INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING BUCS: Bell 38-142, Eckwood 8-19, Williams 6-19 J.Davis 3-6, Ragsdale 1-(-5). EAGLES: Montgomery 13-35, Harris 4-13, Jaworski 1-0. PASSING BUCS: Williams 15-7-132-1-1. EAGLES: Jaworski 39-15-199-0-2. RECEIVING BUCS: Giles 3-43, Hagins 2-34, Mucker 1-34, Owens 1-21. EAGLES: Montgomery 4-35, Carmichael 3-92, Smith 3-49, Krepfle 3-23, Harris 1-2, Campfield 1-(-2). INTERCEPTIONS BUCS: none. EAGLES: Robinson 1-37. KICK RETURNS BUCS: Hagins 3-59, T.Davis 1-0. EAGLES: Henry 3-72, Giammona 1-15. PUNT RETURNS BUCS: Reece 3-33. EAGLES: Henry 4-48. SACKS BUCS: L.Selmon 2-20. EAGLES: none.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 24 Philadelphia Eagles 17 Saturday 29 December 1979 at Tampa Stadium
SCORING TB 5:26-1Q Bell 4 run (O'Donoghue kick) TB 8:06-2Q O'Donoghue FG40 TB 5:24-2Q Bell 1 run (O'Donoghue kick) PHI 1:28-2Q Smith 11 pass from Jaworski (Franklin kick) PHI 10:44-3Q Franklin FG42 TB 7::08-4Q Giles 9 pass from Williams (O'Donoghue kick) PHI 3:36-4Q Carmichael 37 pass from Jaworski (Franklin kick)
STARTERS OFFENSE DEFENSE LT 75 Reavis LDE 60 Chambers LG 64 Horton NT 71 Crowder C 50 Wilson RDE 63 Selmon RG 61 Roberts LOLB 57 Lewis RT 70 Carlton LILB 58 Selmon WR 81 Hagins RILB 54 Wood WR 85 Owens ROLB 56 Johnson TE 88 Giles LCB 45 White FB 43 Eckwood SS 33 Cotney RB 42 Bell FS 34 Brown QB 12 Williams RCB 40 Washington SUBSTITUTIONS 6 O'Donoghue, 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, 74 Sanders, 76 Logan, 77 Kollar, 86 Obradovich, 87 Mucker DID NOT PLAY 14 Fusina, 15 Rae, 79 Lewis, 84 Jones
COMMENTARY CREW Curt Gowdy and Hank Stram
The Bucs' first-ever playoff appearance turned out to be their first-ever playoff success too. In front of a packed Tampa Stadium, the Bucs used the usual combination of Ricky Bell's power running and a strong defense to overturn the heavily-favoured Eagles and progress to the NFC Championship Game.
GAME HIGHLIGHTS Click on the boxes below to watch the clip Ricky Bell opened the scoring with a four-yard touchdown run to cap the 16-play opening drive Jimmie Giles put the Bucs 24-10 up midway through the fourth quarter The Buccaneer defense was in dominating form - here Ron Jaworski meets Lee Roy Selmon