Bucs Run By Grounded Eagles

Donovan McNabb was saluted with an ovation when he trotted onto the field for his unexpected NFL debut. Warren Sapp and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers greeted him with sack dances.

The Bucs got six of their nine sacks against McNabb in a 19-5 victory over the Eagles on Sunday.

"It's always special when you get a new quarterback," Sapp said. "It's new meat, you know."

The Eagles (0-2) gained a mere 150 yards and failed to come close to scoring a touchdown.

The Bucs (1-1) won despite gaining a scant 220 yards and getting another lackluster performance from Trent Dilfer. He failed to bounce back from throwing three interceptions in a home loss to the Giants, going 7-for-14 for 89 yards, with two touchdowns and two interceptions.

"We tried to get a couple of deep balls that didn't work out for us, but overall I thought he played pretty well," Bucs coach Tony Dungy said.

Bucs fullback Mike Alstott rushed 15 times for 64 yards and caught three passes for 33 yards, including a 17-yard TD that made it 19-5 in the third.

Dilfer's worst throw was a balloon ball he lofted up for grabs on the first play of Tampa Bay's initial drive of the fourth. It was easily intercepted by Brian Dawkins, who ran it back 37 yards to set up yet another ideal scoring opportunity. The Eagles went three plays and out including two sacks against McNabb.

"I've got to get better," Dilfer said. "I've got to play better to win the big games, and I'll do that."

Doug Pderson started at quarterback for the Eagles and was 12-of-19 for 100 yards with three sacks in the first half. He officially left the game with a sprained right shoulder, but Reid said he'd decided before going into the locker room that McNabb would play the second half.

McNabb, the No. 2 overall pick in the draft, would have been sacked many more times if not for his speed. He was 4-for-11 for 26 yards. The protection was so bad that Reid admitted worrying about the safety of his $53.7 million rookie.

"I would be worried about anybody back there," Reid said.

Even Pederson lobbied for a new starter, saying, "Maybe by doing that, it might spark the team offensively."

Late in the second quarter, Troy Vincent made a leaping interception of a deep pass from Dilfer intended for Yo Murphy and ran it back 26 yards to the Eagles 45. With boos engulfing Pederson, Philadelphia took over with two timeouts and 1:41 remaining.

The Eagles burned both remaining timeouts before Pederson hit Kevin Turner for 2 yards with 19 seconds left, making it fourth-and-8.

The Eagles finished the first half with one of the most embarrassing plays in their bumbling recent history. Norm Johnson, one of the most accomplished kickers ever to step onto the field, was inexcusably late getting there and missed a 26-yard field goal attempt as time expired.

"There's no excuse for a kicker, in a hurry-up situation, to not be on the football field," Reid said. "It's absolutely ridiculous."

Johnson said it was "100 percent my fault."

"It's one of those things you see on `SportsCenter' and say, `How did that happen?"' he said.

Despite a fruitless and sometimes scary performance by McNabb, Reid left the door open to starting him over Pederson next week in Buffalo.

"The quarterback who will start next week is Doug," Reid said. "Unless under further review I change my mind."

Even after having the rock-hard Veterans Stadium turf fed to him for a couple of hours by the relentless Bucs, McNabb said he came out of it OK.

"Healthy," said McNabb, knocking twice on a wooden podium when asked how he felt after the beating. "Mentally, you don't want to sit on this experience and think about what you could have done."

A Harley Davidson would have helped.

Notes