game.

On their first possession, Tampa Bay (1-9) had a touchdown drive of 95 yards. However, after his scoring pass of 18 yards to Michael Clayton, giving Tampa Bay a brief 7-0 lead, Freeman didn’t have much success.

Brees went 19 out of 29 passing for a total of 187 yards. Late fourth quarter he was replaced by Mark Brunell. Reggie Bush sat the game out due to an injured knee, but his replacement Pierre Thomas was able to gain 92 rushing yards in 11 carries. Bell had 75 yards rushing on 13 carries.

Freeman went 17 for 33 for a total of 126 yards and also had three interceptions. He was sacked a total of three times and fumbled. The fumble led to a third quarter 11 yard touchdown throw by Brees over to David Thomas.

Freeman said, we know how potent the Saints offense is. We knew our best defense would be our offense having the ability to sustain our drives. What was tough is that our first drive was the only one.

Brees answered the touchdown pass of Freeman to Clayton with his own drive of 68 yards, capped by a 4 yard scoring catch by Meacham. On that possession, Brees went 4 for 4 passing for a total of 55 yards, including a completion of 37 yards over to Thomas, the longest play for New Orleans of the day.

An interception by Malcolm Jenkins followed by a return of 14 yards down to Tampa Bay’s 29 yard line set up a field goal of 38 yards by John Carney to give the Saints a 10-7 lead. Tampa Bay’s poor clock management late second quarter provided Brees with an opportunity for scoring another touchdown, making the score at halftime 17-7.

Chris Reis and Jonathan Vilma had interceptions for the Saints as well. The sack by Scott Fujita forced a fumble that was recovered by Anthony Hargrove on Tampa Bay’s 15 yard line. It set up the touchdown pass from Brees to Thomas, who caught four passes for a total of 66 yards.

After their opening drive, Tampa Bay only had 124 yards. Freeman said that on several of his throws he was just a hair off. However, he didn’t feel that he took a step backward in his third start as a pro in running the offense.

It was just an off day, the rookie said. I don’t think it will be a problem in the future.

The Buccaneers cooperated. With 1:14 left to play they took the lead. Then Henne led Miami on a drive of 77 yards. With 10 seconds left in the game Dan Carpenter hit a field goal from 25 yards to give the Dolphins a 25-23 victory over the Buccaneers on Sunday.

Henne said, we had one minute to go. It is time to get out there to make a comeback.

The heroics of Henne spoiled Tampa Bay’s comeback, which was led by rookie quarterback Josh Freeman, who helped to rally his team during the fourth quarter. It was the second time he has done that in his two career NFL starts. Freeman was able to shake off his dreadful first half to lead the Buccaneers to two late touchdowns.

A Henne ill advised pass was picked off and set up the go ahead touchdown for the Buccaneers. With Tampa Bay at Miami’s one yard line, Henne wanted the Buccaneers to score fast to give Miami more time to rally.

Henne said, it is really tough, especially after the interception that is your fault. But you can not let that bother you forever.

The Dolphins (4-5) won the game despite losing Ronnie Brown, running back, during the third quarter due to an injured right ankle. Tampa Bay (1-8) wasn’t able to build any momentum after defeating the Packers last week.

Miami fell behind in the game 23-22. They then started at their 16 yard line. Henne connected with Davone Bess on 16 and 25 yard plays, while Ricky Williams ran 27 yards down to the 7 yard line.

Then Carpenter came in and kicked the field goal, his fourth of the game, which more than made up for the blocked extra point attempt during the first quarter.

The second year pro Henne went 15 out of 31 for a total of 175 yards, improving his starting record to 4-2.

Jason Taylor said, after the game I told him in our locker room that today you grew up. It is a maturation process. He will make some mistakes. All of us make mistakes. After 13 years I still do. The key is bouncing back after you do. Today that is what he did.

A critical replay reversal helped Miami score ten points during the last 1:25 minutes in the first half, including a Kory Sperry touchdown catch. Sperry, after being signed on Saturday from Miami’s practice squad, was making his debut in the NFL.

