Buccaneers vs. Detroit Lions 
LOSS - Tampa Bay Buccaneers 07 Detroit Lions 13
Gary Danielson, who had taken no snaps in practice during the week, came off the bench to lead the Lions to a come-from-behind victory. Danielson had been infuriated earlier in the week when coach Monte Clark started Eric Hipple ahead of him, saying that Danielson had a calf injury. Danielson was healthy and had one of the league's best passer ratings, but it was believed that the Lions expected the Buccaneers' banged-up linebacker corps to be vulnerable to Hipple's scrambling. When Hipple suffered a second-quarter knee injury, Danielson tied the game with an 18-yard run. He then threw a 37-yard overtime pass to Leonard Thompson to win the game.
The Lions' 1–5 record, combined with the Detroit Tigers' pennant contention, contributed to the Silverdome attendance of 44,308 that was over 10,000 fewer than the stadium's previous record low.
Steve DeBerg completed 25 of 29 passes for 272 yards, including a team-record streak of 12 consecutive completions. He threw a 25-yard first-quarter touchdown to Kevin House, and threw no interceptions. Numerous mistakes limited Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a single touchdown, despite their 349 yards of total offense. On one occasion, pulling guard Noah Jackson knocked the ball out of DeBerg's hand before he could hand it off to James Wilder, with the Lions recovering the fumble.
The game went into overtime when Obed Ariri missed a potential game-winning 42-yard field goal on the last play of the fourth quarter. An overtime scoring opportunity ended with a Wilder fumble at the Lions 39-yard line.
GAMEDAY BRIEF
OFFICALS
- REFEREE: Gene Barth
- UMPIRE: Bob Boylston
- LINE JUDGE: Jack Johnson
- HEAD LINESMAN: Burl Tomack
- BACK JUDGE: Jimmy Rossar
- FIELD JUDGE: Bill Kukar
- SIDE JUDGE: George Austin
SCORING
- BUCCANEERS: 01:00-1Q House 25 pass from DeBerg (Ariri kick)
- LIONS: 00:29-2Q Danielson 18 run (Murray kick)
- LIONS: 10:26-OT Thompson 37 pass from Danielson (Murray kick)
STARTERS OFFENSE
- WR: #88 K. House
- LT: #74 G. Sanders
- LG: #65 N. Jackson
- C: #50 S. Wilson
- RG: #72 J. Courson
- RT: #73 R. Heller
- TE: #88 J. Giles
- WR: #82 J. Bell
- QB: #17 S. DeBerg
- FB: #46 A. Armstrong
- HB: #32 J. Wilder
STARTERS DEFENSE
- LE: #78 J. Cannon
- NT: #76 D. Logan
- RE: #63 L. Selmon
- LOLB: #56 C. Johnson
- LILB: #58 J. Davis
- RILB: #52 S. Brantley
- ROLB: #51 C. Washington
- LC: #23 J. Castille
- RC: #21 J. Holt
- LS: #33 M. Cotney
- RS: #34 C. Brown
SUBSTITUTIONS
- 2 Ariri, 5 Garcia, 16 Kiel, 20 Morton, 24 Harvey, 25 Dierking, 27 Acorn, 29 Bright, 41 Thomas, 43 Reece, 54 Wood, 55 Spradlin, 57 Browner, 60 Grimes, 62 Farrell, 67 Morgan, 71 Braggs, 75 Manor, 79 Kaplan, 81 Dixon, 83 T Bell, 85 Witte, 86 Carroll, 87 Carter
DID NOT PLAY
- 14 Thompson, 53 Green, 70 Thomas
INACTIVE
- none.
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING
- BUCCANEERS: Wilder 30-72, DeBerg 5-23, Dierking 1-3, Morton 2-(-1).
- LIONS: Sims 16-100, Danielson 5-39, Jones 8-34, Hipple 2-3.
PASSING
- BUCCANEERS: DeBerg 29-25-272-0-1.
- LIONS: Hipple 11-5-59-0-0, Danielson 12-6-91-0-1.
RECIEVING
- BUCCANEERS: Wilder 9-60, House 4-67, Carter 4-50, J.Bell 3-36, Giles 2-33, Armstrong 2-8, T.Bell 1-18.
- LIONS: Thompson 5-82, Sims 2-29, Jones 2-26, Lewis 2-13.
INTERCEPTIONS
- BUCCANEERS: none.
- LIONS: none.
KICK RETURNS
- BUCCANEERS: Morton 2-38.
- LIONS: Hall 1-23, Martin 1-15.
PUNT RETURNS
- BUCCANEERS: Bright 4-21.
- LIONS: Martin 2-18.
SACKS
- BUCCANEERS: Manor 1-13.
- LIONS: Green 1-13.
