Super Bowl XXXVII
Super Bowl XXXVII was played on January 26, 2003, San Diego, California
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 48, Oakland Raiders 21
Before the game
Playoffs
- The Jets squeaked into the playoffs on the last week of the regular season. New York QB Chad Pennington, making his playoff debut, threw three touchdowns. His counterpart on the Colts, Peyton Manning, was not as spectacular, completing less than half his passes and throwing two interceptions.
- The Packers lost at home for the first time in playoff history as Atlanta QB Michael Vick continued his hot streak. The Falcons also blocked a punt that was recovered for a touchdown and caused five turnovers.
- The Steelers, behind journeyman quarterback Tommy Maddox, exploded for 22 fourth-quarter points as the Browns suffered one of their famous playoff collapses. A 3-yard touchdown run by San Francisco 49ers 39, New York Giants 38
- The Steelers' comeback earlier in the day was matched by San Francisco's similar late drive. Down 38-14 in the third quarter, the 49ers' offense led by Jeff Garcia fired up, with Tai Streets scoring what proved to be the game-winning touchdown with one minute left. The Giants still had a chance, though, but a botched snap by Oakland Raiders, Tennessee Titans; NFC: Philadelphia Eagles, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- The third time was the charm for Titans kicker Joe Nedney. After missing the a potential game-winning field goal at the end of regulation time, and a second failed kick in overtime was negated because of a roughing-the-kicker penalty on Pittsburgh's Bill Cowher was incensed, saying he called a timeout before the winning kick took place. Earlier in the game, the Titans went out to an early 14-0 lead before three turnovers led to Pittsburgh scores, making it 20-14. Two Tennessee touchdowns made it 28-20 by the end of the third quarter, but a 21-yard Philadelphia Eagles 20, Atlanta Falcons 6
- The hyped quarterback duel between Donovan McNabb and Michael Vick never materialized, as the Eagles' defense sacked Vick three times and picked him off twice, with Tampa Bay Buccaneers 31, San Francisco 49ers 6
- Tampa QB Brad Johnson, sidelined for a month, returned to throw for 196 yards, two touchdowns and one early interception, as the league's top-ranked defense in 2002 forced five turnovers. San Francisco quarterback Jeff Garcia was sacked four times as the 49ers would not get into the end zone all day. Fullback Oakland Raiders 30, New York Jets 10
- Chad Pennington's dream season came to an end as the New York quarterback threw two interceptions and was sacked four times. The Raiders' Rich Gannon threw for 283 yards and two touchdowns as Oakland pulled away from a 10-10 halftime tie to score 20 unanswered second half points.
- Conference Championships:
- Tampa Bay won on the road for the first time in playoff history as they advanced to their first-ever Super Bowl appearance. Eagles' running back Duce Staley opened the scoring with a 20-yard touchdown less than a minute into the game, but the Bucs took over from there. Mike Alstott put Tampa in the lead for good with a touchdown late in the first quarter. The Eagles fumbled twice in the second quarter, and Keyshawn Johnson put the Bucs in the end zone again by halftime. Oakland Raiders 41, Tennessee Titans 24
- The Raiders made it to the Super Bowl for the first time since 1984, when they were based in Los Angeles. Rich Gannon, the league's MVP in 2002, threw three touchdowns and ran in himself for another one. Wide receiver Jerry Porter scored first four minutes into the game for Oakland, but the Titans countered with a 33-yard TD pass from Steve McNair to Drew Bennett tied it up five minutes later. The Raiders went in the lead to stay when Charlie Garner caught another touchdown pass late in the first quarter. All but abandoning the run for the first three quarters, Oakland scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns on the ground to seal the victory.
The game
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 Grammatica, 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 Rich 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 foor 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 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
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