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Amid the 20th anniversary of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers‘ first Super Bowl win, the franchise’s lack of celebration online caught the media’s attention in the early morning on Thursday, January 26.
Both JoeBucsFan.com and Pro Football Talk pounced on it early on Thursday and related it to beleaguered former head coach Jon Gruden, who led the team that year. Tampa Bay posted something shortly after at 10:30 a.m. on the team’s website and social media. The video features Bucs Hall of Fame candidate Ronde Barber analyzing film from the Super Bowl-winning season.
Who better to break down Super Bowl XXXVII than @rondebarber for the 20th anniversary? 🏆
Whether or not there’s a connection between the Bucs’ timing of posts and media accusations remains unknown. Likewise, where or not the Bucs didn’t want to acknowledge the anniversary because of Gruden remains in question.
With that said, the Bucs removed Gruden from the Ring of Honor at Raymond James Stadium in 2021 because of his emails in the then-Washington Football Team harassment case. Gruden resigned from his head coaching position with the Las Vegas Raiders in 2021 and hasn’t been around the NFL since.
According to the New York Times, the emails from Gruden “casually used misogynistic and homophobic language to disparage people”. Gruden then filed a lawsuit against the NFL over “the leaked, derogatory emails” according to Front Office Sports. However, the lawsuit recently got paused in court according to Vincent Bonsignore of the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Gruden coached the Bucs to a 12-4 record and a 48-21 Super Bowl win over the then-Oakland Raiders. In seven seasons with the Bucs, Gruden amassed a 57-55 record with three NFC South Division titles, an NFC title, and Lombardi Trophy.
Former Bucs Starter Sends Message on Super Bowl Anniversary
One-time Bucs tackle Roman Oben became one of the first to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Super Bowl win on Thursday via social media. He also retweeted the Terminator-themed Super Bowl game broadcast intro. Oben, who all 16 games for the Bucs that season and drew only five penalties all season.
“Today is the 20th Anniversary of Super Bowl XXXVII — Salute all my former Buccaneers teammates who played in the last Super Bowl that didn’t have a bye week between AFC/NFC Championships & Super Bowl weekend,” Oben wrote.
Today is the 20th Anniversary of #SBXXXVII – Salute all my former @Buccaneers teammates who played in the last SB that didn’t have a bye week between AFC/NFC Championships & SB weekend 🙌🏿🎊
Oben played two seasons for the Bucs in his 12-year NFL career. He now serves as NFL’s vice president of football development.
As Oben mentioned, the NFL restored a bye week between the conference championship games and the Super Bowl after the Bucs win. The bye week went away in the 1999 because the NFL started scheduling Week 1 after Labor Day weekend.
Tampa Bay ousted the Philadelphia Eagles in the 2003 NFC Championship 27-10 to reach the Super Bowl a week later.
Bucs Hall of Famer Seeks Another Super Bowl
Former Bucs safety and Hall of Famer John Lynch, now the general manager of the San Francisco 49ers, could win another NFC Championship win in Philadelphia this weekend.
The 49ers take on the Eagles in the conference title game on January 29. Lynch, who played for the 2002 Bucs Super Bowl team and 10 season with the franchise overall, has served as the 49ers general manager since 2017.
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Bucs Under Fire Over Controversial Figure