Four days before Super Bowl XXXVII kicked off at Qualcomm Stadium in sun-splashed San Diego, California, Tampa Bay Buccaneers All-Pro weakside linebacker Derrick Brooks walked off the practice field thinking all was right in the football orbit that he and his marauding teammates occupied.
“I remember feeling really good going into that football game,” Brooks told Overtime Heroics in an exclusive interview which ironically took place four days before the Kansas City Chiefs (14-6) take on the San Francisco 49ers (14-5) at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Brooks continued, “We were confident, we were in complete football mode,” he said. “Remember, that was the final year (2003) where there was only one week separating the conference championship games and the Super Bowl. Since Super Bowl XXXVII, there has been a two-week break between the conference championship games and the Super Bowl. Because of that one-week gap, we never got out of football mode. We were locked in…we were confident…and we all felt good about our chances of playing well in Super Bowl XXXVII.”
The date was January 26, 2003.
Super Bowl XXXVII featured the AFC Champion Oakland Raiders (11-5) — owners of the NFL’s top ranked offense squaring off against the NFC Champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers (12-4) – possessors of the NFL’s top ranked defense. The game was played in front of 67,603 fans and viewed by more than 100 million more on TV worldwide.
Additionally, the game contained a fascinating subplot replete with subterfuge, and interest because Buccaneers Head Coach Jon Gruden had coached the Raiders from 1998-2001. After compiling a 40-28 record including back-to-back AFC West Division titles during his final two season with the Raiders, Gruden replaced former Bucs coach Tony Dungy when Oakland traded him to Tampa Bay in early 2002 for two first round draft picks, two second round draft picks and $8 million dollars in cash.
A little over a year later, the massive gamble the Buccaneers took paid off handsomely as Tampa Bay earned it first Super Bowl win in franchise history with a 48-21 dismantling of the Raiders.
Newspapers in Tampa celebrate Super Bowl XXXVII winners Tampa Bay Buccaneers success
Tampa Bay’s defense totally dominated 2002 NFL MVP and Raiders quarterback Rich Gannon, limiting him to 72 yards passing during the first 40 minutes of the game. At that point, the Raiders trailed 34-3 and though they rallied to cut the deficit to 13 points, the comeback only inspired Tampa Bay’s defense to tack on two more touchdowns on interceptions returns.
John Lynch, Tampa Bay’s Pro Football Hall of Fame safety who is now general manager of the NFC Champion San Francisco 49ers remembers Super Bowl XXXVII fondly.
“I’ve never been involved in a game where everything we ran in practice played out so identically,” Lynch said of his ball attacking, gang-tackling brethren on defense, who picked off a Super Bowl record five passes and sacked Gannon five times that day in balmy San Diego.
Thanks to Gruden’s knowledge of his former team and the tactics of his old friend Monte Kiffin, Tony Dungy’s longtime defensive coordinator who stayed on in Tampa, the Bucs defenders were all over the Raiders from the opening kickoff until the final seconds ticked off the clock.
Derrick Brooks Super Bowl Pick Six
How locked in were Tampa Bay’s defenders?
It’s been long rumored in NFL circles that Brooks – Tampa Bay’s 11-time Pro Bowl linebacker who was enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2014 – was actually calling out Oakland’s offensive sets from his weakside linebacker position based on his intensive film study, game intelligence and preparation from the Tampa Bay defensive staff – an all-star crew in its own right.
In addition to Kiffin, the Tampa Bay defensive staff that season included defensive line coach Rod Marinelli (who later became head coach of the Detroit Lions), defensive backs coach Mike Tomlin (who has been the head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers for the past 17 years) and defensive quality control coach
Raheem Morris (who just last week was introduced as the new head coach of the Atlanta Falcons).
“Jon prepared us extremely well for that game,” Brooks said. “We knew their personnel…we knew their personalities. Every time we showed deception, they did everything Coach Gruden told us they would do.”
One of Gruden’s biggest contributions to Tampa Bay’s Super Bowl XXXVII preparation took place on the Thursday before the game when Gruden, a former University of Dayton quarterback, surprised the entire team by running the scout team during the two-minute drill.
Though some of his passes left a lot to be desired according to multiple former Bucs players who were on the field that day, Gruden brilliantly simulated Oakland’s offensive tempo complete with rapid-fire audibles at the line of scrimmage.
“He showed us how Rich despised being limited to one option, how he would check out of a play two or three times,” Lynch told Sports Illustrated after the game. “When that happened in the game, we were ready.”
As well prepared as the Bucs were for the Raiders based on what now can be dubbed as “The Gruden Effect”, Brooks says one of the major keys to the entire defensive game plan was slowing down Oakland power running back Charlie Garner. Garner, who totaled 1,903 yards from scrimmage and 11 touchdowns that season (962 rushing yards, 7 TDs; 941 receiving yards and 4 TDs) was held to just 10 yards rushing on seven attempts in Super Bowl XXXVII and just 51 receiving yards on seven receptions.
“Garner was the guy that we were concerned about all week long,” Brooks said. “He was a tough match up for us. Our job was to take him out of the game, and we did.”
Derrick Brooks Fact Box
- Super Bowl XXXVII champion (2003)
- Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year (2000)
- NFL Defensive Player of the Year (2002)
- Inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame (2014)
