Sooner in Tampa
12/17/2007, 06:46 AM
http://www.buccaneers.com/media/photos/misc/Spurlock12_16_07_7.jpg
Dec 17, 2007 - When Micheal Spurlock crossed the goal line, the cannons blasted and the Raymond James Stadium crowd roared with the same fervor they would after any touchdown scored by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
But this time, something was different.
While Spurlock and his teammates celebrated, the fans kept cheering. Even as the Bucs lined up for the ensuing extra point, the rumbling of the sellout crowd never dipped in decibels.
It was almost as if the fans in attendance were cheering, all at once and without pause, because they were unsure of what else to do. As if they were left pondering how else to respond to an absolutely unprecedented event. As if wondering aloud, “Did that really just happen? Is the streak finally over?”
The answer? A resounding yes.
In a matter of seconds on Sunday against the Atlanta Falcons – the perfect foil, given the enmity between the two teams – Spurlock put the NFL’s longest-running statistical oddity to rest, notching the first kickoff return for a touchdown in franchise history.
Spurlock took the kick at his own 10 yard line and sprinted ahead to the 25, where he made a hard cut to the right and outran the rest of the Falcons on the way to the end zone. Kickoff man Michael Koenen was left in the dust just past midfield. Falcons cornerback Lewis Sanders had a decent angle and the last chance to catch Spurlock, but he was unable to get his fingertips on the speedy returner.
In the midst of sprinting down the sideline, Spurlock said it actually crossed his mind how monumental the play was.
“It was a middle-left return, and for some reason, everybody from Atlanta just played over,” Spurlock said. “We got our blocks, and I thought, ‘Wow, this is wide open.’ I hit [the hole], and I saw the guy running after me. I thought, ‘You never know how close you’re going to get to this again. Just take your opportunity and run with it.’
“I thought, ‘There’s no way he can catch me. I have to get to the end zone.’”
And he did. After 139 other men had tried over the franchise’s first 497 games, Spurlock finally got it done, though he actually came a few blades of grass from stepping out of bounds only 15 or so yards from pay dirt. In fact, the Falcons challenged the play on that very basis, but replay showed Spurlock’s two most frightening footsteps falling completely on the green.
“Joey [Galloway] was messing with me about it,” Spurlock said. “He said, ‘You were pretty close.’ I didn’t see it until the replay. In my mind, all I was seeing was the end zone and just crossing that line.”
After the game, as the Bucs celebrated their 34-point victory and another NFC South title, Spurlock might have been a bit too preoccupied to fully appreciate the significance of his return. He wasn’t completely oblivious, however, to the fact that no other player in Buccaneers history had accomplished what he had.
“We’ve been joking about it, we’ve heard it in the media, [and] everybody has said, ‘Okay, today could be the day,’” Spurlock said. “[Linebacker Derrick] Brooks always says, ‘Today could be the day to make history.’ And it happened.”
Brooks admitted that he had been in Spurlock’s ear lately, perhaps because the record-setting return had been in the making for some time this year.
“I’ve been whispering to Spurlock all year long, just saying in practice, the moves that he’s making, the guys up front, you can see every week that we’ve been one block away, it seems like, for a whole year,” Brooks said. “When Mike hit that hole today, the whole city was ecstatic to see this happen. It can happen again before the year ends because that’s one of the units that has gotten better throughout the season. We haven’t gotten touchdowns, but we’ve been really getting good field position. So now we have to get our punt return game going and that will really help us be a more complete football team.”
Asked if the reality had sunk in yet that his name would forever be listed as a small piece of the club’s history, Spurlock was more excited about the playoff berth he’d helped secure.
“It hasn’t hit me yet, maybe in the morning after everybody has called and said congratulations,” Spurlock said. “Right now I’m just happy that we clinched a playoff spot. We won the South and we’re just looking forward to the next game. For right now, I’m just happy it’s over. I guess everybody will be looking for the next one now.”
This is all oddly fitting in a year in which the Buccaneers won a division while relying on countless role players and seldom-used backups to step up when key starters missed time. A former college free agent who had been a quarterback his entire life and, as of a year ago, had never returned a kickoff, is the first to etch his name in the club record books next to “kickoff returns for touchdowns.”
You read that right. Spurlock had never returned kicks prior to joining the Arizona Cardinals in 2006 as an undrafted free agent, but he knew an opportunity to stick around in the NFL meant doing what was asked of him.
“I’ve always considered myself an athlete, and I figure if you can teach it to me, I can do it,” Spurlock said. “Anything that you do enough times, you’re going to get better at it, so I’ve done it enough now where [the coaches] trust me, I trust them. Everybody out there wants to get the first one in, so all 11 guys that were out there, I’m just happy for them, for myself, and for the team.”
