Tampa Bay Buccaneers 20 Detroit Lions 27 Sunday 11 September 2011 at Raymond James Stadium
SCORING DET 8:58-1Q Hanson FG23 TB 7:12-1Q Barth FG38 TB 5:47-1Q Talib 28 interception return (Barth kick) DET 0:52-1Q Hanson FG28 DET 7:16-2Q Johnson 36 pass from Stafford (Hanson kick) DET 1:16-2Q Scheffler 11 pass from Stafford (Hanson kick) TB 0:00-2Q Barth FG31 DET 6:16-3Q Johnson 1 pass from Stafford (Hanson kick) TB 1:35-4Q Williams 5 pass from Freeman (Barth kick)
Raheem Morris’ third season got off to a losing start as the Bucs were unable to stop the Detroit offense. Matt Stafford threw three touchdown passes and the Lions repeated their success in Tampa from the tail end of the previous season. The Bucs made a madcap dash in the fourth quarter, but by then they had already been outscored by two touchdowns and trailed 414-128 in total yardage.
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING BUCS: Freeman 4-26, Blount 5-15, Graham 6-13, Johnson 1-2. LIONS: Best 21-72, Harrison 8-27, Burleson 1-20, Scheffler 1-5. Morris 2-4, Stafford 1-0. Logan 1-(-2). PASSING BUCS: Freeman 43-28-259-1-1 , J.Johnson 3-1-7-0-0. LIONS: Stafford 33-24-305-1-3. RECEIVING BUCS: Graham 8-58, Winslow 6-66, Williams 4-50, Parker 4-44, Benn 4-27, Briscoe 2-14, Lumpkin 1-9, Penn 0-2, Freeman 0-(-4). LIONS: Johnson 6-88, Burleson 5-60, Pettigrew 4-57. Best 4-42, Morris 2-25, Davis 1-14, Scheffler 1-11, Stovall 1-8. INTERCEPTIONS BUCS: Talib 1-28. LIONS: Houston 1-0. KICK RETURNS BUCS: Stroughter 1-78. LIONS: none. PUNT RETURNS BUCS: Spurlock 1-(-2). LIONS: Logan 5-34. SACKS BUCS: none. LIONS: Tulloch 1-4, VandenBosch 1-3.
STARTERS OFFENSE DEFENSE LT 70 Penn DE 71 Bennett LG 62 Larsen DT 93 McCoy C 52 Faine DT 92 Price RG 75 Joseph DE 94 Clayborn RT 65 Trueblood WLB 54 Hayes TE 82 WInslow SLB 58 Black TE 88 Stocker DB 31 Biggers WR 17 Benn LCB 25 Talib WR 19 Williams RCB 20 Barber RB 27 Blount SS 26 Jones QB 5 Freeman FS 35 Grimm PLAYED 9 Koenen, 10 Barth, 11 Johnson, 18 Stroughter, 28 Lumpkin, 30 Holland, 33 Mack, 34 Graham , 41 Lynch, 44 Lorig, 46 Yount, 53 Diles, 56 Watson, 57 Hayward, 59 Foster, 76 Zuttah, 77 Lee, 81 Spurlock, 87 Parker, 89 Briscoe, 90 Miller, 91 Bowers, 96 Crowder, 98 Okam INACTIVE 21 Bradford, 22 Asante, 23 Lewis, 24 Gaitor, 69 Dotson, 73 Hardman, 80 Pianalto
COMMENTARY CREW Chris Myers and Tim Ryan