Tampa Bay Buccaneers 13 Minnesota Vikings 14 Sunday 9 October 1988 at the Metrodome
SCORING MIN 8:49-1Q Carter 11 pass from Kramer (Nelson kick) TB 7:39-2Q Carrier 14 pass from Testaverde (Igwebuike kick) TB 15:00-2Q Igwebuike FG31 MIN 12:11-3Q Rice 1 run (Nelson kick) TB 2:13-4Q Igwebuike FG36
20-odd seconds to play and the Bucs are down by one. Vinny launches a Hail Mary bomb down the right sideline and WR Stephen Starring comes up with it at the Minnesota 21-yard line. But there are no timeouts left. The offense desperately tries to get off the field, the kicking team on. One lineman even dived off the field in an attempt to leave the necessary 11 on the field. The kick was good but two seconds too late. "The people on the field didn't recognise the fieldgoal unit was coming on" explained Ray Perkins. "I'm the head coach so I'll take the blame for that."
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING BUCS: Goode 14-82, Wilder 20-80, Howard 2-11, Tate 3-4. VIKINGS: Nelson 13-52, Rice 4-11, Anderson 2-6, Kramer 1-0. PASSING BUCS: Testaverde 25-12-170-2-1. VIKINGS: Kramer 30-19-209-1-1. RECEIVING BUCS: Carrier 3-38, Hill 3-27, Magee 2-28, Starring 1-53, Hall 1- 19, Smith 1-3, Wilder 1-2. VIKINGS: Carter 7-82, Nelson 4-43, Jordan 3-44, Anderson 2-12, Jones 1-13, Fenney 1-12, Rice 1-3. INTERCEPTIONS BUCS: Futrell 1-26. VIKINGS: Harris 1-27, Edwards 1-10. KICK RETURNS BUCS: Elder 2-48, McAdoo 1-31. VIKINGS: Harris 3-82. PUNT RETURNS BUCS: Futrell 1-8. VIKINGS: Lewis 3-15, Carter 1-10. SACKS BUCS: Jarvis 1-1, Murphy 1-1. VIKINGS: Thomas 1-16.
STARTERS OFFENSE DEFENSE LT 74 Gruber DE 79 Davis LG 68 Mallory DT 95 Jarvis C 60 Grimes DE 90 Holmes RG 50 Turk LOLB 59 Murphy RT 72 Taylor LILB 99 Marve TE 82 Hall RILB 53 Coleman WR 84 Hill ROLB 58 Moss WR 88 Carrier LCB 29 Reynolds FB 32 Wilder RCB 36 Futrell RB 27 Goode SS 20 Harris QB 14 Testaverde FS 39 Hamilton PLAYED 1 Igwebuike, 13 Criswell, 22 Jones, 28 Isom, 33 McAdoo, 34 Tate, 35 J Smith, 40 Elder, 43 Howard, 51 Washington, 56 Walker, 58 Najarian, 69 Bruhin, 70 Swayne,71 Cooper, 78 Cannon, 80 Pillow, 81 Starring, 86 Magee, 94 Goff, 97 Lee DID NOT PLAY 12 Ferguson, 73 McHale INACTIVE 30 Robinson, 55 Rolling
COMMENTARY CREW James Brown and Gary Fencik
GAME HIGHLIGHTS Click on the boxes below to watch the clip Bobby Futrell recorded his first interception of the season Mark Carrier’s 14-yard touchdown reception brought the Bucs level in the second quarter The crazy ending to the game with Stephen Starring’s reception and about 20 Bucs on the field at once