Buccaneers vs. Cincinnati Bengals

WON - Tampa Bay Buccaneers 19 Cincinnati Bengals 16

Only 41,732 BuccaneersFans were present to witness Tampa Bay earn their third consecutive last-minute win as Michael Husted hit his fourth 53-yard field goal of the game with only 29 seconds remaining in regulation play. It was Husted's second game-winning field goal in his NFL career. During the game Husted tied the score at 16 on a 33-yard field goal with 3:38 remaining, missed a game-tying 45-yard opportunity with 4:45 to go, the kick hit the right upright of the goal post that had been blown crooked by a sudden fourth-quarter storm. "It was a long kick, but it's something I've stayed up late at night dreaming about," said Husted, whose parents were visiting from Hampton, Va.

The Buccaneers offense saw Alvin Harper accomplish his first 100-yard game as a Buccaneer with a team-high six passes for 117 yards, and Rhett, who had 91 rushing yards in 29 carries. Dilfer threw no interceptions or touchdowns in his three-quarters of game play as he absorbed five of the Bengals' seven sacks. He later commented on his being benched by coach Wyche, for the second time in four games, "He looked tired," said Wyche, who said the same thing after removing Dilfer from the Bears game three weeks prior. "He's still our quarterback. There's nothing happening here other than we do what we have to do to win. It doesn't matter what the reason is. I just thought it looked like he was just exhausted."

For the second straight week, backup quarterback Casey Weldon came into the game to secure the victory. With Tampa Bay leading 13-9, Weldon replaced starter Trent Dilfer (12-of-26 for 185 yards) on the final play of the third quarter, completing 3 of 7 passes for 35 yards while directing the 28- and 21-yard drives that tied and won the game.

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GAMEDAY BRIEF

OFFICALS

• REFEREE: Gerry Austin
• UMPIRE: Scott Dawson
• LINE JUDGE: Ron Baynes
• SIDE JUDGE: Mike Borgard
• HEAD LINESMAN: Paul Weidner
• BACK JUDGE: Jim Knight
• FIELD JUDGE: Jack Vaughan
• VIDEO REPLAY OFFICIAL: not documented

SCORING

• BENGALS: 07:16-1Q Pelfrey FG34
• BUCCANEERS: 01:56-1Q Husted FG25
• BUCCANEERS: 05:15-2Q Rhett 2 run (Husted kick)
• BENGALS: 02:15-2Q Pelfrey FG45
• BUCCANEERS: 07:03-3Q Husted FG27
• BENGALS: 03:51-3Q Dunn 10 pass from Blake (Pelfrey kick)
• BENGALS: 09:54-4Q Pelfrey FG44
• BUCCANEERS: 03:38-4Q Husted FG33
• BUCCANEERS: 00:29-4Q Husted FG53

STARTERS OFFENSE

• WR: #82 A. Harper
• LT: #74 P. Gruber
• LG: #60 J. Pyne
• C: #61 T. Mayberry
• RG: #62 I. Beckles
• RT: #76 S. Dill
• TE: #81 J. Harris
• WR: #88 H. Copeland
• QB: #12 T. Dilfer
• RB: #32 E. Rhett
• TE: #86 T. Armstrong

STARTERS DEFENSE

• LE: #72 C. Ahanotu
• LT: #77 M. Wheeler
• RT: #71 S. Dotson
• RE: #75 E. Curry
• LLB: #51 L. Marts
• MLB: #56 H. Nickerson
• RLB: #55 D. Brooks
• LCB: #35 M. Mayhew
• RCB: #39 C. Dimry
• SS: #27 B. Bussey
• FS: #44 J. Booty

SUBSTITUTIONS

• 1 Roby, 5 Husted, 11 Weldon, 21 McGruder, 25 Johnson, 28 Buckley, 29 Gant, 37 Ellison, 41 Edmonds, 45 Stargell, 47 Lynch, 52 Rouse, 53 Brady, 54 Stephens, 67 Sullivan, 69 Pierson, 73 Culpepper, 80 Dawsey, 83 Moore, 85 Hawkins, 93 DuBose, 94 McIntosh, 99 Sapp

DID NOT PLAY

• none.

INACTIVE

• 15 Philcox, 22 Everett, 26 Abraham, 65 Ingram, 70 McRae, 81 Davis, 87 Thomas, 95 Powe

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING

• BUCCANEERS: Rhett 29-91, Ellison 2-14, Weldon 2-5, Moore 1-4, Edmonds 1-3.
• BENGALS: Green 12-63, Blake 2-16, Bieniemy 5-9, Scott 1-9, Pickens 1-6, Joseph 1-4, Cothran 1-1.

PASSING

• BUCCANEERS: Dilfer 26-12-185-0-0, Weldon 7-3-35-0-0.
• BENGALS: Blake 31-16-210-3-1.

RECIEVING

• BUCCANEERS: Harper 6-117, Rhett 3-30, J Harris 2-31, Dawsey 2-25, Hawkins 1-9, Copeland 1-8.
• BENGALS: Pickens 4-25, Scott 3-57, Green 3-48, McGee 3-25, Dunn 2-47, Cothran 1-8.

INTERCEPTIONS

• BUCCANEERS: Mayhew 1-40, Lynch 1-3, Dimry 1-0.
• BENGALS: none.

KICK RETURNS

• BUCCANEERS: Edmonds 3-63.
• BENGALS: Dunn 3-82, Bienemy 1-17.

PUNT RETURNS

• BUCCANEERS: Edmonds 2-11.
• BENGALS: Bienemy 4-26.

SACKS

• BUCCANEERS: McIntosh 1-8.
• BENGALS: McDonald 3-11, Wilkinson 2-13, Copeland 1-11, Oglesby 1-3.

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