Tampa Bay Buccaneers 24 San Diego Chargers 41 Sunday 21 December 2008 at Raymond James Stadium
SCORING SD 5:04-1Q Manumaleuna 11 pass from Rivers (Kaeding kick) TB 2:39-1Q Askew 1 run (M.Bryant kick) SD 13:26-2Q Gates 15 pass from Rivers (Kaeding kick) SD 5:32-2Q Kaeding FG28 TB 0:17-2Q M.Bryant FG49 SD 0:00-2Q Kaeding FG57 TB 7:41-3Q Garcia 7 run (M.Bryant kick) TB 5:05-3Q A.Bryant 71 pass from Garcia (M.Bryant kick) SD 14:53-4Q Gates 5 pass from Rivers (Kaeding kick) SD 7:18-4Q Sproles 32 pass from Rivers (Kaeding kick) SD 3:00-4Q Cason 59 interception return (Kaeding kick)
The Bucs would finish 2008 with two straight home games against AFC West opponents still knowing that one win would put them into the playoffs. But four Philip Rivers touchdown passes and a defense that was getting gashed on almost every drive saw a three point lead going into the final quarter quickly evaporate.
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING BUCS: Garcia 6-45, Williams 8-27, Dunn 9-20, McCown 2-16, C.Smith 1-2, Askew 1-1. CHARGERS: Tomlinson 21-90, Sproles 2-3, Rivers 3-(-3). PASSING BUCS: Garcia 34-21-232-2-1, McCown 1-0-0-0-0. CHARGERS: Rivers 31-21-287-0-4. RECEIVING BUCS: A.Bryant 6-127, Hilliard 4-24, Dunn 4-19, Clayton 2-23, Stevens 2-21, C.Smith 1-9, Askew 1-5, Galloway 1-4. CHARGERS: Jackson 7-111, Gates 4-43, Sproles 3-46, Naanee 2-29, Chambers 2-27, Tomlinson 2-20, Manumaleuna 1-11. INTERCEPTIONS BUCS: none. CHARGERS: Cason 1-59, Cooper 1-3. KICK RETURNS BUCS: C.Smith 7-205. CHARGERS: Sproles 4-127. PUNT RETURNS BUCS: C.Smith 1-8, Hilliard 1-8. CHARGERS: Sproles 2-45. SACKS BUCS: Wilkerson 1-7. CHARGERS: Tucker 1-1, Phillips 1-0.
STARTERS OFFENSE DEFENSE LT 70 Penn DE 93 Carter LG 78 Sears DT 95 Hovan C 52 Faine DT 97 Wilkerson RG 75 Joseph DE 90 Adams RT 65 Trueblood WLB 55 Brooks WR 19 Hilliard MLB 51 Ruud WR 80 Clayton SLB 59 June WR 89 Bryant LCB 31 Buchanon WR 84 Galloway RCB 20 Barber RB 28 Dunn SS 23 Phillips QB 8 Griese FS 36 Jackson PLAYED 3 Bryant, 9 Bidwell, 12 McCown, 21 Piscitelli, 22 Smith, 24 Williams, 25 Talib, 26 Allen, 30 Nicholson, 33 Cook, 35 Askew, 43 Mack, 48 Economos, 57 Hayward, 58 Black, 71 Haye, 76 Zuttah, 79 Mahan, 81 Smith, 86 Stevens, 87 Clark, 88 Gilmore, 91 White, 98 Sims INACTIVES 8 Griese, 10 Jackson, 11 Johnson, 50 McCoy, 56 Wilson, 77 Lee, 94 Chukwurah, 96 Peterson
GAME REPORTS Roy Cummings reports from Raymond James Stadium Martin Fennelly's award-winning column Joe Henderson on the mess that are the Bucs right now How Rick Stroud saw the game unfold Gary Shelton's morning-after column Ira Kaufman's game notes The once-proud defense lies in tatters Tom Jones on the CBS coverage of the game Game notes and anecdotes Scott Smith's official game report The gamebook and play-by-play
COMMENTARY CREW Greg Gumbel and Dan Dierdorf