Buccaneers vs. New Orleans Saints 
WON - Tampa Bay Buccaneers 33 New Orleans Saints 14
The New Orleans Saints did not get a first down until midway through the second quarter, and did not get past midfield until nearly the end of the half.
The Buccaneers began their first five drives in Saints territory, scoring on two Dave Green field goals, and a five-yard pass from Gary Huff to Morris Owens that capped off a 71-yard drive. Mike Washington made it 20–0 early in the second half, returning an interception 45 yards for a touchdown. The Buccaneers also recovered a fumble, and had six interceptions in all. Their three interception return touchdowns, with Richard Wood and Greg Johnson also scoring, tied an NFL record. Before the game, John McKay had read the team an article in which Saints’ quarterback Archie Manning stated that it would be disgraceful to lose to Tampa Bay.
Inspired by the statements, the Buccaneer defense yelled, "It's disgraceful! It's disgraceful!" at him as the clock wound down. "We wanted to get ahead and put the pressure on them," said Saints’ coach Hank Stram. "Instead, they did it to us and the nightmare began.” It was reported that Saints coach Hank Stram was so outraged at the defeat he allegedly ordered the game film burned.
GAMEDAY BRIEF
OFFICALS
- REFEREE: Gordon McCarter
- UMPIRE: Paul Trepirski
- HEAD LINESMAN: Jerry Seeman
- LINE JUDGE: Nathan Jones
- SIDE JUDGE: Scott Novak
- BACK JUDGE: Ray Douglas
- FIELD JUDGE: Armen Terzian
SCORING
- BUCCANEERS: 5:48-1Q Green FG40
- BUCCANEERS: 9:54-2Q Green FG25
- BUCCANEERS: 1:12-2Q Owens 5 pass from Huff (Green kick)
- BUCCANEERS: 14:10-4Q Wood 10 interception return (kick failed)
- BUCCANEERS: 14:10-4Q Wood 10 interception return (kick failed)
- SAINTS: 7:12-4Q Manning 2 run (Szaro kick)
- BUCCANEERS: 2:03-4Q G.Johnson 0 interception return (Green kick)
- SAINTS: 0:23-4Q Gilliam 11 pass from Manning (Szaro kick)
STARTERS OFFENSE
- WR: #89 J. McKay
- LT: #75 D. Reavis
- LG: #62 J. Winans
- C: #79 S. Wilson
- RG: #68 D. Medlin
- RT: #70 D. Carlton
- TE: #83 D. Nafziger
- WR: #85 M. Owens
- QB: #19 G. Huff
- RB: #35 J. Dubose
- RB: #42 R. Bell
STARTERS DEFENSE
- LE: #78 C. Rudolph
- LT: #76 D. Pear
- RE: #63 L. Selmon
- OLB: #57 D. Lewis
- ILB: #61 D. Selmon
- ILB: #54 R. Wood
- OLB: #c. Johnson
- LCB: #45 J. White
- RCB: #40 M. Washington
- SS: #33 M. Cothey
- FS: #34 C. Brown
SUBSTITUTIONS
- 4 Green, 23 Ragsdale, 25 Jordan, 32 L Carter, 43 Williams, 46 Reece, 51 Ryczek, 52 Harris, 53 Bonness, 59 Lemon, 64 Robinson, 65 R Johnson, 66 B Carter, 72 G Johnson, 77 Kollar, 80 Novak, 81 Hagins, 87 Mucker
DID NOT PLAY
- 14 Hedberg, 17 Blount, 82 Waddell
INACTIVE
- 5 Swider, 28 Davis
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING
- BUCCANEERS: DuBose 17-59, Bell 14-34, Williams 4-25, Carter 11-16, Huff 2-1.
- SAINTS: Galbreath 9-35, Muncie 11-31, Manning 6-23, Jones 1-5, Strachan 1-2.
PASSING
- BUCCANEERS: Huff 9-7-96-0-1, Green 1-1-14-0-0.
- SAINTS: Manning 21-13-154-3-1, Scott 12-4-36-3-0.
RECIEVING
- BUCCANEERS: DuBose 3-24, Owens 2-44, Williams 1-15, Reece 1-14, Carter 1-13.
- SAINTS: Hermann 4-92, Childs 3-30, Boykin 3-21, Galbreath 2-13, Muncie 2-11, Gilliam 1-11, Jones 1-9, Thaxton 1-3.
INTERCEPTIONS
- BUCCANEERS: Washington 2-45, Wood 2-41, White 1-32, G Johnson 1-0, Brown 0-27.
- SAINTS: none
KICK RETURNS
- BUCCANEERS: Ragsdale 1-19.
- SAINTS: Mauti 6-147, Chapman 1-23.
PUNT RETURNS
- BUCCANEERS: Reece 3-46, Hagins 1-29.
- SAINTS: Mauti 3-8.
SACKS
- BUCCANEERS: L.Selmon 3-19, Rudolph 1-9, Johnson 1-8.
- SAINTS: Grooms 1-7.
