Steelers Defeat the Buccaneers (original) (raw)

N.F.L.|Steelers Defeat the Buccaneers

https://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/23/sports/football/steelers-defeat-the-buccaneers.html

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Steelers 17, Buccaneers 7

Dec. 23, 2002

TAMPA, Fla. -- The Pittsburgh Steelers made the Tampa Bay Buccaneers look like championship pretenders again.

Tommy Maddox threw for 236 yards and one touchdown as the Steelers dominated the Bucs 17-7 Monday night to clinch the AFC North championship, their seventh division title in coach Bill Cowher's 11 seasons.

"It was just a matter of who is the bigger bully," Steelers running back Jerome Bettis said. "They said they were waiting a full year for this. ... We came out and bullied them and showed them that we're the baddest on the block."

The Bucs (11-4) claimed the NFC South on Sunday when New Orleans lost to Cincinnati, but they were hoping to keep pace with the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers in the race for home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs.

"We had as much to play for as they did. ... There was no letdown," said Bucs coach Jon Gruden, whose team will now have to beat Chicago on the road and get help from the New York Jets against the Packers in order to earn the No. 2 seed, which would give them a first-round bye.

"We're still in the thick of things," Gruden added. "We've got to find a way to win a game."

It was the second straight year Pittsburgh (9-5-1) came into Raymond James Stadium and physically whipped the Bucs, who Steelers safety Lee Flowers called "paper champions" who talk a better game than they play.

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