Tampa Bay Buccaneers: What if Bert Emanuel’s catch wasn’t overturned?

Had this play in the 1999 NFC Championship been called differently it would have caused a butterfly effect on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and NFL as a whole.

For this trip into the Tampa Bay Buccaneers multiverse, we’re going to take you back to the 1999 NFC Championship Game. The Buccaneers traveled to St. Louis to play the Rams in what was being promoted as “the greatest show on turf vs. the greatest defense in the universe.” The 1999 Rams featured one of, if not the greatest, offense we had ever seen, while the defense of the Buccaneers had officially come into their own. Sure, they eventually won a Super Bowl in 2002, but an argument can certainly be made that the 1999 defense, and team, was better.

This was never more evident than when you look at the fact that, after they brought out Leroy Selmon for the coin toss, the Buccaneers forced a turnover on the Rams very first possession by way of a defensive end Steve White interception, and proceeded to hold the Rams offense to 11 points (really 9) in what was ultimately a losing effort. One play at the end of the game though could have changed not only the landscape of the Buccaneers, but the entire NFL had it gone differently. This is a world we’re going to live in for this article.