BEST RECORD IN NFC BAR NONE AFTER 6 WEEKS
TAM
BUCS 27, DOLPHINS 13
Sore Winners
From TBO.com
By ROY CUMMINGSPA - -- It's their bye week, and boy, do the Bucs need it. They lost their starting quarterback, another starting safety and a backup cornerback Sunday. It didn't matter. They still won the game.
Bucs 27, Dolphins 13. An improbable season continues. They're not even at the midway point and already Tampa Bay has put up as many victories as all of last year.
Go ahead, revel in it. The Bucs plan to.
"We talked all week about putting 5-1 up on the board," defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin said. "It's huge. The bye week is supposed to be fun for the players and the coaches. Win, and you can kick back and relax."
Jon Gruden, relax? Don't count on it. Not even at 5-1.
"Winning five games was never my goal," he said.
But it's a good start. The Bucs have the best record in the NFC and could play .500 ball the rest of the way and still finish 10-6.
The Bucs aren't thinking that far ahead. Not after Sunday.
Their victory came at a cost, the price of which has yet to be fully determined.
The Bucs probably won't know for sure until at least today, but starting quarterback Brian Griese could miss several weeks, if not the rest of the season, after suffering what is believed to be a torn left ACL late in the second quarter.
Griese went down with what the Bucs called a sprain when Dolphins linebacker Zach Thomas rolled into him. Griese was taken to St. Joseph's Hospital for an examination during the game, but results of those tests were not immediately available.
Sunday night, one Bucs player termed the injury severe. |