1995 Tampa Bay Buccaneers season

1995 Tampa Bay Buccaneers season
Head coach Sam Wyche
General manager Rich McKay
Owner Malcolm Glazer
Home field Tampa Stadium
Results
Record 7–9
Division place 5th NFC Central
Playoff finish did not qualify
Team MVP MLB Hardy Nickerson

The 1995 Tampa Bay Buccaneers season was the franchise's 20th season in the National Football League.

The season began with the team trying to improve on a 6–10 season in 1994, a season in which the team won 4 straight games at the end of the year, and four of their final five. It was Sam Wyche’s final season as the team's head coach.

This was the final year the Buccaneers team wore screen printed name and numbers on the jerseys

Prior to the season Malcolm Glazer took over ownership of the team, then the Bucs drafted defensive lineman Warren Sapp and linebacker Derrick Brooks, both of whom are recognized as two of the team's greatest ever players. The Buccaneers' first-ever draft pick, Lee Roy Selmon, was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Overview

There had been rumors as far back as the end of the 1993 season that new owner Glazer would move the team after funding to improve Tampa Stadium was not obtained,[1] but a referendum kept the Bucs in Tampa for 1995. The possibility of moving the Buccaneers to Cleveland, Ohio was an undercurrent throughout the 1995 season once Art Modell’s relocation of the Browns to Baltimore was announced.[2]

Bucs Head coach Sam Wyche gained some notoriety for saying "Five dash Two" to reporters during a press conference after the seventh game of the season, referring to the team's 5–2 record at the time. Tampa Bay had won 9 of its previous 12 games, going back to the end of the 1994 season, and many observers felt they had become a sleeper NFC playoff contender. However, the good luck and victory string soon ran out, and the team would go 2–7 for the remainder of the season.

Following the week seven overtime win over Minnesota, Tampa Bay lost three in a row before beating expansion Jacksonville, only after Jaguars coach Tom Coughlin decided to go for a 2-point conversion when scoring a last-minute touchdown. It failed and the Bucs won 17–16, giving them a sweep of that season's new expansion teams, as they had beaten Carolina 17–10 in week 5. Two more losses followed, and the 6–7 Buccaneers had a prime time ESPN Sunday Night Football game against the Green Bay Packers, who were playing without standout Reggie White due to injury. Tampa Bay pulled out an overtime win over the eventual NFC Central champion Packers to make their record 7–7, ensuring that their streak of 10-loss seasons—dating back to the 1983 season—would end. The Buccaneers had remained in playoff contention through fourteen games for the first time since the strike-shortened 1982 season under Doug Williams.

The Bucs, however, lost to the Chicago Bears by 21 points at Soldier Field in the penultimate game of the season, ending their playoff hopes. In the season finale at home against a surging Detroit Lions team who were riding a six-game winning streak, Tampa lost decisively. The game became infamous due to a sideline argument between Wyche and quarterback Trent Dilfer; it was later revealed that Wyche planned to pull Dilfer for young backup quarterback Casey Weldon regardless of how the game was going, triggering Dilfer’s furious reaction and also angering teammates of the very respected if inconsistent starter. The Buccaneers' overall passing attack in 1995 was anemic: they passed for the fifth-fewest yards in the league, had the second-worst team passer rating (60.3), and set an NFL record for fewest team touchdown passes (5) in a 16-game season.[3]

Rumors also swirled that Wyche, knowing he would be let go by new owners without a winning record after a 5–2 start, ordered the team to wear orange pants and orange shirts (which at the time, would have been a first to wear the same color top and bottom), but after several players refused to wear it, the idea was scrapped. New owner Malcolm Glazer decided Wyche’s tenure as coach was done, and started the search for the next coach of the Buccaneers, a search that would bring in coach Tony Dungy, who would turn the Buccaneers into a perennial playoff team (a 54–42 record and four playoff appearances in six seasons with the Tampa Bay), and build the foundation for their first Super Bowl win in 2002.

