"Don't worry guys. Gruden's Raiders whooped us 45-0 back in '99. And we made it to the NFC Championship game."

Like many Bucs fans, Joe has found himself wondering whether the Bucs defense will bounce back from the clobbering it took at the hands of the Panthers on Monday.

Rest easy. There’s history on our side here. Monte Kiffin has led us out of this before.

Flashback to 1999. The Bucs and their ferocious defense were 9-4 and heading out for a December game in Oakland. Young offensive genius Jon Gruden was calling plays for the Raiders. And the Bucs got mauled 45-0, with Napolean Kaufman and Tyrone Wheatley helping Oakland rack up 262 yards from 37 carries.

Sound familiar?

Back in ’99, Tampa Bay bounced back to beat Brett Favre’s Packers at home 29-10, then beat the 20-6 Bears at home to close the season. Of course, the Bucs went on to shut down the high-flying Rams offense in the NFC Championship game, losing 11-6 on the road.

The point of this history lesson is to illustrate that great defenses can have awful games and bounce right back.

By the way, the Raiders followed their clubbing of the Bucs with a loss to a second-rate Chargers team quarterbacked by Jim Harbaugh.