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| Sunday, November 16, 2003 - 3:15 pm at Raymond James Stadium |
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1st |
2nd |
3rd |
4th |
Final |
| Packers |
7 |
6 |
0 |
7 |
20 |
| Buccaneers |
0 |
6 |
7 |
0 |
13 |
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Packers Player Of The Game
Sunday against the Buccaneers, it didn't matter which running back was handed the ball. With the offensive line of Chad Clifton, Mike Wahle, Mike Flanagan, Marco Rivera and Mark Tauscher opening holes, the Packers nearly turned in another 200-yard performance. Ahman Green (109), Najeh Davenport (70) and Tony Fisher (11) combined for a 190-yard rushing day. Meanwhile, quarterback Brett Favre was never sacked, snapping the Buccaneers' record streak.
Buccaneers Player Of The Game
Breaking runs of 61 and 51 yards, Thomas Jones was the only sparkplug for an otherwise impotent Tampa Bay offense.
Stat Of The Game
The Green Bay Packers held the Bucs' to just 1-of-11 on third-down conversions.
Play Of The Game
The Packers scored their winning touchdown on a 9:42-minute, 98-yard drive in the fourth quarter. Their most crucial play of the drive was Najeh Davenport's 5-yard plunge on fourth-and-1, when the Packers could have settled for a field goal. Of course, there wouldn't have been a fourth-and-1, if not for Robert Ferguson's 23-yard catch on third-and-9, or his 9-yard grab on third-and-8.
THEY SAID IT
GM/Head Coach Mike Sherman -
On 98-yard scoring drive: "Ninety-eight-and-a-half, actually. Yeah, that's about as long as they get. That was a heck of a drive. Our offensive line took control of the game. Our backs ran the ball very effectively during that drive. We had some key third-down conversions as well, which was huge in that drive, a fourth-down conversion. So there were numerous things in that drive to us getting in the end zone."
On Robert Ferguson: "I can't say enough about Fergy and what he contributed to this game. We went with eight defensive linemen, seven defensive backs (on the 45-man roster) and that took one away from special teams, so Fergy had some extra duties in special teams. He was always there as a gunner on the punt team. He made plays on third down, that play in particular was a huge play in the ballgame."
On going for it on fourth-and-1: "It was such a beautiful drive I just hated to let it go to a kicker. I thought we had to finish it off. I had a lot of confidence in the guys and their abilities and what they've been doing for us all year long. I just had to show confidence in them. They'd gone that far and I wasn't going to let it die on a field goal."
On turnovers: "I definitely believe that not turning the ball over is a key to our game today. Certainly from the running back position. We did have one interception, but overall we hung on to it and ended up in a plus category which was a major, major difference in the ballgame, obviously."
On win: "There's still a lot of football left for both teams. This doesn't put us in the driver's seat. It doesn't eliminate us, obviously. We still have to come back next week and play a great football game. We can't let this one die down here in Tampa. We have to build off it. But this was a pivotal game for us in the sense that it gives us something more to play for next week and the week after that. We came down here with the full intention of winning the football game, and it doesn't always end up that way -- we haven't had great success here -- but fortunately we were able to come away with a victory."
On injuries: "Tony Fisher dislocated his finger (but returned). Green had cramps during the game and we had to give him an IV late in the game he was not available ... Brett Favre banged his thumb on (Mike) Wahle's helmet at one point and it really pained him. He hung in there and battled through that. I was considering making a change there, simply because he looked like he was in a lot of pain, but I'm sure he would have had none of that if I'd sent Doug (Pederson) in. Larry Smith left with a concussion, a mild concussion, I believe he'll be OK."
On if Favre's worsened his broken thumb: "I don't think so. You bang it like he banged it, it's going to hurt. I think it just hurt him. There was no displacement in the thumb last week. It settled down, it started to heal and calcify, so I just think that it was very painful, as it has been. He's played with pain with his thumb. This is not easy to throw a football the way he's having to throw it for us in critical situations when you get Simeon Rice breathing down your back. I thought he did a nice job today. Obviously he's played better at times, but I thought he led us and did a great job."
On considering quarterback change: "Don't misread that. I was concerned about (Brett Favre) shaking his thumb and didn't know if he was going to be able to get a snap. He said he was OK and we left him in. But it crossed my mind for a brief second."
