Tampa Bay Buccaneers 31 Detroit Lions 16
Sunday 2 September 1979 at Tampa Stadium
TB 13:55-1Q O'Donoghue FG31
TB 4:30-1Q L Selmon 29 fumble return (O'Donoghue kick)
DET9:23-2Q Hill 11 pass from Reed (Ricardo kick)
TB 4:41-2Q Bell 7 run (O'Donoghue kick)
TB 1:58-2Q Giles 66 pass from Williams (O'Donoghue kick)
TB 14:56-4Q Obradovich 2 pass from Williams (O'Donoghue kick)
DET4:39-4Q Kane 3 run (Ricardo kick)
DET1:03-4Q Safety - Rae sacked by English in the endzone

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING
BUCS: Eckwood 20-121, Bell 13-53, J.Davis 6-26, Williams 2-16, Berns 4-9., Ragsdale 3-4.
LIONS: King 10-53, Bussey 9-28, Robinson 5-27, Scott 1-18, Callicutt 1-10, Kane 2-5, Gaines 2-3, Komlo 2-(-2).
PASSING
BUCS: Williams 16-4-99-0-2, Rae 4-1-12-0-0.
LIONS: Reed 15-8-61-0-1, Komlo 21-5-45-0-0.
RECEIVING
BUCS: Giles 3-97, Berns 1-12, Obradovich 1-2.
LIONS: Hill 5-48, King 4-23, Scott 1-16, Callicutt 1-11, Blue 1-6, Bussey 1-2.
INTERCEPTIONS
BUCS: none.
LIONS: none.
KICK RETURNS
BUCS: Ragsdale 1-19, T.Davis 1-16.
OPPONENTS: Leonard 3-70, Thompson 2-81, Callicut 2-23.
PUNT RETURNS
BUCS: Reece 8-42.
OPPONENTS: Thompson 2-27, Leonard 1-7.
SACKS
BUCS: Kollar 1-9, Lewis 1-8.
OPPONENTS: English 1-5, Gay 1-1.
GAME REPORTS AND COMMENTS
Click here for the gamebook and the play-by-play
The Bucs opened their magical 1979 season with an easy win over the Lions. Doug Williams only completed four passes but hit Jimmie Giles for his longest TD pass of the season.

He also connected on another to Jim Obradovich from the seat of his pants after he had tripped backwards dropping back from center.
OFFENSEDEFENSE
LT75 Reavis LDE60 Chambers
LG64 Horton NT77 Kollar
C50 Wilson RDE63 Selmon
RG61 Roberts LOLB57 Lewis
RT73 Hannah LILB58 Selmon
WR85 Owens RILB54 Wood
WR84 Jones ROLB56 Johnson
TE88 Giles LCB45 White
FB43 Eckwood SS33 Cotney
RB42 Bell FS34 Brown
QB12 Williams RCB40 Washington
SUBSTITUTIONS
6 O'Donoghue, 15 Rae, 16 Blanchard, 23 Ragsdale, 25 Jordan, 27 T Davis, 36 Berns, 38 J Davis, 44 Cesare, 46 Reece, 51 Nafziger, 53 Bonness, 55 Brown, 66 Yarno, 69 Austin, 70 Carlton, 71 Crowder, 74 Sanders, 79 Lewis, 81 Hagins, 86 Obradovich, 87 Mucker
DID NOT PLAY
14 Fusina
INACTIVE