Sperry said, when I am playing, I don’t think too much. When I saw the ball all I could think was don’t drop it.

Williams had 102 rushing yards for the Dolphins, while Brown ran for 8 yards and scored a touchdown before he was injured.

During the first half Miami’s defense stymied Freeman. He had a fumble which was recovered by the Dolphins, ending a Tampa Bay scoring threat. He also mishandled a snap from the shotgun, losing 13 yards which stalled another drive. When sacked Freeman fumbled twice, although Tampa Bay recovered both times.

Freeman then connected with Maurice Stovall on a touchdown pass of 33 yards on the fourth quarter’s first play to cut the Dolphins lead to 19-16. Quincy Black, linebacker, intercepted a Henne pass at Miami’s 26 yard line with 1:43 remaining in the game. It set up a one yard run for a touchdown by Carnell Williams, giving Tampa Bay a brief lead.

Freeman was 16 out of 28 for a total of 196 yards.

Taylor said, the kid will be good. For being a young quarterback he has a lot of poise and moved well. I have lots of respect for the young kid.

However, Freeman wasn’t able to find much comfort in the praise.

Right now I feel miserable because we lost, Freeman said. I hate losing. That is the only thing I am thinking about.

The replay review provided the Dolphins with a chance to build a halftime lead of 13 points. Late first half, Tampa Bay was on their 4 yard line. Michael Clayton bobbled the catch, then the ball was snatched by Taylor. Initially the throw was rule incomplete. However the replay review along with a penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct to an irate Raheem Morris, gave Taylor the interception and Miami the ball on Tampa Bay’s 8 yard line.

Two plays later the Dolphins scored when Henne connected with Sperry for a touchdown from 5 yards.

Morris said, this loss is my fault. A head coach getting a personal foul is totally unacceptable. I take the points. We lost by that much. I take the blame. I used inappropriate language with the official.

Connor Barth of Tampa Bay tied the NFL record that is held with another three kickers by making three field goals that were at least 50 yards long. His field goals were 51, 50 and 54 yards long, and were the longest three field goals of his career.

Freeman, the third quarterback picked during the NFL draft this year, led the previously winless Tampa Bay team to their 38-28 win over Green Bay in the first start of his career on Sunday. The win ended Tampa Bay’s current league leading losing streak of 11 games.

Despite being inexperienced, Freeman played with a lot of poise, passing for a total of 205 yards along with three touchdowns. He connected with Sammie Stroughter on a 7 yard touchdown pass on fourth down and four yards to score the touchdown to give Tampa Bay the lead with less than five minutes left to play in the game.

Freeman, the 17th overall pick of this year’s draft and third quarterback chosen behind Mark Sanchez and Matthew Stafford said, I really felt relaxed.

The twenty one year old rookie said, I did not get too high and didn’t get too low. I really didn’t do anything that spectacular. All I did was play within myself. When we had an opportunity I took it.

Freeman is the youngest quarterback starting a game for Tampa Bay. The Buccaneers have had ten different starting quarterbacks in the seven seasons since they won the Super Bowl. He is the third different quarterback to start this season.

Raheem Morris, 33 year old rookie head coach said, that is a great way to start working how we would like to work and playing how we would like to play. Morris and Freeman have known each other since Morris was the defensive coordinator at Kansas State when Freeman was a freshman there.

Morris added, it is impressive no matter how you do it. At this point his age doesn’t really matter. He has to lead the team where we need to go.

Freeman went 14 for 31 passing and had an interception. A second interception by A.J. Hawk, which would have been critical, was over ruled by a penalty for illegal contact against Hawk on the drive that put Tampa Bay ahead.

Freeman threw a pass of 29 yards three plays later to Michael Clayton, setting up the second touchdown pass for him of the game.

Nick Barnett, Packers linebacker said, he was able to keep his composure and he made plays.

Tampa Bay (1-7) is the last NFL team to get a win this season. They ended a losing streak that was their longest since the years 1976-77. They set an NFL record when they lost 26 games in a row while wearing the same creamsicle uniforms that the team wore in the game versus the Packers.

Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers passed for a total of 266 yards along with throwing two touchdowns for the Packers (4-4). The number one rated passer in the league had three interceptions as well. One of them was returned for a touchdown during the final minute, putting the game completely out of reach.

Rodgers got sacked a total of six times, which raised the Packers total in eight games to 37, the worst in the NFL.

Rodgers said it is very frustrating. I think our special teams and offense make it tough for our defense.

Besides donning their retro uniforms, Tampa also named Lee Roy Selmon, Hall of Famer, as their first inductee of their Ring of Honor located in Raymond James Stadium. At halftime, Tampa Bay trailed 21-17, but Freeman would not let his team lose.

The rookie quarterback threw touchdown passes in the second half to Kellen Winslow as well as a wide open Stroughter, seventh round pick, in the end zone’s right hand corner with only 4:14 minutes left in the game.

A two point pass conversion play from Freeman to Clayton gave Tampa Bay the lead 31-28. The Buccaneers defense, which recorded all of their sacks in the second half, sealed the victory on Tanard Jackson’s interception of Rogers, who with less than a minute left to play weaved his way 35 yards down field to score the clinching touchdown instead of falling to the ground.

On the Packer’s second play from the line of scrimmage, Rodgers threw a touchdown pass of 74 yards to James Jones. He then led Green Bay on a 69 yard, 11 play march that was capped by Ryan Grant’s 3 yard run, making the score 14-7 late first quarter.

Elbert Mack, cornerback, who was badly beaten on the long touchdown by Jones, returned an interception 36 yards down to Green Bay’s 8 yard line to set up the first pro touchdown pass for Freeman, a 6 yard pass to Derrick Ward.

With Green Bay behind 14-7, Geno Hayes of Tampa Bay blocked the punt. Ronde Barber picked up the ball and ran it back 31 yards to record the 14th touchdown of his career. Just before halftime, Freeman led Tampa Bay on a 74 yard drive. The Buccaneers got a field goal to trim the lead to 21-17.

It looked like Rodgers was going to maybe put away the game on a 12 yard scramble on third down and goal which gave the Packers a lead of 28-17.

However, the ensuing kickoff was returned by Clifton Smith 83 yards, setting up a 7 yard touchdown pass from Freeman to Winslow, sparking the comeback.

It was the second loss in a row for Green Bay, after falling to Minnesota and Brett Favre last week.

Mike McCarthy, Packers coach said, it does not feel very good. This one really hurts. I am disappointed in how we played. There are some problems recurring that we have to be clean up.

Tom Brady had three touchdown passes along with over 300 passing yards, as New England (5-2) defeated Tampa Bay 35-7 on Sunday in Wembley Stadium in the third NFL regular season game played in the London iconic venue.

Tampa Bay, who sacrificed one of their home games so that they could play in London, saw their record fall to 0-7 and also extended their overall losing streak to 11 games.

New England came into the game with a 59-0 victory where Brady has six touchdown passes against Tennessee. This time the Patriots were not as overpowering. Brady had two interceptions during the first half.

However, with safety Brandon Meriweather’s 39 yard interception return and score on the game’s fifth play, New England was able to keep control against the NFL’s 27th ranked defense.

Brady threw touchdown passes to Benjamin Watson, Sam Aiken and Wes Welker. He finished the game passing 23 for 32 for a total of 308 yards. Brian Hoyer replaced Brady at the end of the game. The scoring was completed by Laurence Maroney with 9:25 left to play on a 1 yard run.

Brady said, I am feeling really great. I kept rolling. That is two wins for us in a row. We went out and put up two touchdowns during the second half. There were lots of distractions for us coming over here. However everyone was very energized. To be able to get a victory and then fly home with a bye week really is great.

Quarterback Josh Johnson and the Tampa Bay offense were not able to muster too much. The only score for the Bucs was on a pass of 33 yards from Johnson over to Antonio Bryant during the final minutes of the second quarter. Johnson went 9 for 26 for a total of 156 yards and also had three interceptions. Mid fourth quarter Josh Freeman, a rookie, replaced Johnson.

