Buccaneers.com | News - Memories in Orange and Green

RB Ricky Bell had some outstanding days against Green Bay, but he couldn't help the Bucs avoid the only tie in franchise history in October of 1980

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Memories in Orange and Green

Nov 02, 2009 - The Green Bay Packers come to Tampa this weekend, and that is always an occasion of great interest for fans of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The team's old NFC Central ties are stretched eight years thin at this point, but no matter; more than a slight hint of the longstanding rivalry still exists.

It's easy for Tampa Bay fans in red and pewter gear to work up some emotion for a Packers visit. For much of the last dozen years, Green Bay – embodied by Brett Favre – was a foil for the Buccaneers. Behind Favre, the Packers rose into prominence in the first half of the 1990s while the Buccaneers were still struggling to do so. When Tampa Bay finally followed suit in the second half of the '90s, it was still the Packers that stood as the hurdle they most needed to clear.

It was Green Bay that turned the euphoria of the Bucs' first playoff win in 15 years, over Detroit at the end of 1997, into a second-round postseason exit at Lambeau Field. It was the Packers who rallied for an overtime win at Lambeau on the final weekend of the 2000 season, denying the Buccaneers the division title and sending them to their other purgatory of that era, Veterans Field, for a disappointing wild card affair. It was Favre that Warren Sapp chased around the field time and time again, sometimes catching him but never quite keeping him down. Even when the Bucs finally surpassed the Packers – after moving out of the Central and into the new NFC South – they still found Lambeau almost unassailable until 2005.

But all of that, from '97 on at least, was played out in the new uniforms and the new image that has redefined the Buccaneers franchise. What Buccaneer fans will see this Sunday when the Packers come to town again is a rekindling of something older but just as studded with landmark moments. It will be orange-and-white against green-and-yellow again.

As most Tampa Bay fans know by this point, Sunday's contest will be the first-ever Throwback Game for the NFL's 27th franchise. For the first time since 1996, the Buccaneers will wear the orange-based uniforms they sported for the first 21 of the team's 34 campaigns. You could hardly ask for a better opponent for the day that those uniforms come out of the history vaults and grace the Buccaneers' home turf again.

There is much history between the orange and the green, from the tie to the Snow Bowl, from the end of one unforgettable career to the beginning of another. The teams first met in a preseason game in Milwaukee in 1976, just the second time the Buccaneers had ever taken the field. The first game that counted between the Bucs and the Packers was in Tampa in 1977, a Green Bay win that was part of Tampa Bay's 0-26 start. The last time the Bucs wore their orange unis against their Black-and-Blue division foes was midway through the 1996 season, a tight 13-7 win for the Packers after which a problem with the charter plane's engine forced the Bucs to sit in their Lambeau locker room for an extra hour.

In between, the Bucs and Packers met 34 other times, with Green Bay winning 20, Tampa Bay 13 and neither team one. The two player strikes of 1982 and 1987 actually robbed the series of three games, but there was ample opportunity for the two franchises to forge on-field memories that won't soon be forgotten.

As the Buccaneers prepare to put on their orange jerseys and be-pirated helmets once again to face their old foes, here's a brief look at some of the most memorable moments in the first 21 years of the Battle of the Bays.

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Playoff Chase Gets Back on Track, 10/21/79

We actually covered this one in some detail in Sunday's look back at the first half of the Buccaneers' breakthrough 1979 campaign. After shocking the league with its 5-0 start to the season, Tampa Bay had stumbled to a pair of losses, including an embarrassing blowout at home against the Saints, and some of the bloom was off the NFL's newest rose.

Quarterback Doug Williams said the two defeats had let some of the air out of the team's balloon, but for some reason the Bucs felt confident against the Packers during that era.

And for good reason, it seems. After blasting the Packers 21-10 at Lambeau during the season-opening streak, the playoff-bound Buccaneers restored their season's luster with an even better 21-3 handling of Green Bay in Tampa at midseason. Ricky Bell ran wild, rushing for a team-record 167 yards on 28 carries, and three interceptions off Packers' quarterback David Whitehurst kept the visitors from putting the ball in the end zone. The Bucs moved to 6-2 with the victory, beginning a five-game stretch in which they would win four times en route to a 10-6 final record and their first division title.

