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Super Bowl XXXVII was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Oakland Raiders and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 2002 season. The Buccaneers defeated the Raiders by the score of 48–21, tied with Super Bowl XXXV for the seventh largest Super Bowl margin of victory, and winning their first ever Super Bowl. The game, played on January 26, 2003 at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, California, was the sixth Super Bowl to be held a week after the conference championship games (XVII, XXV, XXVIII, XXXIV, and XXXVI). It was also the last Super Bowl played in January (the previous, XXXVI, was the first to be in February as a result of 9/11-related postponements; subsequent games, including Super Bowl XXXVIII, would have the Super Bowl played in February permanently).
This was the first Super Bowl in which the league's number one-ranked offense (Raiders) faced the league's number one-ranked defense (Buccaneers). The game sometimes is referred to as the "Gruden Bowl", because the primary storyline surrounding the game revolved around Jon Gruden. Gruden was the Raiders' head coach from 1998 to 2001, and then became the Buccaneers coach in 2002. Tampa Bay, "Gruden's new team", made their first Super Bowl appearance in team history after posting a 12–4 regular season record. Oakland, "Gruden's old team", advanced to their fifth Super Bowl after an 11–5 regular season. Super Bowl XXXVII is also referred to as the "Pirate Bowl", due to both teams' pirate-themed names.The Raiders came into the game as four-point favorites. However, the Tampa Bay defense dominated the contest. Oakland quarterback Rich Gannon threw a Super Bowl record five interceptions, three of which were returned for touchdowns. The Buccaneers also sacked Gannon five times, and scored 34 consecutive points to build a 34–3 lead late in the third quarter. Tampa Bay safety Dexter Jackson, who had two of those interceptions and returned them for 34 yards, was named Super Bowl MVP. Jackson became only the second safety and third defensive back named Super Bowl MVP.

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