TAMPA, Fla. (AP) -Coach Jon Gruden forced a smile, noting the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will need some cooperation from a couple of his former employers to ensure another trip to the playoffs.
To get in, the Bucs (9-6) not only have to defeat the Oakland Raiders in Sunday’s regular-season finale, but also need the Philadelphia Eagles to beat or tie the Dallas Cowboys later in the day.
Yes, the same Eagles who have been a nemesis the past decade. The same Eagles who will be knocked out of the race for the NFC’s final playoff spot if Tampa Bay takes care of business against the Raiders (4-11).
me six years ago.
“There is a lot of irony,” said Gruden, whose team finds itself in its current predicament because it’s nose-dived since being in a position to repeat as NFC South champions and challenge for the No. 1 seed three weeks ago.
“You dig yourself in a hole,” linebacker Derrick Brooks added, “you do things you’ve never done.”
Consecutive losses to Carolina, Atlanta on the road and San Diego at home dropped the Bucs from a tie for first place in the division to the brink of elimination. A normally reliable defense has struggled, and the offense has been sporadic.
Gruden and his players insist no one is panicking, that all they’re focused on is rebounding against the Raiders.
“People talk about colossal collapses. We really haven’t collapsed. We’ve lost to three good football teams,” the coach said.
“You can’t really dwell on the three losses. We still have an opportunity and anything can happen,” running back Warrick Dunn said.
“We have to have that confidence and that little swagger going back out there, so we can start to play football the way we played for 12 weeks. If we can do that, things will turn around real quick.”
The Raiders and Bucs are facing each other for the third time since Gruden left Oakland for Tampa Bay after the 2001 season.
er Bowl in Gruden’s first year with the Bucs, with Tampa Bay winning 48-21. The Raiders won the most recent meeting 30-20 in 2004 and lead the regular-season series 5-1.
This one could be the final game for interim Raiders coach Tom Cable, who took over when Lane Kiffin was fired four games into this season. Kiffin is the son of Bucs defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin, who will be coaching his last game with Tampa Bay if the Bucs don’t make the playoffs. The 68-year-old assistant has announced he’ll join Lane in the son’s new job at the University of Tennessee.
Although the Raiders are just 3-8 under his guidance, Cable thinks the team is headed in the right direction. After beating Houston 27-16 last week, he stressed the Raiders won’t make the long trip to Tampa with intentions of just playing out the string in another bad season.
“This comes at the right time for us. We need to do something like this. We’ve been improving, but we’ve had some speed bumps, if you will,” Cable said. “We played well last week and won a game. … But we’ve not been able to do it two in a row. So for us, our motivation is pretty clear.”
.4 percent of his passes for 478 yards, four touchdowns and one interception the past two games.
Gruden, who coached in Oakland for four seasons, expects the Raiders to embrace the role of spoilers.
He recalled a similar situation from 1999, when the Raiders were out of the playoff race but entered the final week of season in a position to help Seattle and mentor Mike Holmgren with a victory at Kansas City.
Oakland fell behind early, but rallied to win 41-38 in overtime.
“We were down 17-0, and if Kansas City wins the game they win the division, and if they lose the game they’re out of the playoffs and Seattle wins the division,” Gruden said. “Mike Holmgren still sends me a Christmas card every year thanking me for that.”
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