Buccaneers vs. Atlanta Falcons 
WIN - Tampa Bay Buccaneers 23 Atlanta Falcons 06
James Wilder rushed for 125 yards and caught passes for 22 yards, in so doing becoming only the seventh player in NFL history to gain 2,000 yards in a season. His total of 2,066 yards was only 177 short of O. J. Simpson's NFL record of 2,243, with one game remaining. McKay later stated that he would incorporate new plays into the following week's game plan, in an effort to help Wilder break Simpson's record.
The Falcons used a deep zone to neutralize receivers Gerald Carter and Kevin House, allowing Theo Bell to catch four passes for 80 yards. Three of Bell's receptions came on third downs, extending Buccaneer drives. Several other Buccaneers reached milestones: Obed Ariri set the team's season scoring record, Steve DeBerg reached 15,000 career passing yards, and Fred Acorn caught his first interception. Atlanta's Gerald Riggs, the third-leading rusher in the NFL, was held to 53 yards on 15 carries.
Mike Moroski started at quarterback for the Falcons in place of the injured Steve Bartkowski. The Buccaneer defense played well enough to stifle any comeback attempts by the Falcons, who had not won a game since a season-ending injury to Billy "White Shoes" Johnson eight weeks earlier. The game was played in front of a record-low Tampa Stadium crowd of 33,808.
GAMEDAY BRIEF
OFFICALS
- REFEREE: Bob Mc Elwee
- UMPIRE: Al Conway
- LINE JUDGE: Carver Shannon
- LINESMAN: Earnie Frantz
- BACK JUDGE: Banks Williams
- FIELD JUDGE: Ed Merrifield
- SIDE JUDGE: Bob Rice
SCORING
- BUCCANEERS: 10:00-1Q Ariri FG30
- BUCCANEERS: 11:31-2Q DeBerg 2 run (Ariri kick)
- FALCONS: 7:52-2Q Luckhurst FG33
- FALCONS: 2:25-2Q Luckhurst FG49
- BUCCANEERS: 0:09-2Q Ariri FG36
- BUCCANEERS: 10:50-3Q Wilder 1 run (Ariri kick)
- BUCCANEERS: 8:59-4Q Ariri FG28
STARTERS OFFENSE
- QB: #17 DeBerg
- LT: #79 Kaplan
- LG: #72 Courson
- C: #60 Grimes
- RG: #62 Farrell
- RT: #73 Heller
- WR: #89 House
- WR: #87 Carter
- TE: #88 Giles
- FB: #46 Armstrong
- RB: #32 Wilder
STARTERS DEFENSE
- LDE: #78 Cannon
- NT: #76 Logan
- RDE: #63 L. Selmon
- LOLB: #57 Browner
- LILB: #58 Davis
- RILB: #52 Brantley
- ROLB: #53 Green
- LCB: #23 Castille
- SS: #33 Cotney
- FS: #43 Reece
- RCB: #21 Holt
SUBSTITUTIONS
- 2 Ariri, 5 Garcia, 14 Thompson, 20 Morton, 24 Harvey, 25 Dierking, 27 Acorn, 29 Bright, 31 Curry, 38 Peoples, 41 Thomas, 50 Wilson, 51 Washington, 54 Wood, 55 Spradlin, 59 Thompson, 67 Morgan, 71 Braggs, 74 Sanders, 77 Bujnoch, 81 Dixon, 82 J Bell, 83 T Bell, 84 Thomas, 85 Witte, 86 Carroll
DID NOT PLAY
- 70 Thomas
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING
- BUCCANEERS: Wilder 28-125, Morton 5-7, Armstrong 1-6, DeBerg 1-2, Peoples 1-2.
- FALCONS: Riggs 15-53, Moroski 2-7, Archer 1-7, Cain 1-3.
PASSING
- BUCCANEERS: DeBerg 29-18-192-0-0.
- FALCONS: Moroski 37-22-227-1-0, Archer 1-0-0-1-0.
RECIEVING
- BUCCANEERS: House 5-39, T.Bell 4-80, J.Bell 4-40, Wilder 2-22, Armstrong 2-7, Giles 1-4.
- FALCONS: Jackson 5-70, Riggs 5-21, Bailey 4-54, Benson 2-19, Cox 2-13, Hodge 2-12, Landrum 1-30, Cain 1-8.
INTERCEPTIONS
- BUCCANEERS: Cotney 1-29, Acorn 1-14.
- FALCONS: none
KICK RETURNS
- BUCCANEERS: Morton 3-83.
- FALCONS: Johnson 3-64, Seay 2-55.
PUNT RETURNS
- BUCCANEERS: Bright 1-8.
- FALCONS: Seay 3-13.
SACKS
- BUCCANEERS: Selmon 1-11, Browner 1-4, Logan 0.5-8, Cannon 0.5-8.
- FALCONS: none
