Buccaneers vs. New Orleans Saints 
LOSS - Tampa Bay Buccaneers 20 New Orleans Saints 23
BUCCANEERS SUPER BOWL SEASON - Game 13: Mike Alstott scored a 44-yard touchdown catch, and Keenan McCardell caught another late in the game, but the Buccaneers fell to the Saints, 23–20 on Sunday Night Football. Brad Johnson was intercepted once, lost a fumble, and Aaron Stecker lost another fumble, as the Saints swept Tampa Bay for the season.
The Buccaneers, leading the NFL in turnover differential entering the weekend, had a difficult time holding onto the ball, fumbling four times and losing two of those loose balls. QB Brad Johnson was also intercepted for the first time in four games, and those three giveaways, plus a pair of long returns by Michael Lewis in the third quarter turned a 9–6 halftime lead deficit into a 20–9 lead for the Saints, which they never relinquished.
Brooks got off to a slow start, completing just one pass for two yards in the first quarter, but he heated up in the second and third periods, engineering one first-half touchdown drive and throwing two scoring passes in the third quarter. By the end of the game, he had a strange mix of numbers, completing just nine of 25 passes for 155 yards but throwing two touchdowns and no picks. Added to his two-touchdown day in a season-opening, 26–20, overtime Saints win in Tampa, Brooks has four TD passes against Tampa Bay this season; the rest of the league has three in 10 games.
GAMEDAY BRIEF
OFFICALS
- REFEREE: Mike Carey
- UMPIRE: Garth DeFelice
- HEAD LINESMAN: John McGarth
- LINE JUDGE: Walt Anderson
- SIDE JUDGE: Tom Fincken
- BACK JUDGE: Keith Ferguson
- FIELD JUDGE: David Warden
- REPLAY OFFICAL: Bob Boylston
- VIDEO OPERATOR: NOT DOCUMENTED
SCORING
- BUCCANEERS: 3:17-1Q Safety - ball batted through endzone
- SAINTS: 10:02-2Q McAllister 6 run (two-point run failed)
- BUCCANEERS: 6:41-2Q Alstott 44 pass from B.Johnson (Gramatica kick)
- SAINTS: 12:56-3Q Reed 3 pass from Brooks (Carney kick)
- SAINTS: 9:00-3Q Horn 14 pass from Brooks (Carney kick)
- BUCCANEERS: 5:04-3Q Gramatica FG51
- SAINTS: 10:47-4Q Carney FG48
- BUCCANEERS: 2:49-4Q McCardell 2 pass from B.Johnson (K.Johnson pass)
STARTERS OFFENSE
- WR: #19 K. Johnson
- LT: #72 R. Oben
- LG: #71 K. Jenkin
- C: #62 J. Christy
- RG: #60 C. Coleman
- RT: #67 K. Walker
- TE: #85 K. Dilger
- WR: #87 K. McCardell
- QB: #14 B. Johnson
- RB: #32 M. Pittman
- FB: #88 R. Dudley
STARTERS DEFENSE
- LE: #94 G. Spires
- LT: #99 W. Sapp
- NT: #91 C. Darby
- RE: #97 S. Rice
- SLB: #51 A. Singleton
- MLB: #53 S. Quarles
- WLB: #55 D. Brooks
- LCB: #25 B. Kelly
- RCB: #20 R. Barber
- SS: #47 J. Lynch
- FS: #34 D. Jackson
SUBSTITUTIONS
- 7 Gramatica, 9 Tupa, 23 Phillips, 26 Smith, 27 Stecker, 35 Ivy, 38 Howell, 40 Alstott, 43 Cook, 52 Webster, 58 Golden, 66 Benjamin, 74 Green, 75 Brown, 77 Washington, 80 Yoder, 83 Jurevicius, 86 Williams, 89 Crawford, 90 Gurley, 96 Wyms
DID NOT PLAY
- 10 King, 93 Claybrooks
INACTIVE
- 11 Johnson, 30 Barnes, 31 Wansley, 64 Goodspeed, 81 Lee, 84 Barlow, 92 McFarland, 95 Warner
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING
- BUCCANEERS: Alstott 8-17, Pittman 8-17.
- SAINTS: McAllister 27-99, Brooks 2-5, Delhomme 2-(-2).
PASSING
- BUCCANEERS: B.Johnson 44-28-276-1-2.
- SAINTS: Brooks 25-9-155-0-2, Delhomme 1-1-10-0-0.
RECIEVING
- BUCCANEERS: McCardell 11-107, Pittman 6-27, K.Johnson 5-53, Alstott 2-47, Jurevicius 2-18, Cook 1-13, Dilger 1-11.
- SAINTS: Horn 5-106, Reed 3-43, Stallworth 1-9, McAllister 1-7.
INTERCEPTIONS
- BUCCANEERS: none
- SAINTS: Bellamy 1-14.
KICK RETURNS
- BUCCANEERS: Stecker 2-46, Smith 2-33, Williams 2-26.
- SAINTS: Lewis 4-81.
PUNT RETURNS
- BUCCANEERS: Williams 3-14.
- SAINTS: Lewis 2-56.
SACKS
- BUCCANEERS: Rice 3-25, Singleton 1-4.
- SAINTS: Grant 1-12, Howard 1-8, Smith 1-5, Jackson 1-2.
