The 200th touchdown in Super Bowl history came from a Tampa Bay Buccaneers defense that spent an entire season trying to prove something to their new head coach, Jon Gruden. Safety Dwight Smith’s 50-yard interception return in the final seconds of Super Bowl XXXVII was the ninth defensive touchdown the unit scored that year – exactly what Jon Gruden had challenged them to do.

“I had come from the Raiders, and we had beaten Tampa 45 to nothing the year before,” Gruden said on the Not Just Football podcast. “So, I was kind of throwing that around to the defense, and I think it helped them even raise their bar another notch because they wanted to kick my a** every single day. They wanted to humiliate me, and I think it made them better. I kept telling the defense, ‘If you guys are so good, why don’t you start scoring touchdowns? I mean, intercept the pass and run it in for a touchdown. Scoop the ball up and run it in for a touchdown. If you’re so damn good, score some points. Score nine touchdowns.’

“I said nine touchdowns in the preseason. And when we played the Raiders in the Super Bowl with about a minute left, Dwight Smith got a ricochet and returned it for a touchdown. And Warren Sapp (defensive tackle) came up, and he grabbed me, and he goes, ‘You wanted nine? That’s nine touchdowns.’ I swear to God, we scored nine defensive touchdowns. They talked about it. They were determined to do it. They would knock your a** sideways, man.”

That 2002 run was something else for the Bucs. Linebacker Derrick Brooks scored two defensive TDs in Week 2, followed by another one the next week. Week 4 had a touchdown from LB Shelton Quarles, and Brooks was back on the board again in Week 7. Things remained that way until the NFC Championship game against the Eagles, when cornerback Ronde Barber scored another one. The rest came in the Super Bowl, against Gruden’s old team, the Oakland Raiders.

Dwight Smith intercepted Raiders QB Rich Gannon’s pass and returned it 44 yards for a score in the third quarter. Brooks was back in the fourth quarter, snatching another pass and running it 44 yards again to bring their lead up to 41-21. With less than a minute left in the game, Smith intercepted a tipped pass, ran 50 yards, and the stadium exploded – along with Sapp on the sideline.

That season produced five All-Pros, all on defense: Sapp, Brooks, John Lynch, Barber, and Simeon Rice. They also got seven Pro Bowlers – six on defense. This defense had allowed just 12.3 points per game – the lowest in the league – and held opponent quarterbacks to just a 48.4 passer rating through the season. These were “alpha personalities,” as Gruden called them, who needed someone to hate.

Gruden had inherited a unit still tied to former head coach Tony Dungy. He couldn’t bring his own assistants at first, and absorbed Dungy’s staff instead, including defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin and secondary coach Mike Tomlin. The defense was emotional, resistant, and now they had a Raiders alum reminding them about a 45-0 blowout. That resentment sharpened the locker room, and Gruden’s old team paid the price.

Most coaches would have tried to smooth that tension over. Jon Gruden leaned into it. Instead of asking for respect, he demanded nine touchdowns, and the defense delivered nine of them. Sapp’s sideline moment after that final pick was an acknowledgement of the fire Gruden had lit under them.