A blocked fieldgoal preserved the Seattle Seahawks' first victory, a 13-10 triumph over sister-expansion club Tampa Bay. The big play for the Seahawks came with 40 seconds left in the error-filled game when Dave Green, who had earlier kicked a 38-yard FG for Tampa Bay, attempted a 35-yarder that would have sent the game into overtime. Safety Dave Brown snagged the ball at the four-yard line and the frustrated Bucs were penalised for the 20th time on the day, a personal foul to end the game. The two teams combined for 35 penalties amounting to 310 yards, both NFL records at the time.

STARTERS OFFENSE DEFENSE LT 71 Young LDE 78 Rudolph LG 72 Fest DT 76 Pear C 51 Ryczek DT 61 Selmon RG 67 Alward RDE 66 Toomay RT 74 Current LLB 30 Gunn TE 86 Moore MLB 52 Reese WR 85 Owens RLB 54 Wood WR 89 McKay LCB 25 Jordan FB 43 Williams SS 33 Cotney RB 26 Davis FS 28 Stone QB 11 Spurrier RCB 46 Reese PLAYED 4 Green, 19 Johnson, 22 McNeill, 27 Davis, 32 Carter, 35 DuBose, 44 Moore, 53 Ball, 55 Hunt, 56 Cooper, 63 Selmon, 64 Robinson, 70 Young, 79 Wilson, 80 Novak, 82 Pagac, 83 McGriff, 88 Smith DID NOT PLAY 18 Dickinson, 40 Washington, 77 Little INACTIVES 5 Hanratty, 58 Peterson

SCORING TB 7:22-1Q Green FG38 SEA 13:15-2Q McCullum 15 pass from Zorn (Leypoldt kick) SEA 1:59-2Q Leypoldt FG25 SEA 0:18-2Q Leypoldt FG39 TB 2:02-3Q Owens 1 pass from Carter (Green kick)

GAME REPORTS Click here for a game report Ron Martz of the St.Petersburg Times - how he saw the game Mike Tierney of the St.Petersburg Times - his game column Ray Holliman of the St.Petersburg Times - how he saw the game Click here for the feature article I wrote for The Buccaneer Review Click here for the gamebook and the play-by-play

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING BUCS: Carter 15-66, Johnson 12-54, C.Davis 1-13, McNeill 1-6, Spurrier 1-4, Williams 3-2. SEAHAWKS: Smith 10-45, Nelson 4-22, Engles 1-13, McKinnis 5-11, Testerman 4-3, Ross 2-2, Zorn 3-(-6). PASSING BUCS: Spurrier 30-18-170-0-0, Carter 1-1-1-0-1. SEAHAWKS: Zorn 27-11-167-1-1, Munson 2-1-6-0-0. RECEIVING BUCS: Owens 5-24, Williams 4-42, McKay 4-38, Carter 3-28, B.Moore 2-30, Johnson 1-9. SEAHAWKS: McCullum 5-64, Largent 3-49, Howard 2-45, Smith 1-8, Nelson 1-7. INTERCEPTIONS BUCS: Cotney 1-0. SEAHAWKS: none. KICK RETURNS BUCS: Johnson 1-32, Pagac 1-0. SEAHAWKS: Blackwood 2-39, Smith 1-0. PUNT RETURNS BUCS: Reece 3-46, M.Moore 2-16, Cotney 1-9. SEAHAWKS: Blackwood 5-50, Brown 2-19. SACKS BUCS: Toomay 1-10. SEAHAWKS: Niehaus 2-10, Curtis 1-12, Harris 1-9.

GAME HIGHLIGHTS Video footage from the expansion season is limited to occasional clips from the NFL Films season highlight film as NBC who broadcast all 14 games that season, destroyed the master tapes some years later leaving none of the games available in the way other games from Buc history are. However I have been able to obtain the coverage from NFL Films’ Review of the Week in which the Bucs were featured, sometimes though not in the most flattering of highlights. The left video are the selected Buccaneer clips. The right video is the one from the Review of the Week.