Tampa Bay Buccaneers 31 Detroit Lions 27 Sunday 4 October 1987 at the Silverdome
SCORING DET 8:11-1Q Grymes 36 pass from Hons (Prindle kick) DET 5:16-1Q Prindle FG23 DET 4:16-1Q King 9 fumble return (Prindle kick) TB 14:49-2Q Wright 15 pass from Hold (Tiffin kick) TB 11:33-2Q Tripoli 15 interception return (Tiffin kick) DET 1:51-2Q Truvillion 53 pass from Hons (Prindle kick) TB 1:32-2Q Streater 61 pass from Hold (Tiffin kick) TB 8:03-3Q Tiffin FG21 TB 2:17-3Q Ricks 1 run (Tiffin kick) DET 11:41-4Q Prindle FG35
GAME REPORTS Click here for the game report Click here for the gamebook and the play-by-play
Little over 10 minutes into the first replacement game, it looked like the alternative Bucs were facing a humiliating defeat trailing 17-0. But in front of the smallest crowd ever to watch a Tampa Bay game, 4,919, the Bucs came back thanks to a defense that forced five sacks, had three interceptions including one for a score that led to Paul Tripoli being named NFC Defensive Player of the Week. Former Arena League QB Mike Hold threw two scores, one a 61-yard bomb to Eric Streater. The Lions closed to within four when Ray Criswell was tackled on an abortive punt, but they could get no closer than four points as the Bucs hung on to win.
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING BUCS: Wright 21-67, Hold 3-18, Land 7-16, Ricks 6-10, Thomas 1-2.. LIONS: Edwards 13-28, Wester 12-46, Dollinger 5-16, Hons 1-11, Black 1-0. PASSING BUCS: Reaves 8-2-16-0-0, Hold 15-6-102-0-2. LIONS: Hons 26-10-201-3-2.. RECEIVING BUCS: Wright 4-29, Streater 1-61, Walls 1-13, Ricks 1-12, Holloway 1-3. LIONS: Truvillion 4-99, Grymes 3-81, Wheeler 2-17, Dollinger 1-4. INTERCEPTIONS BUCS: Tripoli 2-17, Gant 1-15. LIONS: none. KICK RETURNS BUCS: Walls 4-104, Wright 1-17, Gladman 1-16. LIONS:Hall 4-73, Bradley 2-42. PUNT RETURNS BUCS: Walls 4-12. LIONS: Bradley 5-30. SACKS BUCS: Harris 1-9, Riggins 1-9, Montoute 1-8, Clark 1-8, McCallister 1-6. LIONS: Carr 1-12.
STARTERS OFFENSE DEFENSE LT 64 Pumphery LDE 90 Clark LG 62 Jordan NT 76 Nordgren C 50 Pitcock RDE 78 Carter RG 60 O’Connor LILB 56 Montoute RT 68 Smith LILB 53 McCallister TE 80 Holloway RILB 54 Gant WR 89 Streater ROLB 52 Teague WR 83 Walls LCB 37 Walker FB 34 Wright RCB 31 Curry RB 24 Land SS 40 Quinn QB 7 Reaves FS 26 Tripoli PLAYED 1 Tiffin, 5 Criswell, 11 Hold, 23 King, 29 Paige, 32 Gladman, 33 George, 36 Thomas, 47 Ricks, 51 Turpin, 59 Pennington, 66 Heffernan, 67 Harris, 70 Turner, 77 Brown, 82 Modesitt, 84 Jackson, 87 S Carter, 91 Jacobs, 94 Riggins, 98 Ramey DID NOT PLAY 72 Hunt, 73 Johnson
COMMENTARY CREW Jim Lampley and Kenny Stabler
GAME HIGHLIGHTS        Click on the boxes below to watch the clip Adrian Wright had the first replacement team touchdown Paul Tripoli’s pick six helped him win NFC Defensive Player of the Week Harold Ricks put the Bucs ahead for the first time with a one-yard touchdown run