On not retaliating for Warren Sapp's '02 hit on Chad Clifton: "Our only objective in this football game was to win. There's no better payback than winning a game. That's how you pay people back if that's the case ... That's behind us. This game was too important for us to be that type of ballgame."
Nick Barnett -
On stopping Buccaneers on final drive: "It was very important. Last week it was on us and we let (the Philadelphia Eagles) drive it down there. This week when we came out there, it was on our minds, that we need to get off the field. We went out and executed. They got that one big play, but after that everybody executed."
On impact of Packers' 98-yard drive: "When you've got the offense trucking down the field like that, you're just sitting on the sideline like, 'OK, yeah!' You're getting your rest. You're getting your legs back under you. You're getting juiced up because they're going down there and you're getting excited. It's like, 'OK, now let's go do what we've got to do.'"
Josh Bidwell -
On Robert Ferguson: "He came up huge. Made a big tackle when we were punting out of the end zone, downed it on the (2-yard line), played on offense the whole time. So for him to go out there like he did inspired a lot of guys on the team."
On shanked punt: "On that one I just tried to get a little too cute with it. I tried to hit a low liner to the right side because I had it on the left hash and we had the whole field and I kind of thought, if I go with a liner I can get it by him and maybe roll it dead. Didn't happen that way and they came back and scored. And I'm a football player, I know how it works and I was pretty bummed that I let the defense down in the hole. Definitely glad we didn't lose by 3 and were able to win."
Najeh Davenport -
On going for it on fourth-and-1: "We're starting to come into our own right now. We have to be known as a team that'll do whatever it takes to win."
On game energy: "We got a speech before pregame from Gilbert Brown. That kind of got the blood boiling. After that it was all downhill. It started from the trenches. The D-linemen and offensive linemen set the tone for the game. We come out here to be physical, but they really set the tone for the game."
Brett Favre -
On injured thumb: "It feels great. Playing a game like this makes everything feel a little bit better, but I got it banged a little bit today. I don't know how bad. I'll check it out again tomorrow. But, like I told the guys, I think I broke it."
On ending Buccaneers' streak of games with a sack: "Until you told me that, I didn't realize that. It doesn't make it any sweeter. The win itself is big. They're a great defense. I don't care what people say right now: they're a great defense. They pose a lot of problems, one of them being sacks. We ran the football extremely well and our offensive line, as they have done all year, played lights out. We didn't have to pass that much and when we did they didn't get to us. A win's a win, I don't care. Any time we can get one here, which hasn't been often, we'll take it."
On win: "I hate to lose anywhere. I hate to lose on the road, I hate to lose at home, but Minnesota and Tampa Bay over the long haul has been a thorn in our sides, or my side, whatever you want to call it. Losing to Tampa Bay here the last five or six years, it's tough to take, but they're a great defense. You know you're losing to a great team. Not that it makes it any easier. But when you beat a team like this, at their place, it kind of feels good. I know we have a lot of games left to play and we're still fighting our way back -- we're 5-5, it's not where we want to be -- but we have won some big games. Lost some, too. But this team is not giving up, and that's the impressive thing about it."
On going for it on fourth-and-1: "I wasn't surprised a bit. It wasn't about the field goal ... I think more importantly it was an exclamation point. We'd moved the ball well, we'd run the ball well and I think everyone, including probably some of our players expected us to kick the field goal, but we just wanted to make a statement at that point. And I think we did."
Mike Flanagan -
On impact of Gilbert Brown's pregame speech: "I don't think there was a guy in this locker room who walked out of this locker thinking anything but, 'It's over, we've got it.' Because you could feel it in the locker room, you could feel the vibe. Guys were confident, a little bounce. Somebody pissed in everybody's cheerios this morning. It was a good thing."
On impact of Brown's speech compared to Brett Favre's before the Detroit game: "Same class. I mean those guys ... they've always said they're not big talkers ... You're talking about two players that shouldn't even be playing right now. They should be collecting their checks, sitting on IR worrying about getting back next season. These guys are playing their asses off. They're coming hard every day. What that does for our team, you can't say enough. I've said it before, how can I can -- I've got a banged thumb -- how can I feel bad about myself? Or how can some guy with a sprained ankle think about missing practice? You've got two guys who have been here the longest with what should be season-ending injuries and they're playing their asses off."
Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila -
On what led to increased pressure on the quarterback: "Actually we really weren't doing anything different, but we still keep coming. Just hitting. I personally think it's the Lord, but I think we keep doing what we're doing and it's coming our way. Being in the right place at the right time."
Ahman Green -
On starting a drive at the 2-yard line: "The big thing is get out of the hole, just hold on to the ball with two hands and get it out and give the quarterback and the offense a little bit of room."
On leaving the field: "I just cramped up from being out there on the field. I'm still tired right now, but it's a victory. I get a chance to rest, relax and get ready for next week."
On running back/fullback group: "Every now and then you get a special bunch and I think we've got that special bunch now that can go out there and regardless of who's out there, the offense never loses a step in terms of the running game."
On if win was special because of what happened to Chad Clifton in '02 meeting: "It was just special for us for him to be able to start training camp. That feeling was gone a long time ago. Once we saw what he could do and that he came back full tilt in July, that feeling was gone. For him to continue to do what he's doing, from an injury that nobody knew what the recovery time was because it never happened before, for him to do what he's doing all season long is what keeps us going."
Cletidus Hunt -
On how this Tampa team differed from the '02 team: "They were still Tampa to me. The thing was how different we was taking it to them. We was more determined. We was determined to be the more physical team today. We was the ones who wanted to win this game more and we was the ones that weren't going to give up."
Marco Rivera -
On not seeking revenge on Warren Sapp for '02 incident with Chad Clifton: "That's more of a media thing. We're professional athletes. We know it's a risk every time you play this game. People get hurt. What he did last year to Clifton was a legal hit. It just happens that Clifton got hurt. If Clifton would have bounced up, we would have been laughing about it: 'Sapp really lit you up.' Since he got hurt, everybody made a big thing about it. But there was no ill-intention toward Sapp today. We just wanted to come in, execute, get the running game going. And, believe me, there's enough pain in the Bucs' locker room right now because they lost this game."
On Najeh Davenport: "Najeh's a great back. He's very comfortable with what he's doing and he runs hard. He's a 250-plus-pound back and he can really put the shoulder down."
Mark Tauscher -
On win: "We expected to win this game. We know they're a good team and everything but we feel when we're executing we're a good football team. And today we were. To be honest with you, you don't see the same level of excitement as after that Minnesota game because we know there's a ton of work left to do. It's not good enough just to keep winning one, losing one. We're all excited about the win, but we know this win doesn't mean anything if we don't get it done next weekend. It's a gratifying, it's definitely a great win for us, but what are we going to do next?"
Mike Wahle -
On feeling of taking time off the clock in last drive of fourth quarter: "Personally it felt pretty good. Last week I was pretty down on myself for a couple of those plays late, so I was really hoping we'd have another chance to do that to get that off my back."
On win: "If we keep taking each game like we took this one, we're going to be fine ... Our defense showed up today big time. They made a lot of big plays today. Everything was clicking, everybody was playing their ass off. And you do that week in, week out, you're going to be a good football team. We just have to bottle this up. Whatever this was we have to bottle up and keep doing it."
On going for it on fourth-and-1: "I tell you what, after we didn't go for it the first time, I don't know if we would have gone off the field. We wanted to do it the first time; we were pissed (when we didn't). Obviously (Coach Sherman) made the right call, but fourth-and-1 we feel like we don't care where we are on the field, we can get that first down. It's not even a question. So it was a great call by him giving us the opportunity to do that. We'd been dominating the line of scrimmage all day."
On ending Tampa's steak of games with a sack: "Huge. That was huge for us. We knew that coming in. That was a big point of emphasis. We didn't want to get Brett beat up. He did a great job getting the ball away today ... I think we did a pretty damn good job of keeping them out of his face. And when you're running the ball like that, it put the defense on their heels a little bit and it stops the pass rush. I mean, that's Football 101."
GAME NOTES
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End of 4th quarter. Game over.
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Darren Sharper's interception of Brad Johnson sealed the Packers' win as time expired (0:00, 4th quarter).
