Tampa Bay Buccaneers 21 Detroit Lions 17 Sunday 16 September 1984 at Tampa Stadium
SCORING DET 13:24-1Q Nichols 77 pass from Danielson (Murray kick) DET 7:46-2Q Danielson 4 run (Murray kick) TB 1:54-2Q Carter 5 pass from DeBerg (Ariri kick) TB 6:10-3Q Wilder 2 run (Ariri kick) DET 3:50-3Q Murray FG28 TB 3:11-4Q Giles 5 pass from DeBerg (Ariri kick)
Steve DeBerg replaced Jack Thompson at QB and won NFC Offensive Player of the Week honours as he led the Bucs to a comeback win after trailing 14-0 in the second quarter. Mark Nichols' early score for the Lions came after he "intercepted" a pass aimed for another Detroit receiver and took it the distance from the Lion 23-yard line. The winning Buc score came on an 81-yard in seven plays, culminating in DeBerg's second TD pass of the game, this one to TE Jimmie Giles.
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING BUCS: Wilder 22-89, Morton 1-2, Carver 1-0, DeBerg 2-(-2). LIONS: Sims 11-39, Jones 10-34, Danielson 3-15, Jenkins 1-8, Nichols 1-6. PASSING BUCS: Thompson 13-6-57-1-0, DeBerg 27-18-195-0-2. LIONS: Danielson 36-15-176-0-1. RECEIVING BUCS: Wilder 8-56, Carter 6-45, House 4-79, T.Bell 2-28, J.Bell 1-25, Owens 1-9, Giles 1-5, Carver 1-5. LIONS: Jones 5-40, Sims 5-28, Chadwick 2-16, Thompson 2-15, Nicholls 1-77. INTERCEPTIONS BUCS: none. LIONS: Watkins 1-0. KICK RETURNS BUCS: Owens 2-70, Morton 2-36. LIONS: Jenkins 2-39, Martin 1-5. PUNT RETURNS BUCS: Holt 3-1, T.Bell 1-0. LIONS: Martin 2-12. SACKS BUCS: Selmon 1-7, Cotney 1-1. LIONS: English 2-16.
STARTERS OFFENSE DEFENSE LT 74 Sanders LDE 78 Cannon LG 72 Courson DT 76 Logan C 50 Wilson RDE 63 Selmon RG 62 Farrell LOLB 56 Johnson RT 73 Heller LILB 58 Davis TE 88 Giles RILB 52 Brantley WR 89 House ROLB 53 Green WR 87 Carter LCB 23 Castille QB 14 Thompson RCB 21 Holt FB 28 Carver SS 43 Reece RB 32 Wilder FS 34 Brown PLAYED 2 Ariri, 5 Garcia, 16 Kiel, 17 DeBerg, 20 Morton, 24 Harvey, 26 Owens, 27 Acorn, 33 Cotney, 41 Thomas, 46 Armstrong, 51 Washington, 54 Wood, 55 Spradlin, 57 Browner, 65 Jackson, 67 Morgan, 71 Braggs, 79 Kaplan, 82 J Bell, 83 T Bell, 85 Witte, 86 Carroll DID NOT PLAY 60 Grimes, 70 Thomas, 75 Manor, 81 Tuttle
COMMENTARY CREW Verne Lundqvist and Terry Bradshaw
GAME HIGHLIGHTS Click on the boxes below to watch the clip Steve DeBerg finds one of his two favourite receivers downfield to set up a score And Gerald Carter had the first of the two Tampa Bay touchdowns Jimmie Giles clinched the victory with a fourth quarter score from DeBerg