The Buccaneers defense created some lasting memories in 2005, many of them captured by Buccaneer photographers
The images, we suspect, are frozen in your mind, ready to come forth at the slightest bidding.
Review the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' 2005 season in your head and it comes not in words or statistics but in snapshots. Simeon Rice swatting the ball out of Matt Schaub's hand in Atlanta; Cadillac Williams breaking through the line in Minnesota; Ronde Barber snaring his third pick of the day at the goal line in Baton Rouge; Chris Simms diving over the pylon in the playoffs.
You can debate Edell Shepherd's two end zone plays in two games against Washington, you can describe every moment of the ball's travels on those plays, because you can still picture it vividly in your mind.
Time will fade most of those images somewhat, and the 2006 season will come along – not soon enough – to overwrite them with new snapshot moments. Fortunately, however, the season's greatest moments were also captured digitally and on film. The Bucs' 2005 NFC South Championship campaign is documented on thousands and thousands of images, many of which appear on this web site.
Some of those images, by virtue of the thrill of the moment and the skill of the photographer, are more exciting and more memorable than others. Some appeal to us more viscerally, drawing us into the moment by our gut, by the emotions we attach to them. Some are simply outstanding bits of camera work.
These are the Buccaneers.com photos of the year. We want you to select the 2005 Buccaneer Photo of the Year.
Over the next month, Buccaneers.com will enlist your help in choosing the single greatest image captured by team photographers in 2005. We have selected 50 from the archives of thousands to begin the process; we would like you to help us narrow it down to one. Hopefully, along the way, you'll enjoy another photographic walk through a very memorable season.
This will be the first in a series of five preliminary votes, to be presented on a weekly basis. Each week, you will be presented with 10 of the finest images from the 2005 season and you will have the opportunity to vote for the one you consider the best of that group.
From each of the five articles, we will take the two photos that receive the most votes and put them into the final group of 10. Then, of course, you will vote one more time to pick the Photo of the Year from the 10 finalists.
The 10 photos in today's group will take you from September through January. You'll see Shelton Quarles forcing J.P. Losman into a safety, and Jon Gruden absorbing a Gatorade shower after the clinching of the division title. Big-time performers like Joey Galloway and Cadillac Williams, Mike Alstott and Simeon Rice will be in the running. There are atmosphere shots – from the stadium skies to the locker room passageways. There are moments of high drama, from touchdowns to sacks. And that's just the first group.
Each week, the photos will be presented in slide-show format in a separate window. Flip through the images and remember the number of your favorite, then vote in the fan poll embedded in the story.
Ready? Click here to launch the first Photo of the Year slide show.
