Super Bowl XXXVII
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Super Bowl XXXVII was played on January 26, 2003, at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, California, home of the host team, San Diego Chargers (who failed to make the playoffs that season) as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeated the Oakland Raiders 48-21.
The Raiders were favored to win their first Super Bowl in 19 years during the lead-up to the game. However, Buccaneers coach Jon Gruden, who coached the Raiders until 2001, was thought to still have an idea of what Oakland's game plans would be, and the game turned into a blowout. The fact that Raiders' center Barrett Robbins went missing for most of the week and ended up in the hospital did not help the team either.
Raiders' quarterback Rich Gannon threw a Super Bowl record five interceptions, three of which were returned for touchdowns. Bucs safety Dexter Jackson, who had two of those interceptions, was named MVP. Dwight Smith also had two interceptions for Tampa Bay.
The Raiders took an early 3-0 lead after Charles Woodson returned an interception by Tampa quarterback Brad Johnson to the Bucs' 36-yard line. Sebastian Janikowski kicked a 40-yard field goal seven plays later to open the scoring.
The Buccaneers came back to tie the game on the next drive on a 31-yard field goal by Martin Gramatica, and then took the lead on another Grammatica field goal (from 43 yards) early in the second quarter. Shortly afterward, Tampa Bay then scored their first touchdown, a 2-yard run by fullback Mike Alstott. Another touchdown by wide receiver Keenan McCardell put Tampa Bay up 20-3 at halftime.
McCardell scored a second touchdown to open the scoring in the third quarter. 43 seconds later, Dwight Smith returned a Gannon interception 44 yards for yet another touchdown.
Oakland finally got in the end zone late in the third quarter when Jerry Porter caught a 39-yard pass in stride. After initially being ruled out of bounds, it was determined that Porter had one foot in the end zone and used it to drag the other foot out. The two-point conversion failed, so the Raiders were still down 34-9. The Raiders scored two more touchdowns in the fourth quarter, the first when a Tom Tupa punt was blocked and returned by Eric Johnson, and the second on a 48-yard pass to Jerry Rice. In both cases, Oakland went for two points and could not convert. The score was now 34-21.
At this point, the Raiders had visions of a miraculous comeback, but that was thwarted when Derrick Brooks returned an interception 44 yards for a touchdown with 1:18 to play in the game. The victory for Tampa Bay was sealed when Dwight Smith scored on another interception return with two seconds left.
ABC televised the game with Al Michaels & John Madden serving as announcers.
In a nod to the New England Patriots, both teams were introduced as a team, rather than offensive and defensive starters, after highlights of their seasons were simulcast on the video boards in the stadium and on television.
Scoring Summary
- OAK- FG Janikowski 40
- TB- FG Gramatica 31
- TB- FG Gramatica 43
- TB- Alstott 2 run (Gramatica kick)
- TB- McCardell 5 pass from B. Johnson (Gramatica kick)
- TB- McCardell 8 pass from B. Johnson (Gramatica kick)
- TB- D.Smith 44 interception return (Gramatica kick)
- OAK- Porter 39 pass from Gannon (pass failed)
- OAK- E.Johnson 13 return of blocked punt (pass failed)
- OAK- J.Rice 48 pass from Gannon (pass failed)
- TB- Brooks 44 interception return (Gramatica kick)
- TB- D.Smith 50 interception return (Gramatica kick)
See also
| NFL Super Bowls I 1967 | II 1968 | III 1969 | IV 1970 | V 1971 | VI 1972 | VII 1973 | VIII 1974 | IX 1975 | X 1976 XI 1977 | XII 1978 | XIII 1979 | XIV 1980 | XV 1981 | XVI 1982 | XVII 1983 | XVIII 1984 | XIX 1985 | XX 1986 XXI 1987 | XXII 1988 | XXIII 1989 | XXIV 1990 | XXV 1991 | XXVI 1992 | XXVII 1993 | XXVIII 1994 | XXIX 1995 | XXX 1996 XXXI 1997 | XXXII 1998 | XXXIII 1999 | XXXIV 2000 | XXXV 2001 | XXXVI 2002 | XXXVII 2003 | XXXVIII 2004 | XXXIX 2005 | XL 2006 |