Tampa Bay Buccaneers 23 Carolina Panthers 31 Sunday 30 December 2007 at Raymond James Stadium
SCORING TB 11:04-1Q Stevens 3 pass from McCown (Bryant kick) CAR 3:55-1Q Fauria 2 pass from Moore (Kasay kick) TB 12:32-2Q Bryant FG31 CAR 6:40-2Q Rosario 20 pass from Moore (Kasay kick) TB 2:34-2Q Bryant FG23 CAR 0:16-2Q Kasay FG19 TB 6:57-3Q Bennett 23 pass from McCown (Bryant kick) CAR 4:03-3Q Williams 1 run (Kasay kick) TB 14:02-4Q Bryant FG49 CAR 6:24-4Q Williams 32 run (Kasay kick)
GAME REPORTS Roy Cummings reports from Raymond James Stadium Martin Fennelly's award-winning column How Rick Stroud saw it all unfold Gary Shelton's morning-after column Luke McCown leads a record-breaking Buccaneer scoring drive Michael Bennett makes a case for more playing time Game notes and anecdotes Vinny Testaverde ends his career on the same field it all began Scott Smith's official game report The gamebook and play-by-play
The Bucs ended the regular season with a home loss but one that did not mean much in the grand scheme. "If we had to do it over again, we'd do the same thing, because starting next week it's going to be single elimination and we're going to be in for the fight of our lives” summed up Jon Gruden afterwards.
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING BUCS: McCown 5-47, Bennett 15-39, Pittman 4-12, Darby 2-9. PANTHERS: Williams 20-121, Foster 11-46, Jarrett 1-11, Hoover 1-2, Haynes 2-1, Moore 1-0, Testaverde 1-(-1). PASSING BUCS: McCown 28-21-236-1-2. PANTHERS: Moore 24-15-174-1-2. RECEIVING BUCS: Lucas 5-82, Clayton 5-60, Stevens 4-30, Bennett 2-28, Darby 2-16, Smith 1-18, Becht 1-2, Pittman 1-0. PANTHERS: Smith 5-48, Rosario 3-36, Carter 2-59, Foster 1-11, Robinson 1-9, King 1-5, Hoover 1-4, Fauria 1-2. INTERCEPTIONS BUCS: Buchanon 1-4. PANTHERS: Marshall 1-0. KICK RETURNS BUCS: Spurlock 2-41, Darby 2-11. PANTHERS: Robinson 3-103, Moorehead 2-14. PUNT RETURNS BUCS: Spurlock 1-15. PANTHERS: Robinson 2-20. SACKS BUCS: Spires 1-5. PANTHERS: Marshall 1-14, Diggs 1-11, McClover 1-9, Moorehead 1-6.
STARTERS OFFENSE DEFENSE LT 70 Penn DE 93 Carter LG 78 Sears DT 71 Haye C 76 Wade DT 95 Hovan RG 75 Joseph DE 90 Adams RT 65 Trueblood WLB 55 Brooks TE 81 Smith MLB 50 Trotter WR 15 Lucas SLB 59 June WR 80 Clayton LCB 20 Barber FB 44 Storer RCB 31 Buchanon RB 32 Pittman SS 39 Pearson QB 12 McCown FS 28 Jackson PLAYED 3 Bryant, 9 Bidwell, 17 Spurlock, 18 Clark, 22 Davis, 25 Kelly, 26 Allen, 29 Bennett, 33 Darby, 48 Economos, 54 Chukwurah, 56 Nece, 57 Hayward, 58 Black, 68 Lehr, 69 Davis, 86 Stevens, 88 Becht, 91 White, 94 Spires, 96 Peterson, 98 Sims DID NOT PLAY 5 Gradkowski INACTIVES 7 Garcia, 19 Hilliard, 23 Phillips, 34 Graham, 35 Askew, 51 Ruud, 72 Buenning, 84 Galloway
COMMENTARY CREW Ron Pitts and Tony Boselli