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Bucs remain only recent Super Bowl winner to open next season on road

Posted Feb 17, 2010 by Ira Kaufman

Updated Feb 17, 2010 at 01:37 PM

By IRA KAUFMAN

TAMPA – Former Tampa Bay coach Jon Gruden may have come off as a bit of a whiner when he wondered why the 2003 Buccaneers were forced to open defense of their Super Bowl title on the road.

It turns out Gruden had every reason to question the league’s schedule maker.

Although their Week 1 opponent hasn’t been announced, the Saints already have been assured the NFL will continue to honor the league’s tradition of granting the defending Super Bowl champions a prime-time home game in the opener.

That courtesy wasn’t extended to the 2003 Buccaneers, who had to travel to Philadelphia for a Monday night matchup as defending NFL champions because the Eagles were opening their new stadium, Lincoln Financial Field.

“We can sit there and complain and try to explain it, but it doesn’t do you any good,’’ Bucs quarterback Brad Johnson said at the time. “That’s the hand you’re dealt.’’

That 2003 game in Philadelphia marks the only time since 1996 that the Super Bowl champions haven’t opened at home the following season.

In a rematch of the NFC title game, Tampa Bay blanked the Eagles 17-0, silencing a crowd of 67,772. The Bucs dropped a 12-9 overtime decision to Carolina the following week at home and finished 7-9.

The 1996 Cowboys, coming off their third Super Bowl triumph in four seasons, opened at Chicago on a Monday night and dropped a 22-6 decision.