Tampa Bay Buccaneers 24 Detroit Lions 17 Sunday 7 September 1997 at The Silverdome FOX COMMENTARY CREW Eric Clemons and Trevor Matich
The Bucs jumped out to a 17-0 lead over the Lions in the Silverdome and held on for a 24-17 victory. Rookie RB Warrick Dunn earned his first 100-yard rushing game and scored his first NFL touchdown as the Buccaneers dominated the first half. Detroit did manage to pull a late score back thanks to Barry Sanders but were not able to recover their onside kick and the Bucs moved to 2-0 on the season.
STARTERS OFFENSE DEFENSE LT 74 Gruber LDE 72 Ahanotu LG 60 Pyne DT 77 Culpepper C 61 Mayberry DT 99 Sapp RG 64 Diaz RDE 91 Upshaw RT 70 Odom WLB 55 Brooks TE 80 Harris MLB 56 Nickerson WR 85 Anthony SLB 59 Porter WR 88 Copeland LCB 21 Abraham QB 12 Dilfer SS 47 Lynch FB 40 Alstott FS 25 Johnson RB 28 Dunn RCB 27 Parker PLAYED 5 Husted, 6 Barnhardt, 22 Mincy, 23 Bouie, 26 Rusk, 29 Gant, 37 Ellison, 45 Legette, 50 Gooch, 52 Bellisari, 53 Quarles, 69 Pierson, 71 Wunsch, 78 Jones, 82 Hape, 83 Moore, 84 Thomas, 86 Williams, 94 White, 97 Jackson DID NOT PLAY 4 Walsh, 32 Rhett, 73 Middleton INACTIVES 13 Milanovich, 19 Hunter, 20 Barber, 51 Singleton, 65 Dogins, 75 Curry, 87 Davis, 90 Maniecki
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING BUCS: Dunn 24-130, Alstott 14-34, Dilfer 3-9. LIONS: Sanders 10-20, Rivers 1-3, Mitchell 1-1. PASSING BUCS: Dilfer 24-12-115-0-1. LIONS: Mitchell 50-29-331-1-2. RECEIVING BUCS: Copeland 4-44, Dunn 2-20, Anthony 2-19, Williams 1-18, Moore 1-8, Thomas 1-5, Hape 1-1. LIONS: Sanders 8-102, Sloan 7-49, Moore 6-51, Morton 4-102, Milburn 2-19, Metzelaars 2-8. INTERCEPTIONS BUCS: Mincy 1-14. LIONS: none. KICK RETURNS BUCS: Williams 2-36. LIONS: Milburn 3-62. PUNT RETURNS BUCS: Williams 5-30, Dunn 1-3. LIONS: Milburn 3-14. SACKS BUCS: Jackson 1-5, Sapp 1-4. LIONS: Porcher 1.5-7, Elliss 1-7, Brown 0.5-2.
GAME SCORING TB 9:57-1Q Husted FG41 TB 5:09-1Q Hape 1 pass from Dilfer (Husted kick) TB 5:21-2Q Dunn 6 run (Husted kick) DET 0:08-2Q Hanson FG48 DET 5:30-3Q Morton 73 pass from Mitchell (Hanson kick) TB 5:42-4Q Alstott 1 run (Husted kick) DET 0:15-4Q Sanders 1 pass from Mitchell (Hanson kick)
GAME REPORTS Rick Stroud reports from the Silverdome Warrick Dunn is quickly running into the limelight Trent Dilfer leads the offense to a higher gear Click here for the gamebook and the play-by-play
VIDEO CLIPS Patrick Hape’s first NFL TD came on a one-yard pass from Trent Dilfer Warrick Dunn scored as part of his first 100-yard day It was left to the A-Train to complete the Buc scoring in typical style