The Bucs' second season opened with a loss as pre-season rookie sensation Randy Hedberg was unable to lead any sort of repeat performance once the real football started. The Bucs were held to just 70 yards passing and just 90 more on the ground, thereby negating a far improved defensive performance over the previous season. The Bucs were 13 point underdogs in this game. Lee Roy Selmon gave indication of his emergence as a premier defender with a pair of sacks of Ron Jaworski. On the other side of the ball, Eagles TE Vince Papale, subject of the Disney film, “Invincible”, recorded his only NFL reception in this game.
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICSRUSHINGBUCS: Bell 15-53, Williams 4-14, Davis 5-12, Hedberg 3-10, Carter 1-3.EAGLES: Sullivan 20-56, Hogan 11-49, Lemaster 1-30, Jaworski 4-7, Lusk 2-2.PASSINGBUCS: Hedberg 25-10-66-0-0, Blount 1-1-4-0-0, Carter 1-0-0-0-0.EAGLES: Jaworski 24-14-147-2-2, Gabriel 1-1-15-0-0.RECEIVINGBUCS: Williams 4-19, Owens 2-21, Carter 2-1, Bell 1-12, McKay 1-9, Hagins 1-8.EAGLES: Krepfle 4-77, Carmichael 4-30, Smith 2-25, Sullivan 2-13, Hogan 2-2, Papale 1-15.INTERCEPTIONSBUCS: Brown 1-22, Johnson 1-0.EAGLES: none.KICK RETURNSBUCS: A.Davis 3-62.EAGLES: Marshall 2-46.PUNT RETURNSBUCS: Reece 3-23, Hagins 2-9.EAGLES: Marshall 9-89, Mitchell 1-0.SACKSBUCS: L.Selmon 2-18, Rudolph 1-7.EAGLES: Sistrunk 1-22, Burnham 1-10, Johnson 1-7, Hairston 1-0.
GAME HIGHLIGHTSClick on the boxes below to view the big playsLee Roy Selmon sacks Eagles QB Ron JaworskiJeris White recovers a fumble in the endzone for a touchbackRandy Hedberg finds Morris Owens downfield for a nice gain