Tampa's first overtime game in their history was against the Colts. Back in 1979, Tampa was 1-0 for the first time in their history but almost laid an egg vs. the Bert Jone-less Colts, a team they should have handled easily. As it turned out, we played three or four downs of free football for the first time ever.Thanks to lousy defense and a turnover, Greg Landry gave the then Baltimore team a first quarter 17-0 lead, but Tampa came back to make it 17-14 at the half. We actually took the lead when Mike Washington (I believe) caught an interception and raced 60 some yards back for the score. In truth, Washington fumbled the ball into the endzone at the one but the refs didn't catch it and there was no instant replay to overturn it. After O' Donahue missed the PAT, Colts could have won it save for a missed PAT of their own...2 missed PAT's in a game was a rarity back then. That forced overtime. Getting the ball at about their own 5-10 yard line, I believe NT Randy Crowder caused the Colts to fumble and Tampa recovered. Kicking the field goal, we went off with a 29-26 win, a 2-0 record and a tv announcer actually declaring us to be the favorites to win the Central Division. In hindsight, though, we were a Colts PAT away from possibly missing the play-offs that year. Also, while most remembered the 17 points Tampa overcame against Chicago as the largest deficit we'd ever overcome until 2008, the 1979 Colts game shared in this record as well.
