TAMPA, Fla.— — The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will try to win their second Super Bowl championship less than two weeks from now when they take on the Kansas City Chiefs. But nearly two decades ago, the Bucs brought home their first Super Bowl title.
ABC Action News was on the field in San Diego right after the Bucs beat the Oakland Raiders 48-21 to win the Super Bowl at the end of the 2002 season.
“We weren’t supposed to get out of Philadelphia with a win and look at this?” said Martin Gramatica after the Bucs 2002 win. “It’s the best. It’s the best thing that could have happened for us.”
The former Bucs kicker remembers the winning moment all too well. Gramatica says as a fan and former player, he couldn’t be happier for the organization to see them in the Super Bowl once again.
“As an athlete, that’s what you dream of. That’s what you want to do is get to a Super Bowl, win a Super Bowl. Not get to a Super Bowl, win it,” said Gramatica today.
Nearly 20 years ago, many of the Bucs players on that championship team reflected on the franchise’s turnaround, saying some people thought of them as the laughing stock of the league.
“At that moment, everything flashed before my eyes and then the celebrations started, ‘We won this thing. We won it,” said Dexter Jackson.
Jackson was named that year’s Super Bowl MVP. He says one thing about winning the Super Bowl is catching fire at the right time.
“Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees. They saw our defense play at a high level,” said Jackson. “And if they come to play in two weeks against Patrick Mahomes the same way, I truly believe the Bucs really can win this game.”
The Bucs defeated the Green Bay Packers to advance to the big game. They will be the first team to play a Super Bowl in their home stadium.
“If our team wins it in Tampa Bay the first time ever, I’m going to have my Buccaneer mask on and be outside celebrating with everybody else,” said Jackson.
