Mon, Oct 6, 2003
For the end of Week Five of the 2003 NFL season, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers hosted the Indianapolis Colts. The Bucs, under head coach Jon Gruden, were fresh off their Superbowl championship but had begun to struggle as the 2003 season went on. The Indianapolis Colts, meanwhile, had become a consistent winner under former Bucs coach Tony Dungy, who was making his first trip to Tampa since being released after the 2001 season. The Colts were rapidly becoming famous in the NFL for their offense, the most explosive seen in the league in many years, but as the game went on Indy's high-octane offense was stymied by Tampa Bay's superb defense, and in the final minutes of the fourth quarter the Bucs led Indy 35-14, a deficit considered impossible to overcome - until the most dramatic finish seen by Monday Night Football in many years unfolded.
Mon, Nov 3, 2003
The last game before their bye week of the 2003 season, the New England Patriots took on the Denver Broncos, a foe they had long struggled against; they had won ten of their first eighteen match-ups against the Broncos in the 1960s, then split four 1970s meetings before losing eleven straight against John Elway's Bronco teams; the Patriots finally won again after Elway's retirement, winning two straight before dropping two straight entering this 2003 match-up. The Broncos were surging toward the 2003 playoffs under the stewardship of coach Mike Shanahan, having recovered from a 6-10 1999 season, the first following Elway's retirement. Former Arizona Cardinals quarterback Jake Plummer was the Broncos' new QB, but Plummer and backup Steve Buerlein were out with injuries, leaving journeyman Danny Kanell to control the football on Denver's possessions. The heart of the Broncos, though, was their defense and their running game, and they pounced to an early 7-0 lead before Tom Brady nailed a 66-yard touchdown pass to wide-out Deion Branch late in the first quarter. The Broncos scored twice more before a late kick return by Bethel Johnson set up an Adam Vinitiari field goal that left the halftime score 17-13 in favor of Denver. Late in the fourth the Patriots trailed 24-23 but were backed up at their one-yard line, and it was here that Patriots coach Bill Belichick called for taking a deliberate safety, putting the score 26-23 but allowing the Patriots to kick the ball from their 20 yard line. An unexpected bounce off a poor punt by Ken Walter put the Broncos deep in their territory, and a three-and-out Broncos possession gave the Patriots one last chance to pull an upset in Invesco Field.