Tampa Bay Buccaneers 20 Miami Dolphins 23Sunday 24 October 1976 at Tampa Stadium
GAME HIGHLIGHTS Video footage from the expansion season is limited to occasional clips from the NFL Films season highlight film as NBC who broadcast all 14 games that season, destroyed the master tapes some years later leaving none of the games available in the way other games from Buc history are. These highlights come from a CBS affiliate in Miami that I was able to obtain albeit without any commentary or sound.
The expansion Buccaneers played their "best game of the year" but still suffered a heart-breaking defeat. Despite two touchdown strikes from veteran QB Steve Spurrier, a defensive lapse and Garo Yepremian's fieldgoal with 55 seconds left cost the Bucs their first-ever victory and a chance to beat the once-proud Miami Dolphins, three point favourites against the spread. "It was the best game of the year for us" said John McKay. "I've been telling people we have been progressing and we are".