Buccaneers vs. St. Louis Cardinals

LOSS - Tampa Bay Buccaneers 19 St. Louis Cardinals 30

The Buccaneers were once again criticized for poor tackling and conservative play-calling following a loss to a previously winless St. Louis Cardinals team. This time, complaints came from the players as the Cardinals seemed to know in advance which plays the Buccaneers would be running, and the Buccaneers waited until too late in the game to make adjustments.

The Buccaneers led early, after Steve DeBerg's touchdown pass to Calvin Magee on a fake field goal. Steve Young's rushing and passing combined for 304 of the Buccaneers' 347 yards. The Cardinals unexpectedly used a soft zone defense instead of their usual blitzing, which contributed to Buccaneers decision to avoid the passing game until the fourth quarter.

The Cardinals put the game away with Stump Mitchell's 31-yard fourth-quarter touchdown run, in which three Buccaneers missed tackles. Ron Holmes, Jeremiah Castille, Marvin Powell, and Gerald Carter all missed the game with injuries.

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GAMEDAY BRIEF

OFFICALS

• REFEREE: Red Cashion
• UMPIRE: Art Demmas
• HEAD LINESMAN: Dave Anderson
• LINE JUDGE: Dan Wilford
• BACK JUDGE: Paul Baetz
• FIELD JUDGE: Bob Wortman
• SIDE JUDGE: Nate Jones

SCORING

• BUCCANEERS: 9:16-1Q Magee 15 pass from DeBerg (Igwebuike kick)
• CARDINALS: 10:54-2Q Lee FG3
• CARDINALS: 0:04-2Q Mitchell 3 run (kick blocked)
• CARDINALS: 4:30-3Q Ferrell 30 pass from Lomax (Lee kick)
• CARDINALS: 14:16-4Q Fox 38 pass from Lomax (Lee kick)
• BUCCANEERS: 10:49-4Q Igwebuike FG23
• BUCCANEERS: 8:40-4Q Freeman 30 pass from Young (kick blocked)
• BUCCANEERS: 5:38-4Q Igwebuike FG46
• CARDINALS: 1:45-4Q Mitchell 31 run (Lee kick)

STARTERS OFFENSE

• WR: #89 K. House
• LT: #72 R. Taylor
• LG: #66 G. Yarno
• C: #60 R. Grimes
• RG: #62 S. Farrell
• RT: #73 R. Heller
• TE: #88 J. Giles
• WR: #81 P. Freeman
• QB: #08 S. Young
• RB: #46 N. Wonsley
• RB: #32 J. Wilder

STARTERS DEFENSE

• LE: #78 J. Cannon
• NT: #76 D. Logan
• RE: #71 B. Nelson
• LOLB: #57 K. Browner
• LILB: #58 J. Davis
• RILB: #52 S. Brantley
• ROLB: #51 C. Washington
• LCB: #26 R. Easmon
• RCB: #22 R. Jones
• SS: #41 C. Swoope
• FS: #44 I. Sully

SUBSTITUTIONS

• 1 Igwebuike, 5 Garcia, 17 DeBerg, 20 Springs, 21 McKeever, 31 Curry, 34 Boatner, 36 Futrell, 54 Randle, 56 Walker, 59 Murphy, 67 Morgan, 68 Mallory, 77 Maarleveld, 80 Williams, 82 Bell, 86 Magee, 98 Keys

DID NOT PLAY

• 23 Castille, 74 Powell, 84 Harris, 87 Carter, 90 Holmes

INACTIVE

• none

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING

• BUCCANEERS: Young 10-47, Wilder 13-37, Wonsley 7-5, House 1-1.
• CARDINALS: Mitchell 20-126, Ferrell 8-44, Sikahema 2-26, Lomax 8-22.

PASSING

• BUCCANEERS: Young 29-15-260-0-1, DeBerg 1-1-15-0-1.
• CARDINALS: Lomax 27-17-228-0-2, Mitchell 1-0-0-0-0.

RECIEVING

• BUCCANEERS: House 4-98, Williams 4-65, Freeman 3-65, Wonsley 2-19, Magee 1-15, Giles 1-10, Wilder 1-3.
• CARDINALS: Smith 5-47, Fox 4-54, Marsh 2-35, Ferrell 2-32, Mitchell 2-13, Johnson 1-39, Sargent 1-8.

INTERCEPTIONS

• BUCCANEERS: none
• CARDINALS: none

KICK RETURNS

• BUCCANEERS: Freeman 4-61, Magee 1-10, Curry 1-6.
• CARDINALS: Sikahema 3-78.

PUNT RETURNS

• BUCCANEERS: Futrell 2-3.
• CARDINALS: Smith 1-6, Sikahema 0-0.

SACKS

• BUCCANEERS: Cannon 1-8, Nelson 1-7.
• CARDINALS: Clasby 1-10, Galloway 1-6, Nunn 1-2.

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