Tampa Bay Buccaneers 10 Detroit Lions 20 Sunday 13 December 1987 at Tampa Stadium
SCORING DET 8:31-1Q Mandley 8 pass from Long (Murray kick) TB 7:30-2Q Igwebuike FG44 DET 14:14-2Q Murray FG24 DET 12:18-3Q Murray FG37 DET 7:13-3Q Ellerson 6 run (Murray kick) TB 8:22-4Q Hill 28 pass from Testaverde (Igwebuike kick)
Vinny's home debut was not a good one as the Lions controlled the ball for over 36 minutes and kept the Bucs out of the end-zone until Testaverde's strike to Bruce Hill with 8:22 remaining in the game. This loss was to a Detroit Lions team that had arrived in town tied for the worst record in the NFL. It was the Bucs' sixth straight loss and rekindled the possibility of a third straight last-place finish in the NFC Central Division.
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING BUCS: Hunter 6-30, Wilder 4-14, Smith 3-3, Testaverde 1-0. LIONS: James 18-67, Woolfolk 5-59, Jones 14-40, Ellerson 9-19, Long 4-5. PASSING BUCS: Testaverde 39-20-262-1-1. LIONS: Long 23-12-108-0-1. RECEIVING BUCS: Hill 5-86, Carter 4-78, Hall 4-34, Carrier 2-35, Howard 2- 18, Hunter 2-4, Smith 1-7. LIONS: Lee 3-36, Jones 3-24, Rubick 2-22, Mandley 2-18, James 2-8. INTERCEPTIONS BUCS: none. LIONS: Williams 1-48. KICK RETURNS BUCS: Futrell 4-86, Hill 1-8. LIONS: Lee 2-47, Saleamua 1-18. PUNT RETURNS BUCS: Futrell 1-0. LIONS: Mandley 3-23. SACKS BUCS: none. LIONS: Cofer 2-25, J.Williams 1-11, E.Williams 1-10.
STARTERS OFFENSE DEFENSE LT 73 Heller LDE 78 Cannon LG 66 Yarno NT 94 Stensrud C 60 Grimes RDE 70 Swayne RG 68 Mallory LOLB 56 Walker RT 77 Maarleveld LILB 58 Davis TE 82 Hall RILB 54 Randle WR 87 Carter ROLB 51 Washington WR 89 Carrrier LCB 29 Reynolds FB 35 Smith RCB 22 Jones RB 32 Wilder SS 33 Kemp QB 14 Testaverde FS 28 Isom PLAYED 1 Igwebuike, 5 Garcia, 17 DeBerg, 23 Anderson, 24 Tripoli, 25 Howard, 36 Futrell, 37 Hunter, 42 Bartalo, 50 Turk, 52 Brantley, 57 Moss, 59 Murphy, 71 Cooper, 79 Goode, 83 Miller, 84 Hill, 85 G.Taylor, 90 Holmes, 91 Gant, 93 Sileo, 99 McHale DID NOT PLAY 86 Magee INACTIVES 11 Shula, 31 Gordon, 38 Evans, 81 Freeman, 95 Jarvis
COMMENTARY CREW Tim Brant and Hank Stram
GAME REPORTS Click here for a game report Click here for the gamebook and the play-by-play
GAME HIGHLIGHTS        Click on the boxes below to watch the clip Donald Igwebuike’s fieldgoal was the only Buccaneer score in the first half The defense provided some spark with this fumble recovery By the time Vinny hit Bruce Hill with this touchdown pass, the game was gone