Buccaneers vs. New Orleans Saints 
WON - Tampa Bay Buccaneers 31 New Orleans Saints 14
The Saints took an early 14–0 lead on a 6-yard pass from Archie Manning to tight end Larry Hardy and an 8-yard George Rogers run. A 51-yard Bill Capece field goal put the Buccaneers on the scoreboard. With a 14–3 lead late in the second quarter, Manning saw Hardy beat Mike Washington on a passing play, but Hardy ran an unexpected route, and Washington intercepted the pass. Doug Williams then hit Kevin House with a touchdown pass.
A timeout controversy gave the Saints the ball with three seconds left in the first half. Neal Colzie, blinded from an earlier scratch to his eye, missed the coverage on Jeff Groth, who caught Manning's last-second pass that would have gone for a touchdown if not for Norris Thomas' tackle on the 4-yard line. The Saints would not have a scoring opportunity for the rest of the game. Williams led the Buccaneers 75 yards to take the lead on the opening drive of the second half. Andy Hawkins prevented a first down on a fourth-quarter fake punt, setting up a 51-yard drive that left the score at 24–14. A later 96-yard fourth-quarter drive was the Buccaneers' longest to date.
The win put the Buccaneers into a three-way tie for first place in the NFC Central division.
GAMEDAY BRIEF
OFFICALS
- REFEREE: Bob Frederic
- UMPIRE: Lou Palazzi
- HEAD LINESMAN: Jerry Bergman
- LINE JUDGE: Bob Beeks
- SIDE JUDGE: Ron Murphy
- BACK JUDGE: Bill Swanson
- FIELD JUDGE: Don Hakes
SCORING
- SAINTS: 11:01-1Q Hardy 2 pass from Manning (Ricardo kick)
- SAINTS: 8:28-2Q Rogers 8 run (Ricardo kick)
- BUCCANEERS: 4:28-2Q Capece FG51
- BUCCANEERS: 1:55-2Q House 16 pass from Williams (Capece kick)
- BUCCANEERS: 10:52-3Q Williams 2 run (Capece kick)
- BUCCANEERS: 9:24-4Q Jones 4 pass from Williams (Capece kick)
- BUCCANEERS: 2:44-4Q Owens 6 run (Capece kick)
STARTERS OFFENSE
- WR: #83 T. Bell
- LT: #74 G. Sanders
- LG: #72 R. Snell
- C: #50 S. Wilson
- RG: #61 G. Roberts
- RT: #73 C. Hannah
- TE: #88 J. Giles
- WR: #89 K. House
- QB: #12 D. Williams
- FB: #32 J. Wilder
- TB: #43 J. Eckwood
STARTERS DEFENSE
- LE: #65 D. Stalls
- NT: #776 D. Logan
- RE: #63 L. Selmon
- LOLB: #59 A. Hawkins
- LILB: #56 C. Johnson
- RILB: #54 R. Wood
- ROLB: #53 H. Green
- LCB: #41 N. Thomas
- RCB: #40 M. Washington
- SS: #20 N. Colzie
- FS: #34 C. Brown
SUBSTITUTIONS
- 3 Capece, 9 Swider, 14 Fusina, 21 Holt, 26 Owens, 27 T Davis, 42 R Bell, 44 Cesare, 45 Mitchell, 51 Nafziger, 52 Brantley, 57 Lewis, 62 Leonard, 64 Short, 68 Yarno, 70 Hutchinson, 75 Reavis, 79 Campbell, 84 Jones, 86 Obradovich, 87 Carter, 90 White
DID NOT PLAY
- 10 Ford
INACTIVE
- none
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING
- BUCCANEERS: Owens 17-50, Wilder 7-47, Williams 5-19, Eckwood 7-15, Fusina 2-(-4).
- SAINTS: Rogers 23-120, Holmes 3-16, Stauch 1-1.
PASSING
- BUCCANEERS: Williams 24-16-218-1-2.
- SAINTS: Manning 23-16-162-2-1, Wilson 8-3-53-0-0.
RECIEVING
- BUCCANEERS: 6-107, Eckwood 4-36, Giles 2-46, Wilder 2-14, Owens 1-11, Jones 1-4.
- SAINTS: Holmes 7-35, Merkens 4-57, Hardy 2-11, Martini 2-11, Tyler 2-5, Groth 1-54, Thompson 1-25, Brenner 1-17.
INTERCEPTIONS
- BUCCANEERS: Washington 1-34, Johnson 1-16.
- SAINTS: Myers 1-16.
KICK RETURNS
- BUCCANEERS: Owens 3-63.
- SAINTS: Rogers 3-60, W.Wilson 2-51, Stauch 1-29.
PUNT RETURNS
- BUCCANEERS: Holt 0-0.
- SAINTS: Groth 2-47.
SACKS
- BUCCANEERS: Selmon 2-11.
- SAINTS: none