Dec 17, 2007 - When Micheal Spurlock crossed the goal line, the cannons blasted and the Raymond James Stadium crowd roared with the same fervor they would after any touchdown scored by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
But this time, something was different.
While Spurlock and his teammates celebrated, the fans kept cheering. Even as the Bucs lined up for the ensuing extra point, the rumbling of the sellout crowd never dipped in decibels.
It was almost as if the fans in attendance were cheering, all at once and without pause, because they were unsure of what else to do. As if they were left pondering how else to respond to an absolutely unprecedented event. As if wondering aloud, “Did that really just happen? Is the streak finally over?”
The answer? A resounding yes.
In a matter of seconds on Sunday against the Atlanta Falcons – the perfect foil, given the enmity between the two teams – Spurlock put the NFL’s longest-running statistical oddity to rest, notching the first kickoff return for a touchdown in franchise history.
Spurlock took the kick at his own 10 yard line and sprinted ahead to the 25, where he made a hard cut to the right and outran the rest of the Falcons on the way to the end zone. Kickoff man Michael Koenen was left in the dust just past midfield. Falcons cornerback Lewis Sanders had a decent angle and the last chance to catch Spurlock, but he was unable to get his fingertips on the speedy returner.
In the midst of sprinting down the sideline, Spurlock said it actually crossed his mind how monumental the play was.
“It was a middle-left return, and for some reason, everybody from Atlanta just played over,” Spurlock said. “We got our blocks, and I thought, ‘Wow, this is wide open.’ I hit [the hole], and I saw the guy running after me. I thought, ‘You never know how close you’re going to get to this again. Just take your opportunity and run with it.’
“I thought, ‘There’s no way he can catch me. I have to get to the end zone.’”
And he did. After 139 other men had tried over the franchise’s first 497 games, Spurlock finally got it done, though he actually came a few blades of grass from stepping out of bounds only 15 or so yards from pay dirt. In fact, the Falcons challenged the play on that very basis, but replay showed Spurlock’s two most frightening footsteps falling completely on the green.
“Joey [Galloway] was messing with me about it,” Spurlock said. “He said, ‘You were pretty close.’ I didn’t see it until the replay. In my mind, all I was seeing was the end zone and just crossing that line.”
After the game, as the Bucs celebrated their 34-point victory and another NFC South title, Spurlock might have been a bit too preoccupied to fully appreciate the significance of his return. He wasn’t completely oblivious, however, to the fact that no other player in Buccaneers history had accomplished what he had.
“We’ve been joking about it, we’ve heard it in the media, [and] everybody has said, ‘Okay, today could be the day,’” Spurlock said. “[Linebacker Derrick] Brooks always says, ‘Today could be the day to make history.’ And it happened.”
Brooks admitted that he had been in Spurlock’s ear lately, perhaps because the record-setting return had been in the making for some time this year.
“I’ve been whispering to Spurlock all year long, just saying in practice, the moves that he’s making, the guys up front, you can see every week that we’ve been one block away, it seems like, for a whole year,” Brooks said. “When Mike hit that hole today, the whole city was ecstatic to see this happen. It can happen again before the year ends because that’s one of the units that has gotten better throughout the season. We haven’t gotten touchdowns, but we’ve been really getting good field position. So now we have to get our punt return game going and that will really help us be a more complete football team.”
Asked if the reality had sunk in yet that his name would forever be listed as a small piece of the club’s history, Spurlock was more excited about the playoff berth he’d helped secure.
“It hasn’t hit me yet, maybe in the morning after everybody has called and said congratulations,” Spurlock said. “Right now I’m just happy that we clinched a playoff spot. We won the South and we’re just looking forward to the next game. For right now, I’m just happy it’s over. I guess everybody will be looking for the next one now.”
This is all oddly fitting in a year in which the Buccaneers won a division while relying on countless role players and seldom-used backups to step up when key starters missed time. A former college free agent who had been a quarterback his entire life and, as of a year ago, had never returned a kickoff, is the first to etch his name in the club record books next to “kickoff returns for touchdowns.”
You read that right. Spurlock had never returned kicks prior to joining the Arizona Cardinals in 2006 as an undrafted free agent, but he knew an opportunity to stick around in the NFL meant doing what was asked of him.
“I’ve always considered myself an athlete, and I figure if you can teach it to me, I can do it,” Spurlock said. “Anything that you do enough times, you’re going to get better at it, so I’ve done it enough now where [the coaches] trust me, I trust them. Everybody out there wants to get the first one in, so all 11 guys that were out there, I’m just happy for them, for myself, and for the team.”