One moment in the first 50 years in the history of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers was so emotionally overwhelming that it reduced a Super Bowl champion and arguably the best player in franchise history to tears. It also ended nearly three decades of yearning by a franchise and its fans for the ultimate accomplishment in sports.
Over the last month, fans of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have been voting in an NCAA-style tournament bracket featuring the "50 Seasons Best Moments Presented by Ticketmaster." That bracket is down to the Final Four, and all four moments are among the most lasting, most remarkable events ever to unfold in a half-century of Buccaneers football. Over the next week, fans will determine which of those four stands alone as the best moment in team history.
The one that should come out on top: Derrick Brooks' 44-yard pick-six to put the final nail in the Raiders' coffin in Super Bowl XXXVII.
The Buccaneers fielded one of the most legendary defenses in NFL history in 2002, one that has already produced four Hall of Famers and practically smothered every quarterback on its hit list that season, and it all came to a head in the Super Bowl. In the first-ever championship-game matchup between the NFL's number-one ranked offense and number-one ranked defense, Brooks and company dominated most of the evening. Two first-half interceptions by Dexter Jackson helped the Bucs build a 20-3 halftime lead and two pick-sixes by Dwight Smith in the second half helped the Bucs swamp the Raiders by an overwhelming 48-21 final score. Simeon Rice and Warren Sapp led a five-sack charge on Gannon, as well.
And yet, with three minutes to go and the Bucs leading by 20 points, it still didn't feel like the Bucs' victory was assured. Gannon had thrown a pair of second-half touchdown passes and the Raiders had scored on a blocked punt and momentum seemed to be in Oakland's favor. Then, on a third-and-18 play with two minutes left, Brooks lingered near the middle of the field, feeling certain that Gannon had lost track of his whereabouts. Brooks was right, and as Gannon tried to hit Marcus Knight on a dart down the middle, Brooks dashed into the path of the pass, picked it off cleanly and ran all the way to the opposite end zone, untouched. On the Buccaneers radio broadcast, play-by-play legend Gene Deckerhoff declared that "the dagger is in" as Brooks crossed the goal line.
Now, victory was certain. The Buccaneers were Super Bowl champions for the first time and Brooks, who won the 2002 NFL Defensive Player of the Year award on the strength of four defensive touchdowns, was in the end zone one more time, the football clinched tight in his arms and tears running down his face. Any Bucs fan who saw that image knew they were seeing a moment in franchise history that could never be topped.
