The Buccaneers welcome back Brad Johnson after a 3 week hiatus and it couldn't have come at a better time. The Bucs welcomed the 1st place 49ers into town and Brad Johnson made his appearance known as he takes the Bucs 80 yards on 14 plays to open the game. He finished the drive with a 4 yard TD toss to Ken Dilger and the Bucs led 'em 7-0. Tampa's defense was its old reliable self keeping T.O. covered and Jeff Garcia in the pocket. The 49ers struggled offensively for it and Tampa was raring to turn this thing into a rout. Brad Johnson would toss his second touchdown of the day in the 2nd quarter, this one a 23 yarder to Keyshawn Johnson and it was 14-0. The second half started slow for both teams and San Francisco's defense dialed it up to match
Tampa's effort. Midway through the 3rd Martin Gramatica missed a 43 yard field goal for Tampa's only scoring chance. For San Fran they started to finds ways to move the ball. Terrell Owens had been quiet for most of the day but started to get open late. Two big completions to him and then a 22 yard strike to a wide open Tai Streets and the 49ers were all of a sudden back in this game. The Bucs though would get possibly their biggest break of the game early in the 4th quarter. Karl Williams' 42 yard punt return set the Buccaneers up at the 49er nine yard line leading to a 23 yard Gramatica field goal and a 17-7 lead. That field goal meant everything because Jeff Garcia would hook up with T.O. on a 37 yard touchdown pass with 1:30 remaining cutting the Bucs lead to 17-14. Tampa would recover the onside kick and run out the remaining time. The telling tale of this game though was the TOP as Tampa's 42:03 dwarfed San Fran's 17:57. --submitted by Barry Smalley--
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