TAMPA, Fla., Sept. 8 (UPI) -- Tampa Bay punter Tom Tupa attempted to avert a safety in overtime after being wrapped up by Fred McAfee and was intercepted in the end zone by linebacker James Allen, giving the New Orleans Saints a 26-20 victory Sunday.
"If you are in the league long enough, you will see everything," Saints Coach Jim Haslett said. "I can't remember anything like this and I've been in some crazy games."
One of the most NFL's most intense coaches who is known for his offensive prowess, Jon Gruden was brought to Tampa Bay to revive the Bucs on that side of the ball.
"I'm disappointed. But I'm not going to let this fester for very long," Gruden said. "We have a good football team and we're going to come back from this."
Gruden watched his offense come to life as the Bucs rallied from a 20-10 deficit in the final 2:41 of the fourth quarter. But what Gruden saw in overtime had to be more like a nightmare.
Punting from his own end zone, Tupa never had a chance as McAfee raced untouched around left end. The Saints' special teams captain wrapped up Tupa, who flipped the ball with his left hand as he was falling down.
Allen, the Saints third-round pick, had the ball fall into his waiting arms with 2:50 left to give New Orleans the victory.
"He threw it right to me," Allen said. "It was my first touchdown since high school. McAfee supplied all the pressure. It might have looked easy, but it wasn't."
"We had a chance to win in OT, but it becomes a battle of field position and we lost it," Bucs cornerback Ronde Barber said. "To have a chance like that in OT and not win is difficult."
Stagnant for the first three quarters, the Bucs' offense came alive in the fourth quarter.
Brad Johnson, who struggled for much of the day, found his rhythm at the right time as he needed less than three minutes to move the Bucs 73 yards in 12 plays.
Johnson converted three third downs on the march that he capped with an 11-yard touchdown pass to Joe Jurevicius with 2:41 remaining, pulling Tampa Bay within 20-17.
After the Saints went three-and-out, Johnson went to work without the benefit of a timeout, starting the tying drive at his own 26 with 2:01 left.
Aided by a roughing penalty on defensive tackle Willie Whitehead and completions of 11 yards to Keenan McCardell and 13 yards to Jurevicius, Johnson moved the Bucs into field goal position.
But with the clock running, Martin Gramatica had to scramble onto the field, where he kicked a 40-yard field goal as time expired to send the game into overtime.
"We had to give ourselves a chance to win," Bucs defensive tackle Warren Sapp said. "We fought our way back and had a golden opportunity but we just didn't do it. We'll learn from this."
Johnson came on after a slow start and finished 28 of 52 for 278 yards and two touchdowns. He was just five of 15 for 47 yards in the opening half.
Gruden had praise for his quarterback.
"I though he was super," Gruden said. "I thought he hung in there in difficult situations. He made some brilliant plays that put us in a position to win."
Despite their success in the fourth, the Bucs' offense again sputtered on their three overtime possessions. They did manage to move to the New Orleans 39 on the first drive only to see the drive stall.
New Orleans also could not get its offense going as it managed one first down on two possessions in the extra session.
The owner of a six-year contract extension that he received on Friday night, Saints quarterback Aaron Brooks got his team off to a good start.
On the game's opening possession, Brooks moved his club 65 yards in 13 plays. He went three for three on third-down conversions on the drive that culminated with John Carney's 28-yard field goal.
Brooks led an 11-play, 51-yard drive on the next possession that ended in a 41-yard field goal by Carney with 19 seconds left in the quarter.
Brooks had success most of the way against an aggressive Bucs defense, going 24 of 42 for 260 yards with two touchdowns and an interception.
In his first game as the club's starting running back in place of the departed Ricky Williams, Deuce McAllister proved to be a nice complement to Brooks as he carried 31 times for 109 yards.
"That's my job, to run hard and put our team in a position to win," McAllister said. "It's hard to run against (Warren) Sapp and (Anthony) McFarland. But, we had opportunities to make plays and we made them."
"Deuce had a really good game," Brooks said. "The offensive line blocked really well. We were able to get the ball to the receivers early and often. We wanted to spread them out and pound Deuce a little bit. It's good to have a victory like this and go back to New Orleans."
The Bucs got on the board early in the second quarter on Gramatica's 52-yard field goal.
But Brooks answered by capping a seven-play, 64-yard drive with a 32-yard touchdown pass to Boo Williams, making it 13-3 with 4:02 left in the half.
New Orleans dominated the entire first half, holding a 203-77 edge in total yards. That was a stark contrast to what happened here last season, when the Bucs held a 269-34 edge in yards in the first half en route to a 48-10 rout.
The Bucs finally got moving on their initial possession of the second half as they moved 54 yards in six plays. Johnson capped the march with a four-yard touchdown pass to McCardell.
Signed in the offseason as free agent, McCardell had six catches for 63 yards.
Brooks answered the score to McCardell, when he found first-round pick Donte' Stallworth with a 41-yard touchdown on the Saints' next possession, making it 20-10.