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Ahman Green's 1-yard run put the Packers ahead, 20-13 (8:47, 4th quarter). Earlier in the drive, Robert Ferguson had a 23-yard reception on third-and-9 and a 9-yard catch on third-and-8. Najeh Davenport had a 27-yard run and a 5-yard run on fourth-and-1. The Packers scoring drive was 17 plays, 98 yards. Time of the drive was 9:42.
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Travaris Robinson intercepted Brett Favre's pass intended for Donald Driver at the Tampa Bay 49-yard line (6:52, 3rd quarter).
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Brad Johnson hit Keenan McCardell with a 3-yard touchdown pass to allow the Buccaneers to tie the game, 13-13 (12:29, 3rd quarter). Earlier on the drive, McCardell had an 11-yard reception. Thomas Jones opened the second half with a 51-yard run before being taken down by Darren Sharper. The Buccaneers scoring drive was 4 plays, 65 yards. Time of the drive was 2:31.
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Martin Gramatica's 47-yard field goal brought the Buccaneers closer as time expired in the first half, 13-6 (0:00, 2nd quarter). Keyshawn Johnson had two catches for 21 yards on the 3-play, 27-yard drive. Time of the drive was 0:14.
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With Tampa Bay facing third-and-22 at their own 31-yard line, Nick Barnett intercepted a Brad Johnson pass at the Green Bay 24-yard line (1:54, 2nd quarter). Cletidus Hunt had an 11-yard sack on first down. Grady Jackson stopped Thomas Jones for a 1-yard loss on second down.
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Ryan Longwell's 33-yard field goal increased the Packers lead, 13-3 (7:52, 2nd quarter). The Packers scoring drive started with a 56-yard kickoff return by Najeh Davenport. Ahman Green had three carries for 25 yards. Brett Favre fired incomplete for Donald Driver on third-and-2. The Packers scoring drive was 6 plays, 26 yards. Time of the drive was 2:44.
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Martin Gramatica's 24-yard field goal put the Buccaneers on the scoreboard, 10-3 (10:36, 2nd quarter). Thomas Jones' 61-yard run down the left sideline gave the Bucs first-and-goal at the 9-yard line, but the Packers shut down Tampa Bay after that. Nick Barnett stopped Thomas Jones for a loss of 1 and made two other hits in the red zone. The Tampa Bay scoring drive was 5 plays, 65 yards. Time of the drive was 2:28.
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Ryan Longwell's 31-yard field goal increased the Packers lead, 10-0 (13:04, 2nd quarter). The Packers started from the Tampa Bay 22-yard line courtesy of Nick Barnett's fumble recovery. Ahman Green had a 7-yard reception from Brett Favre and a 2-yard run on third-and-3. The Packers scoring drive was 4 plays, 9 yards. Time of the drive was 1:32.
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Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila forced a Brad Johnson fumble that was recovered by Nick Barnett at the Tampa Bay 22-yard line (14:36, 2nd quarter).
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End of 1st quarter.
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The Packers defense forced a third Tampa Bay three-and-out with help from three Buccaneers penalties. After a Tampa Bay punt, the Packers take over at the Green Bay 49-yard line (1:30, 1st quarter).
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Larry Smith's 6-yard sack of Brad Johnson on third-and-7 helped force another Tampa Bay three-and-out. The Packers start their third possession from their own 38-yard line (5:59, 1st quarter).
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Facing third-and-3, Tony Fisher took Brett Favre's shovel pass 5 yards for a Packers touchdown, 7-0 (7:31, 1st quarter). Fisher's touchdown catch marked the third third-down conversion on the drive. Robert Ferguson had a 9-yard catch on third-and-2. Donald Driver had a 9-yard catch on third-and-3. The Packers scoring drive was 9 plays, 47 yards. Time of the drive was 4:04.
Favre has now thrown a touchdown pass in 19 straight games.
The Packers and Buccaneers both went three-and-out on their opening possessions.
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The following Packers players are inactive for today's contest: Derek Combs, Brennan Curtin, Curtis Fuller, Craig Nall (third quarterback), Jamal Reynolds, T.J. Slaughter, Marcus Spriggs, Marcus Wilkins. |
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