Tampa Bay Buccaneers 16 Minnesota Vikings 10
Sunday 17 September 1978 at Metropolitan Stadium
CBS COMMENTARY CREW Jim Thacker and Tom Matte
This was the game with the most famous botched fieldgoal of all
time. The snap went over kicker Neil O'Donoghue's head and after
two or three aborted attempts to pick the ball up and even
O'Donoghue total miskick at one point, the Bucs managed to lose
80 yards on a single play. But Billy Cesare's recovery of a muffed
punt set up Doug Williams' first NFL TD pass and combined with
Lee Roy Selmon's three sacks of Fran Tarkenton (as well as 13
pressures!), the Bucs had their first win of the 1978 season.
STARTERS
OFFENSE
DEFENSE
LT
75 Reavis
DE
73 Hannah
LG
78 Schumacher
DT
76 Pear
C
79 Wilson
DE
63 L Selmon
RG
68 Medlin
LOLB
57 Lewis
RT
70 Carlton
LILB
61 D Selmon
TE
88 Giles
RILB
54 Wood
WR
87 Mucker
ROLB
56 Johnson
WR
85 Owens
LCB
45 White
FB
38 J Davis
RCB
40 Washington
RB
42 Bell
SS
33 Cotney
QB
12 Williams
FS
25 Jordan
PLAYED
4 Green, 6 O'Donoghue, 23 Ragsdale, 32 L Carter, 35 DuBose, 44
Cesare, 51 Nafziger, 53 Bonness, 55 Brown, 60 Chambers, 64 Horton, 67
Moritz, 71 Crowder, 74 Freitas, 77 Kollar, 81 Hagins, 82 Darby, 86
Obradovich, 89 McKay
DID NOT PLAY
15 Rae, 19 Huff, 34 Brown, 46 Reece, 65 Johnson
GAME SCORING
TB
7:50-1Q
O'Donoghue FG42
MIN
1:46-1Q
Rashad 4 pass from Tarkenton (Danmeier kick)
TB
3:40-2Q
Bell 2 run (kick failed)
TB
4:26-3Q
Owens 5 pass from Williams (O'Donoghue kick)
MIN
3:37-4Q
Danmeier FG47
GAME REPORTS
Click here for the gamebook and play-by-play
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING
BUCS: Bell 21-59, DuBose 15-37, Williams 3-(-4), Green 1-0.
VIKINGS: Foreman 12-25, Young 7-20, Tarkenton 5-18, Miller 3-5, White
1-5.
PASSING
BUCS: Williams 19-5-63-0-1.
VIKINGS: Tarkenton 31-23-180-2-1, Kramer 6-2-9-1-0.
RECEIVING
BUCS: Owens 4-42, Giles 1-21.
VIKINGS: Foreman 7-33, Young 6-16, White 4-62, Rashad 4-38, Tucker
3-37, Miller 1-3.
INTERCEPTIONS
BUCS: White 1-31, Jordan 1-22, Johnson 1-0.
VIKINGS: none.
KICK RETURNS
BUCS: Ragsdale 2-43.
VIKINGS: Miller 4-93.
PUNT RETURNS
BUCS: Mucker 2-16, Hagins 1-0.
VIKINGS: Miller 6-12.
SACKS
BUCS: L.Selmon 3-26, Chambers 1-17.
VIKINGS: none.
VIDEO CLIPS
The Bucs lost 80 yards on Neil O’Donoghue’s famous blooper
Morris Owens had a touchdown reception from Doug Williams
Curtis Jordan had one of the three interceptions
