Tampa Bay Buccaneers 17 New Orleans Saints 21 Sunday 19 December 2004 at Raymond James Stadium Stadium
SCORING NO 14:40-1Q Stecker 98 kickoff return (Carney kick) TB 11:25-1Q Galloway 3 pass from Griese (Taylor kick) TB 8:57-3Q Galloway 59 punt return (Taylor kick) TB 11:17-4Q Taylor FG37 NO 3:33-4Q Horn 4 pass from Brooks (Carney kick) NO 0:38-4Q Stallworth 7 pass from Brooks (Carney kick)
Former Buc Aaron Stecker set the tone on the opening kickoff when he initially fumbled it and then went 98 yards for a touchdown return, something of course the Bucs had never done to that poibt themselves. The passing offense stagnated most of the day and in spite of seven sacks, the defense could not shut down the Saints when it really mattered capped by the winning touchdown inside the final minute.
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING BUCS: Pittman 24-131, Galloway 2-19, Graham 3-16, Alstott 2-2, Smart 1-1, Griese 2-0. SAINTS: McAllister 25-89, Brooks 3-17, Stecker 1-9. PASSING BUCS: Griese 22-13-118-1-1. SAINTS: Brooks 21-14-169-0-2. RECEIVING BUCS: Clayton 4-53, Galloway 2-18, Pittman 2-10, Brown 1-17, Alstott 1-5, Dilger 1-5, Jurevicius 1-5, Moore 1-5. SAINTS: Horn 4-64, Stecker 3-26, Stallworth 2-29, Williams 2-22, Pathon 1-15, McAllister 1-9, Karney 1-4. INTERCEPTIONS BUCS: none. SAINTS: McKenzie 1-0. KICK RETURNS BUCS: Smart 2-44, Graham 1-17. SAINTS: Stecker 1-98, Lewis 1-22, McAfee 1-16, Whitehead 1-12. PUNT RETURNS BUCS: Galloway 2-59. SAINTS: Lewis 1-53. SACKS BUCS: Rice 3-13, Spires 1.5-10.5, Barber 1-8, Ahanotu 1-4, White 0.5-1.5. SAINTS: Howard 1-4.
STARTERS OFFENSE DEFENSE LT 70 Deese DE 90 White LG 78 Stinchcomb DT 95 Ahanotu C 79 Mahan DT 91 Darby RG 60 Coleman DE 97 Rice RT 67 Walker LLB 52 Gold TE 85 Dilger MLB 53 Quarles WR 84 Galloway RLB 55 Brooks WR 80 Clayton LCB 25 Kelly FB 40 Alstott RCB 20 Barber RB 32 Pittman SS 26 Smith QB 8 Griese FS 38 Howell PLAYED 6 Taylor, 9 Bidwell, 27 Edwards, 28 Jackson, 35 Ivy, 36 Smart, 37 Allen, 46 Lawrie, 50 Gooch, 51 Burns, 56 Nece, 58 Cooper, 72 O'Dwyer, 75 Steussie, 81 Brown, 83 Jurevicius, 85 Dilger, 86 Moore, 95 Ahanotu DID NOT PLAY 2 Simms, 68 Wright, 93 Savage INACTIVES 14 Johnson, 23 Phillips, 24 Cox, 34 Comella, 44 Baber, 69 Davis, 77 Terry, 82 Lee,
COMMENTARY CREW Curt Menafee and Tim Green