Tampa Bay Buccaneers 13 Denver Broncos 48 Sunday 7 November 1976 at Mile High 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. However I have been able to obtain the coverage from NFL Films’ Review of the Week in which the Bucs were featured, sometimes though not in the most flattering of highlights. The left video are the selected Bucs clips. The right video is the one from the Review of the Week.
The Broncos, 11 point favourites against the spread, tallied 38 points in the second half to bounce back from an uninspiring first half which saw the score tied at 10-10 at the interval. Two scores in a minute, Steve Ramsey's 71-yard scoring strike to Haven Moses and Randy Gradishar's interception return of a Steve Spurrier pass, put the Denver victory in motion, although the Bucs' best chance in the second half, a Calvin Peterson interception, went to naught when the linebacker's knee gave way whilst returning Ramsey's pass down the left sideline. John McKay's take on the game:" I think they wanted to show me that I'm really a college coach."
STARTERS OFFENSE DEFENSE LT 71 Young LDE 78 Rudolph LG 72 Fest DT 76 Pear C 51 Ryczek DT 63 elmon RG 79 Wilson RDE 66 Toomay RT 74 Current LLB 30 Gunn TE 86 Moore MLB 56 Cooper WR 85 Owens RLB 54 Wood WR 89 McKay LCB 40 Washington FB 43 Williams SS 25 Jordan RB 32 Carter FS 28 Stone QB 11 Spurrier RCB 46 Reese PLAYED 4 Green, 18 Dickinson, 19 Johnson, 22 McNeill, 26 Davis, 27 Davis, 33 Cotney, 35 DuBose, 44 Moore, 52 Reese, 53 Ball, 55 Hunt, 58 Peterson, 61 Selmon, 64 Robinson, 67 Alward, 70 Young, 77 Little, 80 Novak, 82 Pagac, 84 Douglas, 88 Smith DID NOT PLAY 5 Hanratty
SCORING DEN 10:05-1Q Turner FG19 DEN 2:29-1Q Armstrong 36 pass from Ramsey (Turner kick) TB 12:58-2Q Carter 3 run (Green kick) TB 6:51-2Q Green FG45 TB 4:07-3Q Green FG35 DEN 3:07-3Q Moses 71 pass from Ramsey (Turner kick) DEN 2:11-3Q Gradishar 31 interception return (Turner kick) DEN 12:44-4Q Turner FG33 DEN 11:03-4Q Perrin 9 run (Turner kick) DEN 10:04-4Q Rowser 32 interception return (Turner kick) DEN 9:34-4Q Poltl 21 fumble return (Turner kick)
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING BUCS: Carter 16-39, Johnson 5-22, Williams 5-20, Spurrier 3-19, Dickinson 3-15, McNeill 1-(-3). BRONCOS: Armstrong 18-116, Kiick 6-18, Keyworth 7-17, Perrin 3-14, Ramsey 3-10, Odoms 1-9, Weese 1-8. PASSING BUCS: Spurrier 32-16-131-1-0, Dickinson 5-0-0-1-0. BRONCOS: Ramsey 18-9-200-2-2, Weese 3-1-28-0-0. RECEIVING BUCS: B.Moore 5-43, Owens 3-41, Williams 3-12, McKay 2-26, Carter 1- 4, McNeill 1-3, DuBose 1-2. BRONCOS: Armstrong 3-64, Odoms 3-60, Moses 2-88, Keyworth 2-16. INTERCEPTIONS BUCS: C.Peterson 1-15, Jordan 1-10. BRONCOS: Gradishar 1-31, Rowser 1-32. KICK RETURNS BUCS: McNeil 2-67, Douglas 2-37, Johnson 1-20. BRONCOS: Perrin 3-101, Franckowiak 1-14. PUNT RETURNS BUCS: Reece 1-4. BRONCOS: Upchurch 4-74, Schultz 0-0. SACKS BUCS: D.Selmon 1-6. BRONCOS: Hammond 1-2, Smith 1-7.