The Damn! Moment of Week 11

Good, bad, ugly from Week 11

MatchSport: Man in Black

Mile-High Mustache

By Skip Bayless
Page 2

Somehow, Tampa Bay had just tied the game at 27-all. But surely that wouldn't last. Not in No. 7's thundering heaven, the Georgia Dome.

Not with Michael Vick sending his congregation into hyperventilation with his best pocket-passing day as a pro.

Vick hit Warrick Dunn for 11 yards. Dunn took a handoff and spun through three or four tackles for eight more. Second and two, Vick, at his 39 yard line. Seventy-two seconds left.

Time for another oh-my-God-how'd-he-do-that? play from ... Derrick Brooks?

Yes, one player in the National Football League has always been able to out-Vick Vick. One mortal has always been able to out-athlete and out-quick and out-wow the NFL's most sensational athlete. One man's man has always been able to make Vick look like he'll never quite grow up.

Derrick Dewan Brooks.

"Every time we play the Bucs," Dunn said, "you can count on Derrick Brooks doing something remarkable."

With Dunn positioned behind Vick in a single-back set, Vick took the snap from center and retreated to pass. Yet, with a running start, No. 55 shot through Atlanta's line with Vick-like suddenness and launched himself at the quarterback.

Here came Brooks, brother.

Dunn frantically tried to duck around Vick and get a piece of Brooks before he got a bigger piece of Vick. But Dunn had to cut too much of the corner. Dunn's helmet caught the nose of the ball in Vick's left hand.

Out it shot toward the line of scrimmage. Fumble! Vick tried to scramble forward for it, but the diving Brooks momentarily cut Vick's feet out from under him.

Shelton Quarles recovered for Tampa Bay at Atlanta's 43.

Damn.

Four plays later, Matt Bryant's 45-yard field goal allowed Tampa Bay to escape with a 30-27 win -- and, at 7-3, a share of first place in the NFC South with Carolina's Panthers, who got their noses bloodied 13-3 in Chicago.

Said Brooks: "We're going to creep out of here very humbly."

One reason linebacker Brooks hasn't created Vick-like awe in his 11 seasons of going Lawrence Taylor on the NFL is that he's often too under-the-radar humble. But in this case, he was just telling the grateful truth.

Tampa Bay had no business winning this game -- not if you study the stats.

What if you'd been told before the game that in Atlanta, the Falcons would outgain Tampa Bay 443 yards to 258? That Vick would throw for 306 yards and two touchdowns without an interception? That Vick's offense would convert 11 of 17 third downs to just two of eight for the visitors?

What if you'd been told that Tampa Bay quarterback Chris Simms would manage only 118 yards passing with no touchdowns and one interception? That Joey Galloway, who came into the game third in the NFL in touchdown catches and receiving yards, wouldn't catch a single pass? That Atlanta would run 74 plays to the Bucs' 46?

What if you'd been told that Tampa Bay's only slight advantage would be in turnovers -- two for the Falcons and one for the Bucs? You'd still have said Atlanta would win 35-10, right?

I would have.

Yet though the Falcons rushed for 150 yards, the Bucs rushed for 140. And most of those 140 came at all the right moments, courtesy of the kid nicknamed after a car. Cadillac was back.

Carnell "Cadillac" Williams broke out of a four-game slump that was mostly caused by assorted injuries. He averaged 144.7 yards a game through the first three, then just 20.5 for the last four. But Sunday, he restated his case for rookie of the year with 116.

During Tampa Bay's 11-play, 71-yard drive that tied the game at 27-all, Cadillac slashed for 8, 4, 6, 5 and 9 yards for the touchdown. On third-and-6 from Atlanta's 17, he also made a nice catch of a high pass from Simms and juked two Falcons before making the first down.

And on the third-and-10 play before the game-winning field goal, Cadillac tore off right tackle for 8 yards, turning a 53-yard field goal into a more realistic 45-yarder.

With Cadillac out of the shop, the Bucs don't need Simms to be anything more than the Bears' Kyle Orton -- careful and efficient.

Still, how in the name of Michael Vick did the Falcons lose a second straight game at home? One reason was that Vick's 21 completions didn't have the devastating rhythm of a Peyton Manning. Vick gets hot, goes cold. Hits, misses.

Atlanta's 27 points should have been 40.

But the Falcons also lost because Atlanta's quarterback fumbled twice -- and neither was Vick's fault.

Midway through the first quarter, Vick stumbled as he faded to pass. Though he lay momentarily defenseless, Tampa Bay's Greg Spires was in no mood to play two-hand touch. No, Vick has a way of springing to his feet and squirting free. So Spires fell on him.

Vick thought it was a cheap shot and criticized the refs for not throwing a 15-yard flag. "I don't know," Vick said, "maybe [the refs] were against us today."

Vick had to leave the game for a play.

Matt Schaub replaced him, retreated into his end zone to pass, was hit from his blind side by Simeon Rice and fumbled. Anthony McFarland recovered for a Bucs touchdown.

So Atlanta's two fumbles led directly to 10 Tampa Bay points. That's how you steal a game.

But the NFL's Play of the Day came on the second fumble -- the one caused by (and worthy of a song by) Brooks and Dunn. Tampa Bay is 4-2 against Vick mostly because Brooks is Vick's mirror image. Whether he's spying Vick in case he runs or blitzing or dropping into coverage, Brooks seems to know what Vick is going to do before he does it.

Said Dunn: "He probably recognizes things quicker than other people, then he draws on his speed to get there and make the play."

Even in his 11th season at age 32, fighting injuries that have limited his side-to-side quickness, Brooks is still a force.

His first-place team now faces a tough four-game stretch -- Chicago, at New Orleans, at Carolina and at New England. But the Bucs have this to look forward to: Atlanta, in Tampa, on Christmas Eve.

Merry Christmas, Mr. Brooks.

Skip Bayless can be seen Monday through Friday on "Cold Pizza," ESPN2's morning show, and at 4 p.m. ET on ESPN's "1st & 10." His column appears twice a week on Page 2. You can e-mail Skip here.