Buccaneers vs. Los Angeles Rams 
WON - Tampa Bay Buccaneers 10 Los Angeles Rams 09
The rematch of the previous season's NFC Championship game occurred in a special Thursday-night edition of Monday Night Football, for which the teams only had three days to prepare.
The Rams were mistake-prone, but nonetheless able to maintain a 9–3 lead over the Buccaneers, until a pass interference penalty on defensive back Ivory Sully gave the Buccaneers the ball at the Rams' 11-yard line with 1:21 left to play. The 41-yard penalty was Tampa Bay's longest offensive play of the game. Doug Williams dove for a touchdown on the next series, and Garo Yepremian's extra point gave the Buccaneers the lead.
Norris Thomas ended the Rams' final threat by intercepting a Vince Ferragamo pass. The Buccaneers were fortunate to have remained in position for the victory, as they only managed 17 yards of offense in the first quarter and did not get a first down until halfway through the second quarter.
Earlier Los Angeles scoring opportunities were defeated by penalties and interceptions. Speculation during the week had been that the Rams might come in disorganized, due to several veterans having just rejoined the team after offseason contract disputes, and several others being disgruntled over salaries. Ferragamo, starting in place of the injured Pat Haden, had missed practice earlier in the week and threatened not to make the trip to Tampa for the game.
The Buccaneers suffered several injuries, the most serious being to nose tackle Randy Crowder, who suffered a knee injury during the second half that required surgery and ended his career.
GAMEDAY BRIEF
OFFICALS
- REFEREE: Gordon McCarter
- UMPIRE: Tony Kramer
- HEAD LINESMAN: Bill Ross
- LINE JUDGE: Jack Fette
- BACK JUDGE: Jimmy Rosser
- FIELD JUDGE: Armen Terzian
- SIDE JUDGE: Ron DeSouza
SCORING
- RAMS: 9:16-2Q Corral FG42
- BUCCANEERS: 0:00-2Q Yepremian FG43
- RAMS: 6:59-3Q Corral FG32
- RAMS: 7:00-4Q Corral FG27
- BUCCANEERS: 0:57-4Q Williams 1 run (Yepremian kick)
STARTERS OFFENSE
- WR: #81 I. Hagins
- LT: #75 D. Reavis
- LG: #74 G. Sanders
- C: #50 S. Wilson
- RG: #61 G. Roberts
- RT: #73 C. Hannah
- TE: #88 J. Giles
- WR: #84 G. Jones
- QB: #12 D. Williams
- RB: #42 R. Bell
- RB: #43 J. Eckwood
STARTERS DEFENSE
- LE: #77 B. Kollar
- NT: #71 R. Crowder
- RE: #63 L. Selmon
- LOLB: #57 D. Lewis
- SILB: #61 D. Selmon
- WILB: #54 R. Wood
- ROLB: #56 C. Johnson
- LCB: #25 C. Jordan
- RCB: #40 M. Washington
- SS: #33 M. Cotney
- FS: #34 C. Brown
SUBSTITUTIONS
- 1 Yepremian, 16 Blanchard, 20 Colzie, 27 T Davis, 28 G Davis, 36 Berns, 38 J Davis, 41 Thomas, 46 Reece, 52 Brantley, 55 Brown, 59 Hawkins, 62 Leonard, 65 Stalls, 68 Yarno, 76 Logan, 86 Obradovich, 87 Mucker, 89 House
DID NOT PLAY
- 14 Fusina, 15 Rae, 72 Snell, 79 Lewis
INACTIVE
- none
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING
- BUCCANEERS: Eckwood 16-60, Williams 4-26, Bell 7-14.
- RAMS: Thomas 7-64, Peacock 15-48, Bryant 8-46, E.Hill 3-11.
PASSING
- BUCCANEERS: Williams 23-10-97-1-0.
- RAMS: Ferragamo 29-17-191-4-0.
RECIEVING
- BUCCANEERS: Giles 3-33, Eckwood 3-19, Bell 2-26, Jones 2-19.
- RAMS: Waddy 5-88, Bryant 3-16, Dennard 2-28, D.Hill 2-27, Peacock 2-9, Miller 1-12, E.Hill 1-9, Thomas 1-2.
INTERCEPTIONS
- BUCCANEERS: Cotney 1-21, Washington 1-15, Wood 1-6, Thomas 1-0.
- RAMS: Cromwell 1-25.
KICK RETURNS
- BUCCANEERS: Hagins 2-43, G.Davis 1-22, Reece 1-21.
- RAMS: Hill 2-66.
PUNT RETURNS
- BUCCANEERS: Reece 2-19, T.Davis 0-0.
- RAMS: Irvin 5-69.
SACKS
- BUCCANEERS: Johnson 1-0.
- RAMS: Fanning 1-8, Ja. Youngblood 0.5-6, Ji. Youngblood 0.5-6.
