Tampa Bay Buccaneers 31 Miami Dolphins 21 Sunday 21 September 1997 at Houlihans Stadium TNT COMMENTARY CREW Verne Lundqvist, Pat Haden and Mark May
The Bucs became the only undefeated team in the NFL with a dominating Sunday Night televised victory over their state rivals. This was the first time in franchise history that they did not punt a single time as Trent Dilfer threw four touchdown passes and the Tampa defense kept Dan Marino in check. The game was sealed when Warrick Dunn took a screen pass for a long touchdown on 3rd and 29 in the fourth quarter.
STARTERS OFFENSE DEFENSE LT 74 Gruber LDE 72 Ahanotu LG 60 Pyne DT 77 Culpepper C 61 Mayberry DT 78 Jones RG 64 Diaz RDE 91 Upshaw RT 70 Odom WLB 55 Brooks TE 80 Harris MLB 56 Nickerson WR 85 Anthony SLB 50 Gooch 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 4 Walsh, 5 Husted, 6 Barnhardt, 22 Mincy, 23 Bouie, 26 Rusk, 29 Gant, 37 Ellison, 45 Legette, 51 Singleton, 52 Bellisari, 53 Quarles, 69 Pierson, 71 Wunsch, 73 Middleton, 82 Hape, 83 Moore, 84 Thomas, 86 Williams, 90 Maniecki, 94 White, 97 Jackson DID NOT PLAY 32 Rhett INACTIVES 13 Milanovich, 20 Barber, 24 Robinson, 59 Porter, 65 Dogins, 75 Curry, 87 Davis, 99 Sapp
GAME SCORING TB 9:30-1Q Alstott 3 pass from Dilfer (Husted kick TB 7:34-2Q Alstott 1 pass from Dilfer (Husted kick MIA 0:22-2Q McDuffie 10 pass from Marino (Mare kick) TB 9:46-3Q Husted FG22 TB 3:35-3Q Anthony 38 pass from Dilfer (Husted kick) MIA 14:10-4Q Abdul-Jabbar 1 run (Mare kick) TB 9:18-4Q Dunn 58 pass from Dilfer (Husted kick) MIA 3:25-4Q Barnett 1 pass from Marino (Mare kick)
GAME REPORTS Rick Stroud reports from a delirious Houlihan's Stadium Hubert Mizell hitches a ride on the Buccaneer bandwagon Click here for Pat Yasinskas' take on the game Click here for David Whitley's views Click here for how the Miami press viewed the encounter Click here for the gamebook and the play-by-play
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING BUCS: Alstott 18-95, Dunn 11-17, Dilfer 3-(-3). DOLPHINS: Abdul-Jabbar 16-45, McPhail 1-3. PASSING BUCS: Dilfer 24-18-248-1-4. DOLPHINS: Marino 37-24-235-0-2. RECEIVING BUCS: Dunn 6-106, Alstott 4-20, Copeland 3-39, Anthony 2-50, Harris 2-20, Williams 1-13. DOLPHINS: McDuffie 6-55, Barnett 5-50, Drayton 3-45, McPhail 3-28, Abdul-Jabbar 3-22, Jordan 1-19, Manning 1-11, Dotson 1-4, Parmalee 1-1. INTERCEPTIONS BUCS: none. DOLPHINS: Thomas 1-10. KICK RETURNS BUCS: Williams 2-47, White 1-0. DOLPHINS: Spikes 4-102. PUNT RETURNS BUCS: Williams 3-30. DOLPHINS: none. SACKS BUCS: none. DOLPHINS: none.
VIDEO CLIPS Mike Alstott had the first two TD on almost identical play-action fakes Reidel Anthony hauled in this long touchdown pass in the third quarter Who can ever forget Warrick Dunn’s screen pass score?