PHILADELPHIA (Ticker) -- The Philadelphia Eagles invited "Rocky" to celebrate the first regular season game in their new building. But it was the defense of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and receiver Joe Jurevicius who provided the knockout punch.
Less than eight months after they closed Veterans Stadium with a win over Philadelphia in the NFC championship game en route to their first Super Bowl title, the Buccaneers christened Lincoln Financial Field with a surprisingly easy 17-0 victory.
Picking up where they left off last season as the NFL's No. 1 ranked defense, the Buccaneers again flustered Eagles star quarterback Donovan McNabb, who threw for just 148 yards and was intercepted once. His longest throw went for 15 yards to Freddie Mitchell after the Bucs had already built a 17-0 lead.
In last year's 27-10 loss in the NFC championship game, McNabb committed three turnovers.
"It was kind of hard not to think about last year," McNabb said. "It is a credit to the way they played. If you look down the field to get deeper options, they force you to check it down to the running backs and tight ends."
On Monday, Tampa Bay's cover-2 scheme with linebacker Derrick Brooks, safety John Lynch and cornerbacks Ronde Barber and Brian Kelly blanketed Philadelphia's receivers and defensive linemen Simeon Rice, Greg Spires and Warren Sapp provided a strong pass rush.
"People really don't understand how good we are, but that's OK," said Rice, who finished with two sacks. "Each individual on this defense is probably the best in the league at what they do."
"Our defense was outstanding and I'm really excited about the way our offense came out in the second half and made some adjustments," said Bucs coach Jon Gruden.
The Buccaneers yielded the fewest points in the league last season (196) and had two shutouts, the last coming in the season finale at Chicago, a 15-0 win on December 29.
Jurevicius starred on offense for Tampa Bay with a pair of highlight-reel touchdown catches in the second half.
"I am just doing my job," Jurevicius said. "The only thing that saved me from hearing it from the fans was that I went to Penn State."
The Buccaneers held just a 3-0 lead at halftime on a 23-yard field goal by Martin Gramatica in the second quarter after Jermaine Phillips deflected a punt by Dirk Johnson, setting up the Bucs at the Philadelphia 31.
But in the second half, the Buccaneers put together two long scoring drives which consumed nearly 16 minutes. Brad Johnson, the NFC's top-rated quarterback last season, was perfect in both, completing 13-of-13 passes for 119 yards.
Jurevicius capped them both with brilliant catches in the end zone, effectively using his 6-5, 230-pound frame.
On the first drive, Jurevicius made a leaping catch in the corner of the end zone over the outstretched arm of cornerback Lito Sheppard while barely keeping his feet inbounds for a 13-yard touchdown, giving the Bucs a 10-0 lead with 3:22 left in the third quarter.
Jurevicius topped that catch with an acrobatic seven-yard touchdown with 7:32 remaining in the fourth quarter. Brad Johnson rolled to his right and fired a pass toward the goal line to Jurevicius, who was covered by cornerback Troy Vincent but tipped the ball up in the air with his right hand to prevent a potential interception and then spun and made a lunging catch in the end zone.
"The ball was a little behind me and I knew that Troy Vincent was there," Jurevicius said. "I did not want him to pick the ball off and take it down the field. I flipped it up in the air and I was able to tip it high enough and turned around and caught the ball."
"What can you say about Jurevicius?" said Gruden. "He's a great football player, particularly in the red zone area of the field where coverage is tight. He uses his size and athleticism to play balls very aggressively. He made two unbelievable catches tonight."
Brad Johnson, the NFC's top-rated passer last season, was 27-of-36 for 238 yards with an interception. Keyshawn Johnson had six catches for 83 yards and Jurevicius finished with four receptions for 39 yards.
Sapp even got into the act, making his first career catch. Lined up as a tight end, Sapp caught a short pass and broke a tackle by linebacker Mark Simoneau for a 14-yard gain to the Philadelphia 11. When he got to his feet, the six-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle playfully made an exaggerated first-down signal.
"We're down one tight end so we may lean on Warren Sapp in a couple more capacities this year," Gruden said.
A 40-minute pregame celebration excited the crowd of 67,772 and Sylvester Stallone, Philadelphia's fictional hero "Rocky," exhorted the fans into a frenzy.
"It was like the whole Rocky Balboa-Apollo Creed fight," Lynch said. "They had us down at one point then we knocked them down. Later on down the line we will probably meet again and continue this fight."
On Philadelphia's second possession, receiver James Thrash rushed for 47 yards on a reverse to the Tampa Bay 16. A 15-yard pass interference penalty on Lynch put the ball at the 1. But the Eagles failed to even get a point with 1st-and-goal at the 1.
After an incompletion and two running plays that were stuffed, Eagles coach Andy Reid called for a fake field goal, but rookie tight end L.J. Smith dropped a pass in the end zone from holder Koy Detmer, the team's backup quarterback.
"We had an opportunity there and we just didn't convert," said Reid, who was 9-0 in prime time games.
"Obviously, if that would have turned out different than maybe the game would have been different," McNabb said.
McNabb was just 9-of-20 for 50 yards in the first half.
Tampa Bay scored its only points of the opening 30 minutes after Phillips deflected a punt by Dirk Johnson and Gramatica drilled his field goal.
The Bucs controlled the ball for nearly 21 minutes in the second half. A 12-play, 80-yard drive in the third quarter lasted 7:20. Brad Johnson completed all seven of his passes for 68 yards, including three to Keyshawn Johnson for 35 yards.
Brad Johnson was 6-of-6 for 51 yards in a 14-play, 73-yard drive which consumed 8:36.
It marked the first time Philadelphia has been shut out since a 26-0 loss at Buffalo on September 26, 1999.
"We didn't have the ball very many snaps in the second half," Reid said. "We didn't sustain drives and I have to go back and look at the way I did things in the second half."
