Buccaneers vs. Indianapolis Colts

WON - Tampa Bay Buccaneers 24 Indianapolis Colts 17

MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL GAME

Tampa Bay hosted the winless Indianapolis Colts on Monday Night Football. Miscues and penalties nearly cost the Buccaneers control of the game, but Josh Freeman threw for 287 yards, and LeGarrette Blount rushed for 127 yards, as Tampa Bay won the game 24–17. Curtis Painter started at quarterback for the Colts, his first career NFL start.

The Colts led early after an Adam Vinatieri field goal. Tampa Bay then sacked Painter and recovered the fumble. Connor Barth's field goal attempt, however, bounced off the upright, and the score remained 3–0. Late in the first quarter, Freeman connected to Arrelious Benn, who ran 62 yards for an apparent touchdown. However, the touchdown was nullified since Benn has stepped out-of-bounds before the catch (illegal touching).

In the second quarter, the Buccaneers pinned the Colts at their own 2-yard line. Painter threw to Pierre Garçon, who ran for an 87-yard touchdown, and 10–0 lead. Tampa Bay answered with a touchdown, and trimmed the score to 10–7. In the final seconds of the first half, Freeman drove the Buccaneers to the Colts 19-yard line, but was sacked with 20 seconds to go and counting. The field goal unit hurried on to the field, and the field goal was initially good. Tampa Bay, however, was penalized for 12 men on the field, and the score was nullified.

Tied 17–17 in the fourth quarter, Tampa Bay received a punt with just under 7 minutes remaining. LeGarrette Blount blasted for a 35-yard touchdown run, and a 24–17 Tampa Bay lead. In the final three minutes, Tampa Bay ran out the clock, including a "4th & Inches" quarterback sneak by Freeman, to seal the victory.

This was Tampa Bay's first appearance on Monday Night Football since 2008, and the first home Monday night game since 2003. This MNF telecast was notable in that Hank Williams, Jr.'s "All My Rowdy Friends" opening was omitted due to comments he made on Fox & Friends earlier in the day where he compared a golf outing involving Barack Obama, John Boehner, Joe Biden, and John Kasich to "Hitler playing golf with Netanyahu."

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GAMEDAY BRIEF

OFFICALS

• REFEREE: Ron Winter
• UMPIRE: Tony Michalek
• HEAD LINESMAN: Julian Mapp
• LINE JUDGE: Gary Arthur
• SIDE JUDGE: Tom Hill
• FIELD JUDGE: Scott Steenson
• BACK JUDGE: Richard Reels
• REPLAY OFFICAL: Jim Lapetina
• VIDEO OPERATOR: not documentedd

SCORING

• COLTS: 10:26-1Q Vinatieri FG45
• COLTS: 08:47-2Q Garcon 87 pass from Painter (Vinatieri kick)
• BUCCANEERS: 03:54-2Q Freeman 1 run (Barth kick)
• BUCCANEERS: 09:43-3Q Barth FG46
• COLTS: 07:10-3Q Garcon 59 pass from Painter (Vinatieri kick)
• BUCCANEERS: 00:14-3Q Parker 13 pass from Freeman (Barth kick)
• BUCCANEERS: 03;15-4Q Blount 35 run (Barth kick)

STARTERS OFFENSE

• WR: #19 M. Williams
• LT: #70 D. Penn
• LG: #76 J. Zuttah
• C: #52 J. Faine
• RG: #75 D. Joseph
• RT: #65 J. Trueblood
• TE: #82 K. Winslow
• WR: #17 A. Benn
• QB: #05 J. Freeman
• RB: #27 L. Blount
• TE: #88 L. Stocker

STARTERS DEFENSE

• LE: #71 M. Bennett
• DT: #93 G. McCoy
• DT: #92 B. Price
• RE: #94 A. Clayborn
• MLB: #59 M. Foster
• WLB: #54 G. Hayes
• LCB: #25 A. Talib
• RCB: #20 R. Barber
• SS: #26 S. Jones
• FS: #41 C. Lynch
• DB: #31 E. Biggers

SUBSTITUTIONS

• 9 Koenen, 10 Barth, 11 Johnson, 22 Asante, 23 Lewis, 28 Lumpkin, 30 Holland, 33 Mack, 34 Graham , 44 Lorig, 46 Yount, 53 Diles, 56 Watson, 57 Hayward, 58 Black, 62 Larsen, 69 Dotson, 81 Spurlock, 85 Franklin, 87 Parker, 89 Briscoe, 90 Miller, 91 Bowers, 96 Crowder

DID NOT PLAY

• none.

INACTIVE

• 18 Stroughter, 21 Bradford,24 Gaitor, 73 Hardman, 77 Lee, 80 Pianalto, 98 Okam

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING

• BUCCANEERS: Blount 25-127, Freeman 6-27, Graham 2-24, Johnson 1-8, Williams 1-3, Benn 1-3.
• COLTS: Addai 11-41, Carter 7-21.

PASSING

• BUCCANEERS: Freeman 39-25-287-0-1.
• COLTS: Painter 30-13-281-0-2.

RECIEVING

• BUCCANEERS: Parker 5-70, Williams 5-66, Winslow 5-33, Graham 3-27, Lumpkin 3-25, Stocker 2-9, Benn 1-43, Blount 1-14.
• COLTS: Wayne 4-59, Clark 3-46, Garcon 2-146, Collie 2-16, Addai 1-7, Eldridge 1-7.

INTERCEPTIONS

• BUCCANEERS: none.
• COLTS: none.

KICK RETURNS

• BUCCANEERS: Parker 1-24.
• COLTS: Lefeged 2-36.

PUNT RETURNS

• BUCCANEERS: Parker 3-17.
• COLTS: White 2-0.

SACKS

• BUCCANEERS: Bennett 2-11, Clayborn 1-8, McCoy 1-6.
• COLTS: Mathis 1-8, Hughes 1-5.

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