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75 Minutes, No Decision, 10/12/80

Through 33 and a half seasons, this remains the only tie in Buccaneers history. Tampa Bay has now played 523 regular-season games since its inception, including 29 affairs that went into overtime, but this rather unattractive game six weeks into the 1980 season is the lone one among them that failed to crown a victor.

Oh, there were certainly chances for both teams to take home the W, particularly Green Bay which missed on field goal tries of 24 yards near the end of regulation and 36 yards on the final play of the extra period. In fact, new Packers kicker Tom Birney missed all three of his attempts in that game, his first as the replacement for the just-released Chester Marcol. The Buccaneers didn't attempt any field goals in the game, but they did get down to Green Bay's 39-yard line on their first drive of overtime, only to be forced into a punt by a false start and a sack.

Tampa Bay somehow played the Packers even despite giving up 569 yards on an incredible 99 plays, including 415 passing yards by Len Dickey. The Bucs gained just 262 yards on 26 fewer plays and surrendered three interceptions. When asked what his team's game plan was that day, Buccaneers Head Coach John McKay responded, "To fumble, stumble and throw incomplete passes in general."

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Playoff Push Starts at Packers' Expense, 11/22/81

The 1980 season was a disappointing one overall for the Buccaneers, who had high hopes of building off a 1979 campaign that finished just short of the Super Bowl. Tampa Bay's hopes didn't seem much brighter in 1981 when they lost six of their first 11 games.

But there would be another trip to the postseason at the end of the 1981 season, thanks to a 4-1 run down the stretch, starting with the most dominating win in the team's short history.

At the time, the Packers were making a push of their own. After a 2-6 start, they had won three in a row and would win another three in a row after leaving Tampa. However, the trip to Florida would prove pivotal as Green Bay would finish 8-8, one game behind the Wild Card-winning Buccaneers.

Buc fans probably didn't see this one coming. They had booed the team lustily near the end of a dispiriting 24-7 loss to Denver the week before, and the players spoke of a lack of desire against the Broncos. Guard Ray Snell called a victory over Green Bay, "a matter of necessity," and he was only partly referring to the playoff race.

The Bucs showed plenty of desire on this November afternoon, racing out to a 27-0 halftime lead. Safety Cedric Brown, an original Buc from the 1976 season and one of the franchise's great players from that era, returned an interception 81 yards in the second quarter and Williams threw a seven-yard touchdown pass to Theo Bell shortly before halftime. Neal Colzie added an interception just after Bell's score, allowing Bill Capece to tack on a field goal before the break.

No single Buccaneer carried the ball more than 16 times (James Owens had his best Buc day with 112 yards on 16 totes) but overall the team racked up 43 carries for 210 yards while holding the Packers to 70 yards on the ground. Packers quarterback Rich Campbell was picked off a total of four times, two by Brown, and Capece made three field goals, including 47 and 51-yarders.

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Monday Night Goodbye, 12/12/83

If Capece had good memories of his performance against the Packers in 1981, he was probably less fond of this Battle of the Bays. In fact, it would prove to be the game that lost him his job in Tampa Bay.

It was also the last Monday Night Football game for legendary announcer Howard Cosell and the last time the Buccaneers would appear on that series for 15 long years. Like the meeting in 1980 that ended in a tie, this one was memorable but not exactly pretty.

It ended poorly for the Buccaneers, too, as Green Bay won, 12-9, in overtime. Capece, who had misfired on the extra point after the Bucs' lone touchdown of the game but had also made a 22-yard field goal, had a chance to double the Bucs lead late in the final period after a Beasley Reece interception. However, Capece hit his 35-yard try low and to the left, which allowed Jan Stenerud to tie the game with a 23-yard shot on with 28 seconds left in regulation.

In overtime, the Packers won the toss and scored on the opening possession. A 20-yard run by Harlan Huckleby put Stenerud in position for a 23-yard shot, which not only won the game but also gave Green Bay kicker, at the time, the NFL's career record for field goals.

The outcome led to McKay's famous "Capece is kaput" declaration, and indeed the kicker was released before Tampa Bay's next game. The famously caustic coach once again was blunt in his postgame press conference.

"Gentleman," said McKay, "I lost the football game by being stupid enough to think that we could kick a field goal. We will not kick a field goal next week if we are on the two-yard line, the one-yard line, none. There will be no more kicked field goals by the Bucs this year, no matter what the score is, no matter what the game is. It's over. God bless you and Merry Christmas."

