INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING
BUCS: Eckwood 20-121, Bell 13-53, J.Davis 6-26, Williams 2-16,
Berns 4-9., Ragsdale 3-4.
LIONS: King 10-53, Bussey 9-28, Robinson 5-27, Scott 1-18,
Callicutt 1-10, Kane 2-5, Gaines 2-3, Komlo 2-(-2).
PASSING
BUCS: Williams 16-4-99-0-2, Rae 4-1-12-0-0.
LIONS: Reed 15-8-61-0-1, Komlo 21-5-45-0-0.
RECEIVING
BUCS: Giles 3-97, Berns 1-12, Obradovich 1-2.
LIONS: Hill 5-48, King 4-23, Scott 1-16, Callicutt 1-11, Blue 1-6,
Bussey 1-2.
INTERCEPTIONS
BUCS: none.
LIONS: none.
KICK RETURNS
BUCS: Ragsdale 1-19, T.Davis 1-16.
OPPONENTS: Leonard 3-70, Thompson 2-81, Callicut 2-23.
PUNT RETURNS
BUCS: Reece 8-42.
OPPONENTS: Thompson 2-27, Leonard 1-7.
SACKS
BUCS: Kollar 1-9, Lewis 1-8.
OPPONENTS: English 1-5, Gay 1-1.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 31 Detroit Lions 16
Saturday 1 September 1979 at Tampa Stadium
SCORING
TB
13:55-1Q
O'Donoghue FG31
TB
4:30-1Q
L Selmon 29 fumble return (O'Donoghue kick)
DET
9:23-2Q
Hill 11 pass from Reed (Ricardo kick)
TB
4:41-2Q
Bell 7 run (O'Donoghue kick)
TB
1:58-2Q
Giles 66 pass from Williams (O'Donoghue kick)
TB
14:56-4Q
Obradovich 2 pass from Williams (O'Donoghue kick)
DET
4:39-4Q
Kane 3 run (Ricardo kick)
DET
1:03-4Q
Safety - Rae sacked by English in the endzone
STARTERS
OFFENSE
DEFENSE
LT
75 Reavis
LDE
60 Chambers
LG
64 Horton
NT
77 Kollar
C
50 Wilson
RDE
63 Selmon
RG
61 Roberts
LOLB
57 Lewis
RT
73 Hannah
LILB
58 Selmon
WR
85 Owens
RILB
54 Wood
WR
84 Jones
ROLB
56 Johnson
TE
88 Giles
LCB
45 White
FB
43 Eckwood
SS
33 Cotney
RB
42 Bell
FS
34 Brown
QB
12 Williams
RCB
40 Washington
SUBSTITUTIONS
6 O'Donoghue, 15 Rae, 16 Blanchard, 23 Ragsdale, 25
Jordan, 27 T Davis, 36 Berns, 38 J Davis, 44 Cesare, 46
Reece, 51 Nafziger, 53 Bonness, 55 Brown, 66 Yarno, 69
Austin, 70 Carlton, 71 Crowder, 74 Sanders, 79 Lewis, 81
Hagins, 86 Obradovich, 87 Mucker
DID NOT PLAY
14 Fusina
GAME HIGHLIGHTS Click on the boxes below to watch the clip
Doug Williams’ famous touchdown pass to Jim Obradovich whilst on the seat of his pants
Earlier Doug hooked up with Jimmie Giles on a 66-yard touchdown pass
Lee Roy Selmon scored the first Buccaneer touchdown of the year on a fumble return
The Bucs opened their magical 1979 season with an easy win over the Lions. Doug Williams only completed four passes
but hit Jimmie Giles for his longest TD pass of the season. He also connected on another to Jim Obradovich from the
seat of his pants after he had tripped backwards dropping back from center.
GAME REPORTS
Click here for the gamebook and the play-by-play
