The score was already 20-3, Oakland had already gone three-and-out on their opening possession of the second half and now Tampa Bay was shoving it down the mouth of the black hole, looking to pound the first nail in the Raiders' coffin.

His eyes wandered. First to the scoreboard. Then the clock. Then the scoreboard. The man in front of him. And the clock again.

12:06, 12:05, 12:04 …

He felt helpless.

	Woodson

"I kept looking up there and I just couldn't believe it," he said. "We knew what we had to do -- we had to shut them down. But then we went out there and friggin' let them march right down the field.

"That was the significance of the whole football game (Sunday)."

In 14 plays, Tampa Bay marched 89 yards. But more importantly, it chewed seven minutes, 52 seconds off the clock.

"That was pretty huge," left tackle Barry Sims said. "I kept looking up at it ticking and said, 'Dang.' That really put a lot of pressure on us then to make things happen. It put us in a situation we didn't want to be in."

And -- as impressive as Oakland's late-game comeback was, storming back from a 34-3 deficit to close to two touchdowns down midway through the fourth quarter, imagine if they would have had nearly eight more minutes to work with.

Then perhaps Rich Gannon stops trying to force the ball. Perhaps the Raiders aren't forced to go for two in each of their three second-half touchdowns. Most importantly, perhaps the Buccaneers defense doesn't get that extra rest and runs out of gas in the fourth quarter.

But because of that drive, the what ifs don't matter.

"That's our secret defensive weapon," Bucs linebacker Derrick Brooks said. "Our offensive long drives. Whether it's a field goal or a touchdown, they run that clock and kept us fresh. That was very big given the situation. I don't think people understand just how much."

11:13, 11:12, 11:10 …

	“	I kept looking up at it ticking and said, 'Dang.' That really put a lot of pressure on us then to make things happen. It put us in a situation we didn't want to be in. ”
		— Raiders OLT Barry Sims, on Tampa Bay's seven-minute, 52-second TD drive

"They did exactly what we needed to do," cornerback Charles Woodson said. "Put it on us. It's our fault. We didn't get off the field to give our offense a chance. They just controlled the game."

Woodson said the drive was more important than MVP Dexter Jackson's two first-half interceptions. More important than Derrick Brooks' fourth-quarter pick that put the game away at 41-20. And more important than any tips Jon Gruden perhaps gave to Monte Kiffin.

The march started rather innocently, with a 6-yard Michael Pittman run up the middle. Two more Pittman yards set up a third-and2, in which quarterback Brad Johnson -- who would struggle to outrun a one-legged mule -- escaped the pocket and scrambled for 10 yards.

9:55, 9:54, 9:53 …

"That was big," running back Mike Alstott said. "That gave us a little momentum and got us on our way."

Sandwiched between a Pittman run for 2 yards and Alstott for 3, were passes from Johnson to Keyshawn Johnson for 9 and Johnson to Joe Jurevicius for 11.

7:09, 7:08, 7:07 …

After Pittman was stuffed for a 1-yard loss on first-and-10, Johnson again found Jurevicius for the big play of the drive -- a 33-yard reception down the sideline.

"I saw Joe break and just tried to get him the football," Johnson said.

6:06, 6:05, 6:04 …

A 12-yard pass to Ken Dilger gave the Bucs first-and-goal from the 1. After a holding penalty on Kenyatta Walker, McCardell caught Johnson's 8-yard pass for the score.

"We were trying to match up with their three receivers, a tight end and a back," Rod Woodson said. "Then they were running the ball. We could have played a little more base, but coulda, woulda … overall, nobody on the Raiders played their best game today. And that's why we lost."

Wayne Drehs is a staff writer for ESPN.com