Tampa Bay Buccaneers 28 St.Louis Cardinals 31 Sunday 8 November 1987 at Busch Stadium
SCORING TB 0:22-1Q Carrier 5 pass from DeBerg (Igwebuike kick) TB 5:10-2Q Carter 3 pass from DeBerg (Igwebuike kick) STL 0:20-2Q Gallery FG31 TB 9:59-3Q Smith 34 pass from DeBerg (Igwebuike kick) TB 1:51-3Q Smith 3 run (Igwebuike kick) STL 12:42-4Q Awalt 4 pass from Lomax (Gallery kick) STL 11:39-4Q Noga 23 fumble recovery (Gallery kick) STL 8:18-4Q Smith 11 pass from Lomax (Gallery kick) STL 1:01-4Q Smith 17 pass from Lomax (Gallery kick)
GAME REPORTS Click here for Jim Selman's game review Click here for Tom McEwen's morning-after column Click here for how the St.Petersburg Times remember the game Click here for the gamebook and the play-by-play
One of the biggest comebacks in NFL history - the Bucs led 28-3 in the fourth quarter. And to make it worse, Donald Igwebuike's 53-yard fieldgoal as time expired, bounced back off the crossbar. This game also led to one of the famous Tampa sports headlines, “When a Buc is only worth three quarters”.
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING BUCS: Wilder 11-49, Smith 19-48, DeBerg 1-(-1), Howard 1-(-3), Hill 1-(-10). CARDINALS: Mitchell 17-79, Ferrell 9-33, Lomax 4-23, Wolfley 1-2. PASSING BUCS: DeBerg 37-23-303-0-3. CARDINALS: Lomax 36-25-314-1-3. RECEIVING BUCS: Wilder 6-87, Carter 6-82, Hill 4-56, Smith 3-43, Howard 2-19, Magee 1-11, Carrier 1-5. CARDINALS: Awalt 9-124, Smith 8-96, Mitchell 4-58, Holmes 4- 36. INTERCEPTIONS BUCS: Jones 1-9. CARDINALS: none. KICK RETURNS BUCS: Futrell 3-54, Miller 1-22. CARDINALS: Sikahema 3-70, McAdoo 2-51. PUNT RETURNS BUCS: Futrell 1-5. CARDINALS:Sikahema 2-12. SACKS BUCS: Washington 2-16, Holmes 1-11, Moss 1-9. CARDINALS: Greer 1-9.
STARTERS OFFENSE DEFENSE LT 72 R Taylor LDE 78 Cannon LG 66 Yarno NT 94 Stensrud C 60 Grimes RDE 90 Holmes RG 68 Mallory LOLB 51 Washington RT 73 Heller LILB 58 Davis TE 86 Magee RILB 54 Randle WR 87 Carter ROLB 57 Moss WR 81 Freeman LCB 29 Reynolds TE 80 Holloway RCB 22 Jones RB 32 Wilder SS 33 Kemp QB 17 DeBerg FS 20 Woods PLAYED 1 Igwebuike, 5 Garcia, 23 Anderson, 24 Tripoli, 25 Howard, 31 Gordon, 35 Smith, 36 Futrell, 50 Turk, 52 Brantley, 56 Walker, 70 Swayne, 75 Kellin, 77 Maarleveld, 79 Goode, 83 Miller, 84 Hill, 89 Carrier, 91 Gant, 93 Sileo DID NOT PLAY 11 Shula, 14 Testaverde, 42 Bartalo INACTIVES 39 Austin, 59 Murphy, 74 Powell, 82 Hall, 85 G.Taylor
COMMENTARY CREW Jack Buck and Will McDonough
GAME HIGHLIGHTS        Click on the boxes below to watch the clip Mark Carrier’s touchdown opened the scoring When Jeff Smith extended the lead, it seemed all over Donald Igwebuike’s 53-yard fieldgoal attempt hit the crossbar as time expired