Tampa Bay Buccaneers 20 Detroit Lions 17 Sunday 20 December 1981 at The Silverdome CBS COMMENTARY CREW Dick Stockton and Johnny Morris
This was for the NFC Central title. The winner went to the playoffs, the loser went home. And it was the Bucs who won their second title in three seasons as the combination of Williams- House for 84 yards, and Selmon forcing a fumble recovered and returned for a score by David Logan gave the Bucs what they needed to win. Eric Hipple threw a late score for the Lions, but Theo Bell recovered the ensuing onside kick.
STARTERS OFFENSE DEFENSE LT 74 Sanders DE 65 Stalls LG 72 Snell DT 76 Logan C 50 Wilson DE 63 Selmon RG 61 Roberts LOLB 59 Hawkins RT 73 Hannah LILB 56 Johnson TE 88 Giles RILB 54 Wood WR 83 Bell ROLB 53 Green WR 89 House LCB 21 Holt FB 32 Wilder RCB 40 Washington RB 26 Owens SS 20 Colzie QB 12 Williams FS 34 Brown PLAYED 3 Capece, 9 Swider, 24 Delaney, 27 T Davis, 41 Thomas, 43 Eckwood, 44 Cesare, 51 Nafziger, 52 Brantley, 57 Lewis, 62 Leonard, 64 Short, 68 Yarno, 70 Hutchinson, 75 Reavis, 79 Campbell, 84 Jones, 86 Obradovich, 87 Carter, 90 White DID NOT PLAY 10 Ford, 14 Fusina, 42 R Bell
GAME SCORING TB 8:08-1Q Capece FG40 DET 12:21-2Q Hipple 9 run (Murray kick) TB 2:44-2Q House 84 pass from Williams (Capece kick) DET 5:10-3Q Murray FG47 TB 14:48-4Q Capece FG30 TB 13:28-4Q Logan 21 fumble return (Capece kick) DET 1:21-4Q Thompson 8 pass from Hipple (Murray kick)
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING BUCS: Owens 17-61, Wilder 8-28, Williams 6-8, Eckwood 2-7. LIONS: Sims 19-76, V.Thompson 4-29, Bussey 4-24, Hipple 4-19, Kane 2- 7, L.Thompson 2-4. PASSING BUCS: Williams 19-8-172-0-1. LIONS: Hipple 28-18-205-2-1. RECEIVING BUCS: Owens 2-49, Giles 2-19, House 1-84, T.Bell 1-9,Wilder 1-8, Eckwood 1-3. LIONS: Bussey 4-32, Scott 3-56, Sims 3-39, L.Thompson 3-34, Hill 3-33, Kane 1-6, V.Thompson 1-5. INTERCEPTIONS BUCS: Brown 2-9. LIONS: none. KICK RETURNS BUCS: Holt 2-45. LIONS: Martin 4-105, Hill 1-21. PUNT RETURNS BUCS: T.Bell 3-24, Colzie 1-12. LIONS: Martin 5-56. SACKS BUCS: Selmon 2-16, Hawkins 1-7, Wood 1-1. LIONS: none.
VIDEO CLIPS Kevin House’s touchdown bomb set the Bucs on their way Lee Roy Selmon and David Logan teamed up for the crucial touchdown Andy Hawkins got into the defensive act with a key sack