The teams played in front of a sell crowd reported at 84,254 in England’s national stadium Wembley.

It is the third year in a row that the NFL has played a regular season game in London. Roger Goodell, NFL commissioner, last week said he envisions several regular season games being played in Britain in the coming years. There is also a possibility that London will have its own franchise.

The atmosphere on Sunday was festive and noisy, with the dry weather providing good playing conditions on Wembley field.

Brady said there was the feel of Super Bowl conditions to the game.

Before the kickoff flashbulbs were going off, said the two time MVP of the Super Bowl. They went off for around 10 minutes. You don’t see that happening in the States very often. It’s a privilege I think coming over here and getting to enjoy this kind of experience. For us probably it won’t ever happen again, so we will retire internationally at 1-0.

Even Bill Belichick, the understated coach of the Patriots, was happy about their international experience.

Belichick said, it’s a really great way for ending the week. The last couple of days here have been really enjoyable. I am glad we were able to end on such a positive note here.

For New England, it was the first road win for them this season, after losing in New York and Denver.

The Glazer family, owners of the Buccaneers, had a bad day. Not only did the Bucs lose but Manchester United, the powerhouse English soccer team that the Glazers also control, lost 2-0 to Liverpool earlier that day. The loss prevented them from regaining the Premier League’s top spot over Chelsea. Brothers Joel and Bryan Glazer watched the Bucs game at Wembley.

The losing streak of 11 games by Tampa Bay is the franchise’s longest since 1976-77. At that time they set an NFL record with their 0-26 losing streak.

Raheem Morris, rookie head coach for Tampa Bay said, our team could not stop Brady.

Brady is the guy who changed the game. You have to worry about him constantly. When your team has a great quarterback, that is what he can do for you.

The game’s tone was set during the first series. On the short slant play, Meriweather stepped right in front of Tampa Bay’s Sammie Stroughter and picked off the throw from Johnson, then ran all the way to the end zone untouched.

Meriweather said, I happened to get a good break for the ball. I think that their receiver and quarterback were on two separate pages. He happened to throw the ball at me. A big play helps to set the mood.

Brady connected with Welker on a touchdown pass of 14 yards after completing a 37 yard pass to Randy Moss. With just 2:16 remaining first quarter, Welker caught the quick pass from behind New England’s line of scrimmage. Then he weaved his way past Tampa Bay’s defenders to score.

Early second quarter, New England was on a drive to get their third score when Brady, whose first seven passes had been completed, scrambled away from the pocket and lobbed a pass to Moss in the end zone. Tanard Jackson intercepted the pass.

However, on the next series Brady was able to come back, ducking under the rush and dumping the ball across the middle over to Aiken, who eluded a tackle from Barrett Ruud, Tampa Bay linebacker, and ran up the sideline to score from 54 yards and make the score 21-0 with 11:18 remaining in the first half.

Brady threw his second interception in four passes on a deep throw to Brandon Tate over the middle. Aquib Talib picked off the pass.

Following an anemic first half passing performance by Tampa Bay, Bryant was able to beat Darius Butler, Patriots cornerback up the right sideline to haul in a scoring pass from Johnson.

Brady opened the second half by leading New England on a 10 play, 73 yard drive. He connected with his tight end Watson on a 35 yard pass that went over Geno Hayes, Tampa Bay linebacker. To make the score 28-7.

Notes
There was a local flavor to the pregame festivities. Calvin Harris, Scottish rock singer, performed, while Katherine Jenkins, Welsh opera star, performed “God Save the Queen.” Toni Braxton, Grammy winner, sang “The Star Spangled Banner. Joe Calzaghe, ex middleweight boxing champion, was the honorary captain for Tampa Bay. On Sunday New England only had three active running backs. Fred Taylor and Sammy Morris were both out with injuries.

Delhomme, who was struggling, handed the football to Jonathan Stewart and DeAngelo Williams over and over again.

After the defending champions of the NFC South were able to drive 80 yards during the closing minutes of the game on Sunday to defeat Tampa Bay 28-21 Williams said, I am sure that everyone inside the stadium knew exactly what we were doing.

