Seven come eleven: Buccaneers end two season slide with big win before big crowd and Lee Roy Selmon

November 8, 6:46 PMTampa Bay Sports ExaminerTed Fleming

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The Buccaneers' Raheem Morris gets his first Gatorade bath as an NFL head coach.
AP Photo/Brian Blanco

TAMPA – It was a day of celebration Sunday afternoon at Raymond James Stadium with the induction of Hall of Famer Lee Roy Selmon into the new Ring of Honor at halftime.

Like his inaugural team of 1976, the current Buccaneers show a bagel in the win column after seven contests but the hope was to use the occasion, and the old style orange and white uniforms, to get past their old division rivals, the Packers, and get head coach Raheem Morris his first victory.

Josh Freeman was under center for his first professional start and while not lighting it up in the first half, he wasn’t half bad. With a little help from the defense the Pewter Pirates went into the clubhouse down by just four points (it could have been just one had Connor Barth converted a 45-yard field goal attempt although he did nail one toward the end of the half from 38 out) at 21-17.

Possibly spurred by the presence of Selmon and those funny looking uniforms, the Buccaneers went out and stunned Green Bay to the tune of 38-28 ending this season’s seven game slide and eleven straight dating back to the final four weeks of the 2008 season.

“It was fin,” said Raheem Morris about his first win. “Obviously it’s not about me, it’s about us. It’s about everyone who is a apart of this. It’s about the organization from top to bottom, everyone’s included. Everyone worked hard for this. Nothing is goijg to tear us down. We’re going to keep doing this, keep building on it.”

It was, by far, their most complete game of the season as the defense sacked Aaron Rodgers six times, Styles G. White credited with 1.5 of them, intercepted him three times and despite throwing a pair of interceptions, kept his QB rating to a meager 57.6. The only thing the Packers had better numbers at was total yards as they outdistanced the Bucs 404-279.

“There’s definitely tons of room to improve,” said Freeman, who finished the day with three touchdown passes tying a team mark in a debut effort. “It was great to get the win, don’t get me wrong, but there are a lot of aspects of my game I feel I need to clean up to be more consistent.”

“We still have to be patient,” Morris said about Freeman. “We still have to let him grow. He made some mistakes he can go back and look at himself that will allow him to get better and better. It was a nice start, very similar to the one I saw him do in college. Coming back, leading your team down with a two-minute drive scoring a touchdown. However you do it, it’s impressive.”

Many of the players said after the game there was a different feeling around the clubhouse like they knew it was going to be there day.

“Everybody has a great swagger about them today,” said RB Clifton Smith, who returned four punts for 54-yards and another 107 on kickoffs. “Even in pregame warm-ups we thought it was the day we would get a win. We always knew Josh was going to be a great player. We had a great week of practice and he showed all the players he could get the job done. He just came out today and proved it.”

One would think a team facing Freeman would try to rattle him but the youngster held firm. “I was surprised they didn’t do that,” said tackle Donald Penn. “They started mixing it up at the end of the game but they didn’t blitz as much as I thought being his first start. They played a lot of coverage. It feels good getting that monkey off out back and I know Raheem [Morris] and everybody can rest. Coming off that bye week now it’s time to put a couple of wins together.”

Freeman’s first half was a mixed bag completing 8-of-18 for 127 and a touchdown. He was picked off once and sacked although the one highlight many will take from it was a broken play that resulted in a 37-yard pass play finding an open receiver (Kellen Winslow) after being chased out of the pocket. The rookie showed he can move a bit too averaging five-yards on three rushes.

Neither team could do much in the third although it was a different story over the final 15-minutes. Aaron Rogers had plenty of time to throw at the Tampa Bay 12 only his receivers were well covered. The Packers’ quarterback then dodged toward the end-zone to complete a 62-yard drive making it 28-17.

Then it was the Buccaneers turn.

On the ensuing kickoff, Clifton Smith nearly broke it for six points before being dragged down at the 17. Three plays later Josh Freeman threw on the run and found Kellen Winslow crossing along the back line and his high throw was reeled in. Head coach Raheem Morris went for the two-point conversion to bring it within three but it failed leaving the score 28-23 Green Bay.

“The start of the fourth quarter we needed to make something happen,” said Freeman. “Clifton Smith was able to get a considerable return and give us good field position. Kellen [Winslow] went up and got one which really got us started. We didn’t get the two but on the next one we did.

The defense held forcing the Packers to punt and without question this was the biggest spot for Freeman since his days at Kansas State because he would march his team down the field but seemed to stall at seven. On a fourth and goal Sammy Stroughter caught a floater to the right corner, came down with both feet and the Buccaneers had their first lead of the game. On top of that, a second attempt at the two-point conversion worked on a Freeman-to-Michael Clayton hookup as the wide receiver was all alone for the grab.

“It was a no-brainer for me,” Morris said about going on fourth down. “We were out there playing to win.”

“We knew what they were going to run [but] Sammy made an incredible catch,” Freeman said. “Tanard Jackson put the icing on the cake.” That was a pick-six Jackson ran back for 35-yards sealing the win.

“It’s been a long time,” said Kellen Winslow. “The guy Freeman got in there and plaued lights out. I’m so ready for Sunday to get back here to put more good stuff on film.”

The Detroit Lions can rest easy because the Buccaneers will not be revisiting their record for frustration any time soon.

GAME NOTES: Ronde Barber presented the game ball to Raheem Morris for his first win in the NFL ….. Attendance was announced at 62,994 ….. Corner Elbert Mack’s interception in the opening quarter was the first of his career ….. It took just two plays after the pick for Josh Freeman to thrown his first professional touchdown pass, WR Derrick Ward on the receiving end ….. Linebacker Geno Hayes’ punt block in the second quarter was the second of his career ….. Including the postseason, CB Ronde Barber now had 14 touchdowns to his credit but just the second on a deflected punt. That game just short of 11-years ago (11/28/98) against the Bears ….. Defensive lineman Michael Bennett recorded his first ever sack of a quarterback dropping Aaron Rogers in the third quarter.

THE TAKEAWAY: Twenty-nine Buccaneers Alumni from the first playoff team in 1979 returned for Lee Roy Selmon’s halftime induction into the Ring of Honor, 27 former players and two coaches. In alphabetical order they are: Rick Berns, Rik Bonness, Aaron Brown, Cedric Brown, Billy Cesare, Mark Cotney, Randy Crowder, Johnny Davis, Jimmy DuBose, Dave Green, Isaac Hagins, Charlie Hannah, Greg Horton, Cecil Johnson, Gordon Jones, David Lewis, Reggie Lewis, Neil O’Donoghue, Jim Obradovich, Dave Reavis, Danny Reece, Greg Roberts, Eugene Sanders, Dewey Selmon (Lee Roy’s brother), Doug Williams, Steve Wilson and Richard Wood. The coaches were Tom Bass and Wayne Fonts. One member who wore the original colors was safety John Lynch who was not in town but out in Hollywood appearing on the FOX halftime show.