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 began with the team trying to improve on an 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.

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, 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.

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.

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

Main article: 1995 NFL Draft

Pick	Round	Player	Position	School
12	1	Warren Sapp	Defensive Tackle	Miami
28	1	Derrick Brooks	Linebacker	Florida State
43	2	Melvin Johnson	Defensive Back	Kentucky
105	4	Jerry Wilson	Defensive Back	Saginaw Valley State University
143	5	Clifton Abraham	Defensive Back	Florida State
179	6	Wardell Rouse	Linebacker	Clemson
215	7	Steve Ingram	Offensive Tackle	Maryland
227	7	Jeff Rodgers	Defensive End	Texas A&M-Kingsville

Personnel

Staff

1995 Tampa Bay Buccaneers staff
Front Office Owner/President – Malcolm Glazer General Manager – Rich McKay Director of Player Personnel – Jerry Angelo Director of College Scouting – Tim Ruskell Head Coaches Head Coach/Director of Football Operations – Sam Wyche Offensive Coaches Quarterbacks – Turk Schonert Running Backs – Kippy Brown Wide Receivers – David Culley Tight Ends – Mike Mularkey Offensive Line – Bob Wylie			Defensive Coaches Defensive Coordinator – Rusty Tillman Defensive Line – Ken Clarke Defensive Line – Tom Pratt Linebackers – Maxie Baughan Defensive Backs – Johnnie Lynn Special Teams Coaches Special Teams – George Stewart Strength and Conditioning Strength and Conditioning – Brad Roll

Regular season

Schedule

Regular season
Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Kickoff	Game site	TV	Attendance	Record
1	September 3, 1995	at Philadelphia Eagles	W 21–6	1:00	Veterans Stadium	FOX	66,266	1–0
2	September 10, 1995	at Cleveland Browns	L 6–22	1:00	Cleveland Stadium	FOX	61,083	1–1
3	September 17, 1995	Chicago Bears	L 6–25	4:00	Tampa Stadium	FOX	71,507	1–2
4	September 24, 1995	Washington Redskins	W 14–6	1:00	Tampa Stadium	FOX	49,234*	2–2
5	October 1, 1995	at Carolina Panthers	W 20–13	1:00	Clemson Memorial Stadium	FOX	50,076	3–2
6	October 8, 1995	Cincinnati Bengals	W 19–16	1:00	Tampa Stadium	NBC	41,732*	4–2
7	October 15, 1995	Minnesota Vikings	W 20–17 OT	1:00	Tampa Stadium	FOX	55,703*	5–2
8	October 22, 1995	Atlanta Falcons	L 21–24	1:00	Tampa Stadium	FOX	66,135*	5–3
9	October 29, 1995	at Houston Oilers	L 7–19	4:00	Houston Astrodome	FOX	31,489	5–4
10	Bye
11	November 12, 1995	at Detroit Lions	L 24–27	1:00	Pontiac Silverdome	FOX	60,644	5–5
12	November 19, 1995	Jacksonville Jaguars	W 17–16	1:00	Tampa Stadium	NBC	71,629*	6–5
13	November 26, 1995	at Green Bay Packers	L 13–35	1:00	Lambeau Field	FOX	59,218	6–6
14	December 3, 1995	at Minnesota Vikings	L 17–31	1:00	Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome	FOX	52,879	6–7
15	December 10, 1995	Green Bay Packers	W 13–10 OT	8:00	Tampa Stadium	ESPN	67,557*	7–7
16	December 17, 1995	at Chicago Bears	L 10–31	1:00	Soldier Field	FOX	49,475	7–8
17	December 23, 1995	Detroit Lions	L 10–37	4:00	Tampa Stadium	FOX	50,049*	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

External links

• Buccaneers on Pro Football Reference