For the record, McKay did relent and let new kicker Dave Warnke try a 29-yard field goal the following week in the season finale, though he must have been gritting his teeth when Warnke missed. Warnke also missed an extra point try, marking the second straight week in which there were four unclaimed kicking points in a three-point loss.

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The Snow Bowl, 12/11/85

The Bucs charter flight out of Green Bay had no mechanical problems at the end of this trip, but some of the departing players wished that it did. The blizzard-like conditions in Green Bay had some of the players convinced that it was unsafe to fly; the pilot himself had to come out of the cockpit to convince the team that it was safe.

If possible, the conditions were even worse during the game's incredible two hours and 45 minutes. In fact, they were some of the worst conditions under which any NFL game has been played. More than a foot of snow fell on the field before and after kickoff, and the storm often obscured the players' vision. Young Buccaneer quarterback Steve Young, making just his second start after beating Detroit the week before, saw his passes flung all over the field by the shifting winds, and he completed just eight of 17 for 53 yards while taking five sacks.

Somehow, Dickey was able to overcome the elements, amazingly completing 22 of 36 for 299 yards. The Packers' rolled up 512 yards of offense, which makes the final score of 21-0 seem somewhat fortunate for the visitors. Both Eddie Lee Ivery and Gerry Ellis, a fullback, topped 100 yards on the ground for Green Bay.

The Bucs could find nothing that worked on offense, and their totals of 65 yards and five first downs remain the lowest in franchise history. More than any statistic, however, this number drives home how miserable it was that day at Lambeau Field: 20,000. That's roughly how many Packers fans – Packers fans! – were willing to brave the weather to come to the game.

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Vinny Leads Bucs to Lambeau Leap, 9/10/89

Neither the Buccaneers nor Packers were in the midst of a particularly successful stretch in the late '80s, so Tampa Bay players probably wouldn't have guessed this would be their last win at Lambeau Field for 15 years.

It was an exciting game, marked by one of the best performances of quarterback Vinny Testaverde's career. The sometimes-beleaguered Testaverde completed 22 of 27 passes for 205 yards and one touchdown and was neither sacked nor intercepted. That helped the Bucs convert nine of 14 third downs, rack up 26 first downs and gain 347 yards. His counterpart, Don Majkowski, completed 17 of 27 passes for 220 yards but was sacked twice and picked off three times, one of which set up Testaverde's nine-yard touchdown pass to fullback William Howard just before halftime.

There were rumors at the time, unfounded in the end, that Testaverde's color blindness was causing him problems picking out the correct receivers, and that the Bucs' orange jerseys confused him. Thus, the Packers wore white jerseys at home for the first time ever, but it didn't bother the third-year quarterback. Head Coach Ray Perkins called it the best game played yet by Testaverde, who was the first overall pick in 1987 but who had suffered through a 35-interception season in 1988.

The Packers rallied from their 20-7 halftime deficit to make it 23-21 early in the fourth quarter. The Bucs' defense actually forced receiver Perry Kemp to fumble at the one-yard line after a short pass, but fellow Packer wideout Carl Bland recovered the loose ball in the end zone for a touchdown. Majkowski drove the Packers back down inside the Bucs' red zone with six minutes to play, but Mark Robinson's second interception of the day ended that threat and the running of William Howard and Lars Tate allowed the Bucs to chew up the rest of the clock.

Testaverde was later named the NFC Offensive Player of the Week.

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Bucs Win as a Long Career Begins, 9/13/92

Majkowski actually led Green Bay to a 10-6 record in 1989, their only winning season between 1986 and 1991, and he actually had a nice run as the Packers' starting quarterback. That didn't stop the "Majik Man" from getting Wally Pipped, however, when a certain Brett Favre took the field for Green Bay.

That occurred for the first time in Tampa Stadium, two weeks into the 1992 season. The Buccaneers won that game, 31-3, in the second game of Sam Wyche's four years at the helm, a week after they had dispatched the Phoenix Cardinals, 23-7. However, given the fact that the Bucs followed that promising star by losing 11 of the next 14, this particular game is probably more memorable, in retrospect, for Favre's debut.