At times they had nine guys in the box, Williams added. We still were able to get 7 to 8 yards.

The Panthers (2-3) just one week after their first win over Washington, had 267 rushing yards as well as three touchdowns, extending the worst start for Tampa Bay in 24 years.

It is the first time that Tampa Bay (0-6) has started the season losing six games in a row since 1985. They have lost ten games in a row dating back to a December lopsided defeat in Carolina. It is their longest losing streak since 1977 during a time when Tampa Bay was on their way to setting the NFL record of losing 26 games in a row.

Williams rushed for 152 yards in 30 carries, his season best, and also scored two times, including the winning touchdown with just 29 seconds to go in the game. The dive from one yard capped a drive of 16 plays that lasted over eight minutes.

John Fox, Panthers coach said, it takes tough guys to do that. We try breeding that.

Delhomme, who during the second half threw two interceptions, attempted only one pass during the winning drive. It was a four yard pass to Steve Smith, for Smith’s only catch in the game.

Williams, meanwhile, rushed for 33 yards in eight carries and Stewart had 43 yards in seven carries.

Raheem Morris, rookie head coach of Tampa Bay said, at the end we got overpowered. Really during the entire game.

Carolina (2-3) squandered their 21-7 lead, During the third quarter they gave up a kickoff return of 97 yards for a touchdown. Then Tampa Bay tied the game on an interception return of 26 yards by Tanard Jackson.

However once Carolina took the football from Delhomme, Stewart and Williams took over. During the final drive 11 out of 15 of the runs resulted in a gain of at least five yards and none resulted in a loss or no gain.

During the second quarter, Williams scored a touchdown on a run of 20 yards. Late third quarter, a 26 yard run for touchdown from Steward put the Panther ahead 21-7.

During the last meeting of the two rivals of the NFC South, both Stewart and Williams had big games when Carolina ran for 299 yards, their franchise record. Heading into Sunday’s game, the Panthers were only averaging 97.3 rushing yards per game, which put them in 23rd place in the NFL.

Delhomme went 9 for 17 for a total of 65 yards along with one touchdown. His two interceptions gave Tampa Bay an opportunity to get back into the game. During the second quarter a third turnover was forced by Tampa Bay when Jackson caused a fumble by Stewart at Tampa Bay’s 3 yard line.

In addition, the Panthers had to overcome the loss of safety Dante Wesley. Late first half Wesley was ejected after launching himself into Clifton Smith, Tampa Bay punt returner, who had given the fair catch signal.

The hit came with only ten seconds remaining in the first half that brought players off of the sidelines from both teams. It appeared that Wesley left his feet and struck the upper body of Smith using his left shoulder.

For a few minutes after the hit, Smith stayed on the ground. He was then helped up to his feet to walk off of the field. Smith missed the rest of the game due to a concussion.

Wesley claims he had just been trying to make the play. He said he had not tried to hurt Smith, who last season as a rookie was a Pro Bowler kick returner.

The pro of eight years said he hoped that the league wouldn’t fine him.

Wesley said, check my record if you want. I have never tried hurting anyone. I have never tried taking a cheap shot at anyone.

The 20 yard touchdown run by Cadillac Williams provided Tampa Bay with a 7-0 early lead. A long kickoff return by Sammie Stroughter cut the lead of Carolina down to 21-14. With 8:33 left to play, the touchdown by Jackson tied the game.

Josh Johnson, Tampa Bay’s quarterback, went 11 for 17 for a total of 147 yards along with one interception that was run back 24 yards by Thomas Davis, linebacker, setting up the one yard pass for a touchdown from Delhomme to Jeff King.

Tampa Bay’s Cadillac Williams had 77 rushing yards in 16 carries, while Johnson rushed for 45 yards. However, Johnson was also sacked four times. Charles Johnson and Julius Peppers each had two sacks for Carolina.

McNabb had 264 yards passing and threw three touchdown passes, while Jeremy Maclin, the rookie, caught two passes for touchdowns as the Eagles defeated the Buccaneers on Sunday 33-14.

