Yesterday we saw 1997 and the heroic Bucs opening day win over the mighty 49ers. Well a year earlier, it was a very different story. Tony Dungy honestly felt his first Bucs team would take in his messege right from the start. They didnt, they needed some time, about 10 games, to get that message into their heads. That they could play together as a team.
Opening day vs the Packers, the Bucs turned the ball over on the 6th play. Then, at a crucial juncture, The Bucs were down 10-3 and The backers were kicking a FG to go in 13-3. Bad, but not insurmountable.
Holding on the Kick, Packers had new life and scored easy. After shutting the Bucs down again, they got the ball back in time for a 50 plus yard TD pass because of poor safety work. Instead of 13-3, it was 24-3, and that was it.
In Tony Dungy's book, he says that Herman Edwards came up to him after the game and said " Looks like this may take longer than we thought".....
9-1 On this day 1996 gb 1 from Bucs Videos on Vimeo.