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 Tampa
Bay Buccaneers, professional football team and
one of five teams in the Central Division of the
National Football Conference (NFC) of the
National Football League (NFL). Under the
league’s realignment plan, which will take
affect in 2002, the Buccaneers will play in the
South Division of the NFC. The Buccaneers play
at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, and
wear uniforms of red, silver, and white. The
Buccaneers joined the NFL in 1976 as an
expansion team. Former University of Southern
California (USC) head coach John McKay was hired
to pilot the club, but Tampa Bay’s first season
was a dismal one. The club became the first team
in NFL history to lose all 14 regular-season
games, suffering five shutouts and fielding the
conference’s worst offense and defense.
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The Buccaneers’ losing streak grew to a
league-record 26 consecutive games as
the club lost the first 12 games of its
second season. Tampa Bay improved in
1978, winning five games behind running
backs Ricky Bell and Anthony Davis,
rookie quarterback Doug Williams, and
brothers Lee Roy and Dewey Selmon, who
played defensive end and linebacker,
respectively. A year later, in 1979, the
Buccaneers stunned the league, winning
their first five games en route to a
first-place tie with the Chicago Bears
in the Central Division. Williams had an
excellent season, and Bell ran for more
than 1,250 yards. |
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The
Selmon brothers led a top-rated defense, and
McKay was named coach of the year. In the
playoffs Tampa Bay upset the Philadelphia
Eagles before falling to the Los Angeles
Rams (now St. Louis Rams) in the NFC
Championship Game.After an injury-plagued
1980 season, Tampa Bay qualified for the
playoffs in 1981 and 1982 behind Williams,
who continued to be one of the best
quarterbacks in the NFC. Both years the
Buccaneers lost in the first round of the
playoffs. Tampa Bay’s 5-4 win-loss record in
the strike-shortened 1982 season was
followed by a long series of losing seasons
through the mid-1990s, as the Buccaneers
perennially ranked as one of the NFL’s
worst-performing teams. In 1996 Tony Dungy,
a former defensive coordinator for the
Minnesota Vikings, was hired as the
Buccaneers’ head coach. He rebuilt the team
with young, talented players such as running
backs Mike Alstott and Warrick Dunn,
quarterback Trent Dilfer, and cornerback
Donnie Abraham. Tampa Bay began the 1997
season with five consecutive wins and
finished the season with a 10-6 win-loss
record, advancing to the playoffs for the
first time in 15 years. After defeating the
Detroit Lions in the first round, the
Buccaneers lost to the Green Bay Packers,
the eventual NFC champions. After the 1999
season the Buccaneers reached the NFC
Championship game for the first time since
1979, but lost to the Rams. 2003 Super Bowl
XXXVII Tampa Bay Buccaneers Defeated Oakland
Raider 48-21.
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