Buccaneers vs. San Diego Chargers 
LOSS - Tampa Bay Buccaneers 17 San Diego Chargers 32
After Tampa Bay rallied to take the lead midway in the fourth quarter, Chargers safety Darrien Gordon trapped a deflected pass from quarterback Craig Erickson that was ruled an interception to set up the clinching touchdown in San Diego's 32-17 win over the Bucs in the season finale. THe Buccaneers were trying to finish the second half of the season 4-4. "I congratulated our team on having a good year," Wyche said. "Sometimes people who don't understand sports wonder what the hell we're talking about. But if you've been in the trenches as long as we have, you walk away either having a good year or a bad year. You walk away with a good record or a bad record. They don't always coincide."
Buccaneers overcame a deficit and a shaky start by Erickson, who was 9-of-23 passing for 94 yards in the first half and was intercepted. But Erickson put wind in the sails in the second half, navagating the Buccaneers to a pair of touchdowns. He connected up with rookie Lamar Thomas for a 20-yard touchdown, then gave the Bucs a 17-16 lead with 8:26 left in the game by lofting a 42-yard touchdown pass to Courtney Hawkins on a rollout.
Erickson hit on nine of his first 10 passes in the second half and finished the game 21-of-41 for 272 yards and two touchdowns.
The Chargers regained the lead 19-17 on Carney's fourth field goal, the Buccaneers faced first and 15 at their 23 with just under five minutes left. Then Erickson's pass bounced off the hands of tight end Ron Hall and was apparently trapped by Gordon. But field judge Bobby Skelton ruled it an interception and awarded the ball to the Chargers at the Tampa Bay 35. Six plays later, San Diego quarterback Stan Humphries floated a 12-yard touchdown pass to tight end Duane Young to put the game out of reach.
GAMEDAY BRIEF
OFFICALS
- REFEREE: Gary Lane
- UMPIRE: Bob Boylston
- LINE JUDGE: Ron Baynes
- SIDE JUDGE: Ron Spitler
- HEAD LINESMAN: Jerry Bergman
- BACK JUDGE: Bill Lovett
- FIELD JUDGE: Bobby Skelton
- REPLAY OFFICIAL: not documented
SCORING
- CHARGERS: 10:49-1Q Carney FG48
- CHARGERS: 05:47-1Q Miller 48 pass from Humphries (Carney kick)
- BUCCANEERS: 00:46-1Q Husted FG21
- CHARGERS: 01:16-2Q Carney FG38
- BUCCANEERS: 05:45-3Q Thomas 20 pass from Erickson (Husted kick)
- CHARGERS: 00:52-3Q Carney FG43
- BUCCANEERS: 08:26-4Q Hawkins 42 pass from Erickson (Husted kick)
- CHARGERS: 06:17-4Q Carney FG45
- CHARGERS: 02:35-4Q Young 12 pass from Humphries (kick failed)
- CHARGERS: 01:51-4Q Means 15 run (Carney kick)
STARTERS OFFENSE
- WR: #46 V. Workman
- LT: #74 P. Gruber
- LG: #67 M. Sullivan
- C: #61 T. Mayberry
- RG: #70 C. McRae
- RT: #76 S. Dill
- TE: #82 R. Hall
- WR: #88 H. Copeland
- QB: #07 C. Erickson
- RB: #43 R. Harris
- RB: #34 R. Cobb
STARTERS DEFENSE
- LE: #92 S. Price
- NT: #77 M. Wheeler
- UT: #71 S. Dotson
- RE: #98 R. Seals
- LLB: #54 J. Williams
- MLB: #56 H. Nickerson
- RLB: #27 B. Bussey
- LCB: #29 R. Reynolds
- RCB: #35 M. Mayhew
- SS: #23 M. Carter
- FS: #41 J. King
SUBSTITUTIONS
- 4 Stryzinski, 5 Husted, 11 Weldon, 21 Mack, 24 Jones, 28 Buckley, 33 Royster, 44 Anderson, 45 Turner, 47 Lynch, 51 Thomas, 53 Brady, 55 Brownlow, 72 Taylor, 79 Love, 83 Moore, 84 Wilson, 85 Hawkins, 87 Thomas, 90 Ahanotu, 93 DuBose, 96 Wilson
DID NOT PLAY
- 20 Gray
INACTIVE
- 13 Vlasic, 36 Paul, 50 Burnette, 66 Reimers, 75 Curry, 86 Armstrong, 89 Collins, 91 Hall
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING
- BUCCANEERS: Cobb 21-67, Workman 2-5.
- CHARGERS: Butts 13-52, Humphries 3-29, Means 7-19, Harmon 4-2, Kidd 1-(-10).
PASSING
- BUCCANEERS: Erickson 41-21-272-3-2, Weldon 5-4-40-0-0.
- CHARGERS: Humphries 30-18-272-0-2.
RECIEVING
- BUCCANEERS: Copeland 7-101, Hawkins 6-98, Workman 5-24, Wilson 3-34, Thomas 2-38, Hall 2-17.
- CHARGERS: Miller 7-119, Harmon 4-41, Jefferson 3-47, Young 2-21, Lewis 1-35, Butts 1-9.
INTERCEPTIONS
- BUCCANEERS: none.
- CHARGERS: Carrington 1-28, Gordon 1-3, Davis 1-0.
KICK RETURNS
- BUCCANEERS: Turner 6-61, Wilson 1-13.
- CHARGERS: Lewis 2-40.
PUNT RETURNS
- BUCCANEERS: Hawkins 1-2.
- CHARGERS: Gordon 0-0.
SACKS
- BUCCANEERS: none.
- CHARGERS: none.
