Buccaneers vs. Atlanta Falcons

LOSS - Tampa Bay Buccaneers 0 Atlanta Falcons 17

The Atlanta Falcons allowed a franchise-low 78 yards of offense while holding the Buccaneers to their fifth consecutive home game shutout of the season. Coach McKay called the Buccaneers’ play "our worst effort in two years". Gary Huff started at quarterback, throwing three interceptions in his second return from injury of the season. This marked the Buccaneers’ 12th change in starting quarterbacks in less than two seasons. Neither the 62 yards rushing or 16 yards passing were team lows, but the combined effort was the Buccaneers’ worst to date.

The injured Ricky Bell was held to 11 yards on 6 carries. Fans threw soft drinks at McKay and son Richie, while Bell and Anthony Davis had to be restrained from going into the stands after a heckler. The Falcons intercepted the Buccaneers four times and recovered one fumble, and continued to pursue the league record for least points allowed in a season. They finished the game having held opponents to only 83 points, keeping them on pace to break the 1969 Minnesota Vikings record of 133.

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GAMEDAY BRIEF

OFFICALS

• REFEREE: #71 Bob Frederic
• UMPIRE: #51 Lou PaLazzi
• LINE JUDGE: #33 Art Holst
• LINESMAN: #30 George Murphy
• BACK JUDGE: #3 Don Porter
• FIELD JUDGE: #84 Bob Wortman

SCORING

• FALCONS: 8:11-1Q Steinfort FG26
• FALCONS: 14:06-3Q Stanback 1 run (Steinfort kick)
• FALCONS: 1:34-3Q Stanback 1 run (Steinfort kick)

STARTERS OFFENSE

• QB: #19 Huff
• LT: #75 Reavis
• LG: #62 Winans
• C: #79 Wilson
• RG: #68 Medlin
• RT: #70 Carlton
• TD: #83 Nafziger
• WR: #85 Owens
• WR: #81 Hagins
• FB: #28 Davis
• RB: #42 Bell

STARTERS DEFENSE

• LDE: #78 Rudolph
• DT: #76 Pear
• RDE: #63 L. Selmon
• LOLB: #57 Lewis
• LILB: #61 D. Selmon
• RILB: #54 Wood
• ROLB: #52 Harris
• LCB: #45 White
• SS: #33 Cotney
• FS: #34 Brown
• RCB: #40 Washington

SUBSTITUTIONS

• 4 Green, 14 Hedberg, 23 Ragsdale, 32 L Carter, 35 DuBose, 43 Williams, 46 Reece, 51 Ryczek, 53 Bonness, 59 Lemon, 64 Robinson, 65 R Johnson, 66 B Carter, 72 G Johnson, 77 Kollar, 80 Novak, 87 Mucker, 89 McKay

DID NOT PLAY

• 9 Leavitt, 25 Jordan, 56 C Johnson

INACTIVE

• 17 Blount, 82 Waddell

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING

• BUCCANEERS: Ragsdale 2-23, Carter 7-22, Bell 6-11, Williams 2-2, Huff 1-2, Davis 1-1, DuBose 1-1.
• FALCONS: Stanback 21-75, Esposito 8-39, Thompson 17-32, McIntyre 6-32, Pritchett 1-6, Bartkowski 6-(-3), Mitchell 1-(-6).

PASSING

• BUCCANEERS: Huff 11-4-38-3-0, Hedberg 12-1-17-1-0.
• FALCONS: Bartkowski 14-9-82-0-0, Esposito 1-0-0-0-0

RECIEVING

• BUCCANEERS: Owens 1-17, McKay 1-17, DuBose 1-10, Hagins 1-6, Bell 1-5.
• FALCONS: Mitchell 2-32, Jenkins 2-25, Francis 2-12, Stanback 2-6, Thompson 1-7.

INTERCEPTIONS

• BUCCANEERS: none.
• FALCONS: Easterling 1-36, Pennywell 1-10, Lawrence 1-0, Ortega 1-(-1), Brown 0-8.

KICK RETURNS

• BUCCANEERS: Hagins 2-53, Reece 1-24, A.Davis 1-15.
• FALCONS: Farmer 1-27.

PUNT RETURNS

• BUCCANEERS: Reece 1-12.
• FALCONS: Ryckman 3-25, Lawrence 1-7.

SACKS

• BUCCANEERS: L.Selmon 2-23, Harris 1-12.
• FALCONS: Merrow 2-21, Pennywell 1-16, Team 1-2.

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