Bucs may have stopped here

The defending Super Bowl champions lost for the fourth time in five games Sunday night, delivering another lackluster performance in a 17-10 setback against the rebuilding Jacksonville Jaguars.

The Bucs (5-7) are on the brink of elimination from the NFC playoff race and likely will need to win their four remaining games, plus get plenty of help from others, to earn a postseason berth.

With the loss, they remained three games behind NFC South leader Carolina and dropped three games behind Seattle and Dallas for the last wild-card spot.

"I'm done with excuses and explanations. We just didn't win an important game. That's the bottom line," cornerback Ronde Barber said.

"Excuses are for incompetent people, and we're not incompetent people. It was an unacceptable performance."

Jimmy Smith had 10 receptions for 136 yards and the winning touchdown on a night in which he and former teammate Keenan McCardell, now with Tampa Bay, got their 700th career catches. Fred Taylor rushed for 118 yards on 29 attempts for the Jaguars (3-9).

Although Tampa Bay hasn't been eliminated from playoff contention mathematically, the Bucs sounded like a team that senses the end is near.

"I don't know what the standings are, but obviously this hurts," quarterback Brad Johnson said.

"This is tough," defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin said. "It tests your character as a coach and as a team. But these guys won't quit."

Byron Leftwich completed 20 of 34 passes for 224 yards and two touchdowns, including the 48-yard winning throw to Smith, who accelerated ahead of Tampa Bay's Tim Wansley when the cornerback pulled up with a strained left hamstring.

"I had to go get it," Smith said. "There's millions of people watching and I can't drop this ball. I was worried about the ball being a little behind me. I had to use the sixth gear that I hadn't used in ages. There was all this talk about me losing a step. I think this showed I hadn't lost anything."

Equally important for Jacksonville, Leftwich didn't throw an interception and wasn't sacked -- just the second time in 72 games that Tampa Bay hasn't gotten to the opposing quarterback. The rookie threw a 10-yard TD pass to Kyle Brady early in the second quarter.

"He responded like the guy we think he's going to be. He didn't duck anything," Jaguars coach Jack Del Rio said. "He came out really poised, really focused, and gave us an opportunity to win."

The Bucs were outgained 208 yards to 69 in the first two quarters, yet it was just 10-10 at the half because of Jacksonville's inability to capitalize on a couple of scoring opportunities.

One promising drive stalled at the Tampa Bay 24 when Leftwich threw an incompletion on fourth and 2. Another ended with kicker Seth Marler missing a 46-yard field goal after Leftwich was called for intentional grounding on third down from the Bucs 15.

Marler also missed a 41-yarder that would have snapped a 10-10 tie in the third quarter.

Tampa Bay, which didn't play like a team desperately needing to win, scored on Thomas Jones's 5-yard run and Martin Gramatica's 47-yard field goal.