Still, the outing is certainly worth rehashing for the sake of the Bucs' performances, particularly Testaverde's. This game probably topped the one above, as Testaverde completed 22 of 25 passes (still a single-game team record 88.0% completion rate). In fact, Testaverde completed 21 of his first 23 attempts, which would have set a new NFL completion-percentage record of 91.3%. However, just before he was relieved late in the blowout by Steve DeBerg, Testaverde threw an on-target pass to WR Courtney Hawkins that turned into an incompletion when Hawkins fell down before the ball got to him.

Though Testaverde lost the NFL single-game record (but, fittingly, later got it in a different game while playing for Cleveland), he won the game in overwhelming fashion, piling up 363 yards and two touchdowns. The Bucs outgained Green Bay, 395-215 and had a 17-0 lead by halftime.

Tampa Bay's defense actually scored first, as Ricky Reynolds returned a first-quarter fumble by fullback Harry Sidney 15 yards for a touchdown. Safety Darrell Fullington picked off Majkowski moments later and Testaverde turned that takeaway into an eight-yard TD pass to Mark Carrier. In the fourth quarter, Testaverde capped the scoring and his career day with a two-yard touchdown run.

Rookie defensive tackle Santana Dotson, later a Super Bowl winner with the Packers, added injury to Majkowski's insulting day by sacking him on the final play of the first half. The injured starter was unable to return in the second half, so Favre made his regular-season NFL debut as the third quarter began.

Favre would end up completing eight of 14 passes for 73 yards and one interception while also absorbing four sacks. He would also construct a brilliant trivia question on his very first snap. To wit: What first-ballot Hall-of-Famer caught the first completion of Brett Favre's career?

Answer: Brett Favre. Defensive end Ray Seals, who also had two sacks, batted the quarterback's first pass into the air, and Favre himself caught the deflection, losing seven yards in the process. Dotson, who would finish the year with a Bucs rookie-record 10 sacks, recorded the first sack of Favre, and Reynolds was the first to intercept him, killing Green Bay's last drive.

The following week against Cincinnati, Majkowski would tear a ligament in his ankle, giving way to Favre again. In Week Four, Favre made his first Green Bay start, in a 17-3 win over Pittsburgh at Lambeau Field. He would go on to start every single game for the Packers through the end of the 2007 season. It's possible you've heard of that streak at some point, as well as the way it ended.

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One Last Win, 12/10/95

Favre had his ups and downs in his first few Packer seasons, but by the end of 1995 he was one of the league's leading MVP candidates for a team that would end up in the NFC Championship Game. In fact, Favre would go on to win that award for the first of three seasons in a row, but not because of what he did at Tampa Stadium in Week 15.

Favre did complete 27 of 46 passes for 285 yards in the game, but he was intercepted once and threw only one TD pass after having 11 in the Packers' previous three games. The Bucs would hold Favre and the Packers to 10 points and send the game into overtime with Michael Husted's 38-yard field goal 10 minutes into the fourth quarter. The Packers drove down to the Bucs' 27-yard line in the final seconds of regulation but Chris Jacke hooked his 45-yard field goal try wide to the left.

Favre never touched the ball in overtime. The Bucs won the toss and elected to receiver, and Trent Dilfer hit wide receiver Horace Copeland on a 23-yard completion, sparking a 48-yard drive. Errict Rhett couldn't convert on a third-and-one at the Green Bay 28, but Husted came on to nail a 47-yarder to win the game.

Rhett had a very good day otherwise, rushing 22 times for 118 yards. Dilfer was picked off twice (once on a Hail Mary after Jacke's miss) but he completed 23 of 42 passes for 240 yards. Copeland had one of his best days as a pro, catching eight passes for 122 yards.

The victory proved to be the last one for Wyche, who was already dealing with rumors of his imminent dismissal at the end of another tough season. The Bucs had one thing to cheer at the end of the day, however, as the win evened their record at 7-7 and guaranteed that they would end their 14-year streak of losing at least 10 games a season.

The Bucs lost their final two games of the season, however, and Wyche was indeed dismissed, to be replaced the following year by Tony Dungy. Malcolm Glazer's purchase of the team in 1995, the arrival of Dungy in 1996, new uniforms in 1997 and the opening of Raymond James Stadium in 1998 would usher in a new era for the Bucs' franchise, one that bore little resemblance to the tough years in orange-and-white in the '80s and early '90s.

But there were some fantastic times in orange, too, which the team will be celebrating this coming Sunday in their Throwback Game. And many of those memorable moments came with the Green Bay Packers on the opposite sideline.