Tampa Bay Buccaneers Shake Down the Thunder

"Send a volley cheer on high, Shake down the thunder from the sky...."

         —The Notre Dame fight song

With less than a minute or so left in the game and the Buccaneers ready to close out a hard-fought 17-14 victory over the Cleveland Browns, a huge clap of thunder boomed near Raymond James Stadium.

It was as if someone upstairs "Fired the Cannons."

Could it be, perhaps that St. Peter has become a Buccaneers fan?

On a hot, humid, sweltering afternoon, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers found a way to turn back the clock and win a football game the way Sapp, Brooks, and Lynch used to win 'em.

A young, developing offense that was trying to find its way and its identity got a huge helping hand from the strength of this young team: the defense.

The defense is supposed to be the cornerstone of this football team. It was on Sunday.

This was a game the Bucs needed to win, a game they basically HAD to win, and the defense was there when it was needed most.

Things weren't looking so good late in that second quarter with the Browns up 14-3 and possibly looking to add another field goal.

Help us Ronde!  He did. There was Barber, picking off one of Jake Delhomme's lesser offerings and taking it down to the Cleveland two. Buc radio man Gene Deckerhoff said Ronde flat out ran out of gas. He also said Ronde from two years ago would have scored.

Didn't matter. Even this young offense could manage a two-yard touchdown drive that was sorely needed.

Fact is Josh Freeman found himself in this game, he found Mike Williams, he found Mike Spurlock, he found Cadillac Williams able to help him. And he found his best friends—the guys on defense.

This was a nail-biter of a win, a nervous victory at best.

But most of all, it was a win.

It was a win because the defense was called upon one last time to preserve it.

The defense had set up the offense for the throat shot, the deal-sealer. But somehow Earnest Graham fumbled at the Cleveland two with not much time left, and the Browns had one last gasp, albeit a desperate one.

Then came the thunder.

Someone up there fired the cannons.

Someone up there likes these Bucs.