Tampa Bay Buccaneers 33 New Orleans Saints 14
Sunday 11 December 1977 at the Superdome
And then they won. The Bucs tied an NFL record with three interceptions returned for touchdowns in one game and
at one point in the fourth quarter, had a 26-0 lead. For twenty years, the 19 point spread remained the team record
for largest margin of victory on the road. John McKay proclaimed, "I thought it was the greatest victory in the history
of the world." Saints QB Archie Manning had said it would be a disgrace to lose to the Bucs and McKay used to
fire up his defense. "We wanted to get ahead and put the pressure on them," said Saints’ coach Hank Stram.
"Instead, they did it to us and the nightmare began.”
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING
BUCS: DuBose 17-59, Bell 14-34, Williams 4-25, Carter 11-16, Huff
2-1.
SAINTS: Galbreath 9-35, Muncie 11-31, Manning 6-23, Jones 1-5,
Strachan 1-2.
PASSING
BUCS: Huff 9-7-96-0-1, Green 1-1-14-0-0.
SAINTS: Manning 21-13-154-3-1, Scott 12-4-36-3-0.
RECEIVING
BUCS: DuBose 3-24, Owens 2-44, Williams 1-15, Reece 1-14,
Carter 1-13.
SAINTS: Hermann 4-92, Childs 3-30, Boykin 3-21, Galbreath 2-13,
Muncie 2-11, Gilliam 1-11, Jones 1-9, Thaxton 1-3.
INTERCEPTIONS
BUCS: Washington 2-45, Wood 2-41, White 1-32, G Johnson 1-0,
Brown 0-27.
SAINTS: none.
KICK RETURNS
BUCS: Ragsdale 1-19.
SAINTS: Mauti 6-147, Chapman 1-23.
PUNT RETURNS
BUCS: Reece 3-46, Hagins 1-29.
SAINTS: Mauti 3-8.
SACKS
BUCS: L.Selmon 3-19, Rudolph 1-9, Johnson 1-8.
SAINTS: Grooms 1-7.
SCORING
MTB
5:48-1Q
Green FG40
TB
9:54-2Q
Green FG25
TB
1:12-2Q
Owens 5 pass from Huff (Green kick)
TB
12:33-3Q
Washington 45 interception return (Green kick)
TB
14:10-4Q
Wood 10 interception return (kick failed)
NO
7:12-4Q
Manning 2 run (Szaro kick)
TB
2:03-4Q
G.Johnson 0 interception return (Green kick)
NO
0:23-4Q
Gilliam 11 pass from Manning (Szaro kick)
COMMENTARY CREW
Frank Gleiber and Emerson Boozer
GAME REPORTS
Click here for the gamebook and the play-by-play
Click here for Tom McEwen's morning-after column
Click here for Jim Selman's game report
STARTERS
OFFENSE
DEFENSE
LT
75 Reavis
LDE
78 Rudolph
LG
62 Winans
DT
76 Pear
C
79 Wilson
RDE
63 L Selmon
RG
68 Medlin
LOLB
57 Lewis
RT
70 Carlton
LILB
61 D Selmon
TE
83 Nafziger
RILB
54 Wood
WR
85 Owens
ROLB
56 C Johnson
WR
89 McKay
LCB
45 White
FB
35 DuBose
SS
33 Cotney
RB
42 Bell
FS
34 Brown
QB
19 Huff
RCB
40 Washington
SUBSTITUTIONS
4 Green, 23 Ragsdale, 25 Jordan, 32 L Carter, 43
Williams, 46 Reece, 51 Ryczek, 52 Harris, 53
Bonness, 59 Lemon, 64 Robinson, 65 R Johnson, 66 B
Carter, 72 G Johnson, 77 Kollar, 80 Novak, 81 Hagins,
87 Mucker
DID NOT PLAY
14 Hedberg, 17 Blount, 82 Waddell
INACTIVE
5 Swider, 28 Davis
VIDEO CLIPS
Gary Huff found Morris Owens in the back of the endzone to put the Buccaneers ahead 13-0 at half-time
Mike Washington’s pick six early in the third quarter made the players believe the first win was going to happen
Greg Johnson took advantage of a good bounce to record the final score on an interception in the endzone
