Tampa Bay Buccaneers 21 New Orleans Saints 24 Sunday 23 October 1983 at Tampa Stadium
SCORING TB 11:21-1Q Wilder 2 run (Capece kick) TB 8:24-1Q Castille 69 interception return (Capece kick) NO 11:36-2Q Clark fumble recovery in endzone (Andersen) NO 9:51-2Q Andersen FG50 TB 3:23-2Q Wilder 7 run (Capece kick) NO 9:06-3Q Goodlow 12 pass from Stabler (Andersen kick) NO 0:50-3Q Johnson 70 interception return (Andersen kick)
The Bucs had a 14-0 lead and a 21-10 half-time advantage over the Saints, but still fell to their eighth straight defeat. The game's decisive play was a 70-yard interception return for a TD by Bobby Johnson that gave New Orleans their first lead of the game later in the third quarter. A swarming Saint defense that sacked Jack Thompson seven times, prevented any Tampa Bay comeback in the final period. James Wilder made his first start at tailback for the Bucs and gained over 100 yards rushing/receiving. Bill Capece once again missed two fieldgoals, but the Buc defense added four interceptions and Lee Roy Selmon had his fourth three-sack game of his career.
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING BUCS: Wilder 20-64, Thompson 4-8, Armstrong 1-2. SAINTS: G.Rogers 23-86, Gajan 7-46, J.Rogers 7-35, Merkens 1- 16, Stabler 2-(-4). PASSING BUCS: Thompson 34-16-124-3-0, Golsteyn 2-0-0-0-0. SAINTS: Stabler 29-12-94-4-1. RECEIVING BUCS: Wilder 9-50, Carter 2-24, Giles 2-24, House 1-13, J.Bell 1- 9, T.Bell 1-4. SAINTS: Goodlow 4-30, Brenner 3-30, G.Rogers 2-7, Duckett 1- 15, Tice 1-9, Groth 1-3. INTERCEPTIONS BUCS: Washington 2-41, Castille 1-69, Holt 1-25. SAINTS: Johnson 1-70, Wattelett 1-9, Jackson 1-0. KICK RETURNS BUCS: Smith 1-24, Morton 1-23. SAINTS: Austin 2-33, Duckett 1-39. PUNT RETURNS BUCS: Tyler 3-34. SAINTS: Groth 6-43. SACKS BUCS: Selmon 3-26, Logan 1-8. SAINTS: Jackson 2-15, Moore 1-9, Paul 1-7, Wilks 1-5.
STARTERS OFFENSE DEFENSE LT 74 Sanders LDE 66 Reese LG 72 Snell NT 76 Logan C 57 Leonard RDE 63 Selmon RG 68 Yarno LOLB 51 Judie RT 70 Thomas LILB 58 Davis TE 88 Giles RILB 52 Brantley WR 89 House ROLB 53 Green WR 87 Carter LCB 21 Holt FB 46 Armstrong SS 33 Cotney RB 32 Wilder FS 34 Brown QB 14 Thompson RCB 40 Washington PLAYED 1 Morton, 3 Capece, 5 Garcia, 11 Golsteyn, 22 Smith, 23 Castille, 28 Carver, 41 Thomas, 43 Reece, 54 Wood, 55 Spradlin, 56 Thompson, 60 Grimes, 69 Arbubakrr, 75 Reavis, 77 Bujnoch, 78 Cannon, 81 Tyler, 82 J Bell, 83 T Bell, 85 Witte, 86 Obradovich, 90 White DID NOT PLAY 7 Komlo, 26 Owens, 50 Wilson INACTIVES 62 Farrell
GAME HIGHLIGHTS Click on the boxes below to watch the clip Only limited highlights available for this game with no sound The Saints ran a fake fieldgoal that set up one of their touchdowns Jack Thompson threw a late interception that ended any Tampa Bay hopes