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September 15, 2003
A Big Block Party
Panthers block two field-goal attempts, one conversion kick in overtime win over Bucs
By Joe Menzer | JOURNAL REPORTER
The Panthers were able to beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the defending Super Bowl champions, 12-9 in overtime because place-kicker John Kasay did something that the Bucs couldn't do - kick a clutch field goal.
The Bucs couldn't even kick a clutch extra point on the very afternoon that they unfurled their NFL championship banner from a year ago and flaunted it in the Panthers ' faces before kickoff in front of 65,621 at Raymond James Stadium.
The Bucs and their fans were silenced by their place-kicker's inability to convert an extra point at the end of regulation and two of his earlier field goals that also were blocked - and ultimately by Kasay's game-winning 47-yard field goal with 3:28 left in overtime.
Defensive tackle Kris Jenkins blocked one of the field-goal attempts by Tampa Bay's Martin Gramatica, then made the overtime possible by following up with a swat of Gramatica's extra-point attempt after what the Bucs wrongly assumed was a game-winning touchdown as time ran out in regulation.
"This feels great," an exhausted Jenkins said afterward. "That was probably one of the hardest games I've ever played in my life. But we found a way to pull it out, so now it's probably one of the games that I'll never forget."
Why would he want to, considering the outcome that left the Panthers with a 2-0 record entering their bye week? The victory also gave the Panthers sole possession of first place in the NFC South division, which Tampa Bay won going away a year ago.
Coach John Fox said he told his team to expect yesterday's victory, and it occurred because they never stopped believing that it could happen.
"We had some very hard-fought games with them last year, and I told our team that I thought we had improved (since then)," Fox said. "I told the team to expect to win even though I knew it was going to be a hostile environment."
The win happened mostly because of the blocks, and none loomed bigger than the last one by Jenkins. The Panthers had kept the Tampa Bay offense in check all day, and looked to be in good shape with a 9-3 lead when the Bucs got the ball back at their own 18-yard line with 1:49 remaining and no timeouts left.
That changed in a heartbeat, as quarterback Brad Johnson found wide receiver Carl Williams down the left sideline, right in front of the Panthers ' bench, for a 43-yard gain. It took 10 more plays and more heart-stopping action before the Bucs finally got to the end zone on the final play of regulation when Johnson hit wide receiver Keenan McCardell for a 6-yard touchdown pass that tied it at 9-9.
All the Bucs had to do then to secure a remarkable, come-from-behind victory, was have Gramatica kick the usually routine extra point. A veteran playing in his fifth NFL season, Gramatica had never had an extra point blocked, having entered the game with a streak of 129 in a row. But the 6-4, 335-pound Jenkins bulled his way through the center of the Tampa Bay line and got his left hand up, actually appearing to catch a large piece of the ball with his armpit area.
It set off a celebration on the Carolina sidelines that was made greater only by the fact that the block came against Gramatica, a player who has verbally feuded with Carolina punter Todd Sauerbrun and appears to be one of the team's most despised opponents.
"Sometimes you'll be at home watching him on the highlights, and he'll be out there jumping up and down after he made a kick. And you're just like, 'Man, I just wish somebody would block his kick so we wouldn't have to sit here and watch him jump around,'" Jenkins said. "Well, today we got him."
Sauerbrun added: "How many kicks did we block? Three? I mean, that was the most ridiculous effort on any special teams side of the ball that I've witnessed in my lifetime."
The game still wasn't over, of course. The Panthers needed a 52-yard punt return from Steve Smith on their second possession of overtime and some hard running by Stephen Davis to set up Kasay's game-winning kick.
Davis ended up rushing for 142 yards on 33 attempts to help compensate for the Panthers ' own offensive struggles in quarterback Jake Delhomme's first start since joining the team as a free agent in the off-season.
Delhomme struggled, completing nine of 23 passes for 96 yards and throwing two interceptions. But in the end, the blocks of Gramatica's kicks and Kasay's four field goals bailed out him and everyone else on the Panthers .
The first block of a Gramatica kick came on a 38-yard attempt in the second quarter that would have tied the game at 3-3, as Jenkins burst through the center of the line much in the same way that he would later on the key extra-point try. The second was blocked by defensive end Julius Peppers of the Panthers , snuffing a 47-yard attempt that, if successful, would have cut the Panthers ' lead to 9-6 with 8:27 left in regulation.
Sauerbrun professed a wish to end his war of words with Gramatica, but added that watching Gramatica's kicks get blocked and holding for Kasay on the 47-yard game-winner made this victory about as sweet as possible.
"I'm just going to let our play on the field do our talking for us," Sauerbrun said. "I'd rather do it like that, especially with his kicks being blocked. He kicked like garbage today."
The Panthers didn't. After making the decision to keep Kasay over Shayne Graham at the end of the preseason, Kasay more than justified that decision with four swings of his left foot yesterday. He hit field goals from 28, 35 and 20 yards, respectively, before connecting on the game-winner - twice.
He first booted the game-winner through from 42 yards, but the play was waved off because of a false-start penalty on left tackle Todd Steussie. Then he did what Gramatica did only once in four tries on the day - kick the ball through the uprights - this time from 47 yards away.
"We got a warmup kick in there, and he stuck 'em both," Sauerbrun said. "With Jason Kyle snapping, me holding and John kicking, we're so on it's unbelievable."
The Bucs couldn't say the same about their kicking game, and it cost them dearly.
• Joe Menzer can be reached at jmenzer@wsjournal.com