NFL Greatest Unsung Heroes In History of All 32 Teams

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Joe Jurevicius was what one might call a journeyman. He spent his NFL career on a number of different rosters. He had a couple decent years but was never one of the primary guys in an offense. Perhaps this was the product of simply not being fast to enough to warrant a feature role. He was known more for his size and reliable hands.

As it turns out he was a bit faster than people gave him credit for. The Tamp Bay Buccaneers found that out in 2002. By that point, the team had lost back-to-back playoff games against the Philadelphia Eagles. Going into the NFC championship, expectations were it’d be more of the same. The Buccaneers offense could never seem to figure that city out.

Then Jurevicius, grieving over the loss of his son who’d been stillborn that same week. delivered the pivotal play of the Bucs’ season with a 71-yard catch and run in the 1st quarter. It set up a touchdown on the next play to give them the lead, which they would not relinquish the rest of the day, beating the Eagles 27-10. Jurevicius followed that with four catches for 78 yards against Oakland to win the Super Bowl.