Tampa Bay Buccaneers 38 Detroit Lions 20 Saturday 23 November 2008 at Ford Field
SCORING DET 6:07-1Q Johnson 15 pass from Culpepper (Hanson kick) DET 4:40-1Q Bullocks 44 fumble return (Hanson kick) DET 0:11-1Q Hanson FG38 TB 11:19-2Q Dunn 13 run (Bryant kick) TB 4:40-2Q Hillard 36 pass from Garcia (Bryant kick) TB 3:00-2Q Stevens 24 pass from Garcia (Bryant kick) TB 11:31-3Q C.Smith 70 punt return (Bryant kick) TB 9:01-3Q Barber 65 interception return (Bryant kick) DET 2:41-3Q Hanson FG40 TB 12:48-4Q Brysnt FG48
The Lions were winless and would go on to finish 0-16 under former Buc assistant Rod Marinelli. Yet they led Tampa Bay 17-0 at the end of the first quarter. Then normal service was returned with a pair of Jeff Garcia TD passes, Clifton Smith taking a punt back for a score and Ronde Barber having yet another pick six.
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING BUCS: Dunn 14-90, Williams 16-27, Askew 1-3, Garcia 1- (-1). LIONS: Smith 16-86, R.Johnson 4-16, Culpepper 2-6. PASSING BUCS: Garcia 18-13-165-0-2. LIONS: Culpepper 20-8-121-2-1, Stanton 6-2-13-0-0. RECEIVING BUCS: Dunn 5-37, Bryant 4-48, Hilliard 2-51, Stevens 2-29. LIONS: C.Johnson 3-66, McDonald 2-21, Cason 2-18, Standeford 1- 18, Fitzsimmons 1-8, Norris 1-3. INTERCEPTIONS BUCS: Barber 2-67. LIONS: none. KICK RETURNS BUCS: C.Smith 5-142. LIONS: Cason 7-154. PUNT RETURNS BUCS: C.Smith 4-90, Hilliard 1-0. LIONS: McDonald 3-34. SACKS BUCS: Wilkerson 2-24, White 1-9, Adams 1-2. LIONS: Smith 2-13, Team 1-7, Nece 1-5, Avril 1-2, Darby 1-2
STARTERS OFFENSE DEFENSE LT 70 Penn DE 93 Carter LG 78 Sears DT 71 Haye C 52 Faine DT 95 Hovan RG 75 Joseph DE 90 Adams RT 65 Trueblood WLB 55 Brooks TE 88 Gilmore MLB 51 Ruud WR 80 Clayton SLB 59 June WR 89 Bryant LCB 31 Buchanon FB 35 Askew RCB 20 Barber RB 28 Dunn SS 21 Piscitelli QB 7 Garcia FS 36 Jackson PLAYED 3 Bryant, 9 Bidwell, 19 Hilliard, 22 Smith, 24 Williams, 25 Talib, 26 Allen, 30 Nicholson, 33 Cook, 43 Mack, 48 Economos, 50 McCoy, 57 Hayward, 58 Black, 76 Zuttah, 79 Mahan, 84 Galloway, 86 Stevens, 87 Clark, 91 White, 97 Wilkerson, 98 Sims DID NOT PLAY 12 McCown INACTIVES 8 Griese, 10 Jackson, 11 Johnson, 23 Phillips, 39 Herron, 77 Lee, 81 Smith, 96 Peterson
COMMENTARY CREW Ron Pitts and Tony Boselli
GAME REPORTS Roy Cummings reports from Ford Field Martin Fennelly's award-winning column The dean of Tampa sports writers, Tom McEwen Rick Stroud looks on a redemption game for Ronde Barber Gary Shelton picks out Clifton Smith as his player of the game Cadillac Williams is back after 14 months on the sideline And once again, Clifton Smith takes one to the house Game notes and anecdotes Further observations on the game in Detroit Tom Jones offers his two cents on the game coverage Scott Smith's official game report The gamebook and play-by-play