Super Bowl XXXVII was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Oakland Raiders and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 2002 season. The Buccaneers defeated the Raiders by the score of 48–21, winning their first ever Super Bowl. The game played at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, California on January 26, 2003, was the fifth Super Bowl to be held a week after the conference championship games.
It was the first time in Super Bowl history that the league's #1 ranked offense (Raiders) was pitted against the league's #1 ranked defense (Buccaneers). However, the game is sometimes referred to as the "Gruden Bowl", because the primary storyline surrounding the game revolved around Jon Gruden. Gruden was the Raiders' head coach from 1998 to 2001, and then became the Buccaneers coach in 2002. Tampa Bay, "Gruden's new team", entered their first Super Bowl in team history after posting a 12-4 regular season record. Oakland, "Gruden's old team", advanced to their fifth Super Bowl after posting an 11-5 regular season record.
The Raiders came into the game as four-point favorites. However, with Gruden's prior knowledge of his "old" team, his "new" team's defense dominated the contest. Oakland quarterback Rich Gannon threw a Super Bowl record five interceptions, three of which were returned for touchdowns. The Buccaneers also sacked Gannon five times, and scored 34 unanswered points to build a 34-3 lead late in the third quarter. Tampa Bay safety Dexter Jackson, who had two of those interceptions and returned them for 34 yards, was named Super Bowl MVP. Jackson became only the second safety and third defensive back to ever be named Super Bowl MVP.
The attendance of 67,603 was the third-smallest ever for a Super Bowl game, trailing only Super Bowl I (61,946) and Super Bowl XXVI (63,130).
Read more about Super Bowl XXXVII: Background, Television and Entertainment, Final Statistics, Starting Lineups, Post-game Riots, Aftermath, Officials
Famous quotes containing the word bowl:
“It all ended with the circuslike whump of a monstrous box on the ear with which I knocked down the traitress who rolled up in a ball where she had collapsed, her eyes glistening at me through her spread fingers—all in all quite flattered, I think. Automatically, I searched for something to throw at her, saw the china sugar bowl I had given her for Easter, took the thing under my arm and went out, slamming the door.”
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)