<Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> <Ul> <Li> ← XXXVI </Li> <Li> Super Bowl </Li> <Li> XXXVIII → </Li> </Ul> </Td> </Tr> <Ul> <Li> ← XXXVI </Li> <Li> Super Bowl </Li> <Li> XXXVIII → </Li> </Ul> <P> 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 the month of January . </P> <P> 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 . </P>

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