Offseason

NFL Draft

PickRoundPlayerPositionSchool
121Warren SappDefensive TackleMiami
281Derrick BrooksLinebackerFlorida State
432Melvin JohnsonDefensive BackKentucky
1054Jerry WilsonDefensive BackSaginaw Valley State University
1435Clifton AbrahamDefensive BackFlorida State
1796Wardell RouseLinebackerClemson
2157Steve IngramOffensive TackleMaryland
2277Jeff RodgersDefensive EndTexas A&M-Kingsville

Personnel

Staff

1995 Tampa Bay Buccaneers staff

Front office

Head coaches

  • Head coach/director of football operations – Sam Wyche

Offensive coaches

  

Defensive coaches

Special teams coaches

  • Special teams – George Stewart

Strength and conditioning

  • Strength and conditioning – Brad Roll

[4]

Roster

1995 Tampa Bay Buccaneers final roster
Quarterbacks

Running backs

Wide receivers

Tight ends

 Offensive linemen

Defensive linemen

 Linebackers

Defensive backs

Special teams

 Reserve lists



Practice squad



Rookies in italics
 Active, Inactive, Practice squad

Regular season

Schedule

Regular season
WeekDateOpponentResultKickoff[a]Game siteTVAttendanceRecord
1 September 3, 1995 at Philadelphia Eagles W 21–61:00Veterans StadiumFOX66,2661–0
2 September 10, 1995 at Cleveland Browns L 6–221:00Cleveland StadiumFOX61,0831–1
3 September 17, 1995 Chicago Bears L 6–254:00Tampa StadiumFOX71,5071–2
4 September 24, 1995 Washington Redskins W 14–61:00Tampa StadiumFOX49,234*2–2
5 October 1, 1995 at Carolina Panthers W 20–131:00Clemson Memorial StadiumFOX50,0763–2
6 October 8, 1995 Cincinnati Bengals W 19–161:00Tampa StadiumNBC41,732*4–2
7 October 15, 1995 Minnesota Vikings W 20–17 OT1:00Tampa StadiumFOX55,703*5–2
8 October 22, 1995 Atlanta Falcons L 21–241:00Tampa StadiumFOX66,135*5–3
9 October 29, 1995 at Houston Oilers L 7–194:00Houston AstrodomeFOX31,4895–4
10 Bye
11 November 12, 1995 at Detroit Lions L 24–271:00Pontiac SilverdomeFOX60,6445–5
12 November 19, 1995 Jacksonville Jaguars W 17–161:00Tampa StadiumNBC71,629*6–5
13 November 26, 1995 at Green Bay Packers L 13–351:00Lambeau FieldFOX59,2186–6
14 December 3, 1995 at Minnesota Vikings L 17–311:00Hubert H. Humphrey MetrodomeFOX52,8796–7
15 December 10, 1995 Green Bay Packers W 13–10 OT8:00Tampa StadiumESPN67,557*7–7
16 December 17, 1995 at Chicago Bears L 10–311:00Soldier FieldFOX49,4757–8
17 December 23, 1995 Detroit Lions L 10–374:00Tampa StadiumFOX50,049*7–9

Notes:

a All times in North American Eastern Time. (UTC–4 and UTC–5 during Standard Time)
  • = blacked out locally

Standings

NFC Central
W L T PCT PF PA STK
(3) Green Bay Packers 11 5 0 .688 404 314 W2
(5) Detroit Lions 10 6 0 .625 436 336 W7
Chicago Bears 9 7 0 .563 392 360 W2
Minnesota Vikings 8 8 0 .500 412 385 L2
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 7 9 0 .438 238 335 L2

References

  1. ↑ “4 NFL Clubs Might Be Interested in Considering Move to St. Louis” in St. Louis Post Dispatch December 3, 1993, p. 4D
  2. ↑ “Buccaneers’ Officials Ready to Move Team Soon, Says Vikings’ President” in Akron Beacon Journal, December 19, 1995
  3. ↑ Pro-Football-Reference.com: 1995 NFL Standings, Team & Offensive Statistics
  4. ↑ 2009 Tampa Bay Buccaneers Media Guide. pp. 44–46. Retrieved 2010-04-12.
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