McNabb said, I did feel pretty good. I thought it would be a slow process. Definitely I didn’t think I would get my first touchdown so fast.

Due to the lopsided score, Michael Vick was able to take some extra snaps during the fourth quarter. Vick had his first complete pass in the last 33 months and also ran for 11 yards on one play.

Philadelphia (3-1) improved their record to 11-0 following a bye week playing for head coach Andy Reid.

Tampa Bay (0-5) still has not won a game playing for Raheem Morris, their new head coach. Their losing streak has been extended to nine games now, which dates back to last December’s 0-4 record that prevented them from making the playoffs last year.

Morris said, it’s obvious that today we were outplayed by a much better football team. Across the board they outplayed us. They made bigger plays. I tried being more aggressive today since we were playing against a better team. There are strides we need to make. We need to evaluate what it is that we have done.

During the season opener in Carolina, McNabb got injured while running to score. The next two games he sat out as Kevin Kolb threw for 300 yards during the first two starts of his career, becoming the first quarterback to do so.

However, McNabb didn’t hesitate when it came to running. On his very first play from the line of scrimmage he scrambled for 13 yards. On his next play, he fired over a perfect touchdown pass of 51 yards to Maclin, giving Philadelphia a lead of 7-0.

After the Eagle’s first score, the Buccaneers were never really in the game.

McNabb said, I was successful being able to move around and was effective doing some different things and picked a few first downs up using my legs. I let the defense know that that can happen.

Tampa Bay’s quarterback Josh Johnson passed for 240 yards and connected with Kellen Winslow on two touchdown passes. He also had three interceptions.

Johnson said, right now I am blaming myself. I had three turnovers and two were while we were inside the red zone. They brought everyone. They brought more defenders than we had for protection. Every time they had extra guys. In our locker room the coaches were say how they hadn’t ever seen anything like it before.

After they lost a defensive touchdown to a reversal- on fourth down and one Johnson was ruled as down after a fumble before he was stripped of the ball by Akeem Jordan who ran back 76 yards- Philadelphia’s offense made it up.

McNabb connected with Brent Celek on a 38 yard pass, and then a 17 yard one with Maclin to set up the touchdown pass of 20 yards to Leonard Weaver, making the score 14-0.

However, Tampa Bay answered with their own 80 yard, five play drive. Johnson threw a 31 yard pass to Antonio Bryant on the very first play of the drive and then fired a touchdown pass of 9 yards over the middle to Winslow.

Philadelphia quickly extended their lead to 21-7. After scrambling for 17 yards, McNabb threw a touchdown pass of 40 yards to Maclin who was in heavy traffic.

Maclin was starting in place of Kevin Curtis due to injury. He finished the game with six receptions for a total of 14 yards, the third most yards by a Philadelphia Eagles rookie.

Maclin said, with the group of talented guys that we have, the big games will rotate between the different guys. I expected myself to make the plays.

The next score was set up by Asante Samuel on his second interception, followed by a 15 yard return down to Tampa Bay’s 27 yard line. Brian Westbrook caught the 20 yard touchdown pass at the seven yard line and ran the ball in from there.

McNabb went 16 for 21 and led the team with 30 yards rushing. His 157.2 QB rating was his second highest of his career.

Reid said, I saw him running the ball. I did not think it would be that much of his game, but he did a great job with it.

The game also saw the return of Jeremiah Trotter, middle linebacker, to Philadelphia. The four time Pro Bowler during his first two playing stints with Philadelphia, hadn’t played since 2007 in the NFL when he played for Tampa Bay. He was not announced as part of the starting lineup, but received a very loud ovation when he ran from the tunnel while performing the ax chop, his signature movement. During the first play of the game he was out on the field, and on many of the running downs did play.

Vick played both wide receiver and quarterback for six plays and a total of 7 yards before he came into the game near the end. He finished the game 1 for 3 for one yard and also ran the ball twice before he knelt down two times.

Vick said, we had the lead. It was good for me to get out there to play a little quarterback and get to throw the football around some. It is part of getting back into my football playing shape, either playing at quarterback or doing the wildcat.