Tampa Bay Buccaneers 9 Detroit Lions 27Sunday 12 October 1997 at Houlihans StadiumFOX COMMENTARY CREWDick Stockton and Matt Millen
The Bucs fell victim to Barry Sanders, as the eight-time Pro-Bowler dashed 215 yards through the hands of Tampa Bay defenders and scored all three Detroit touchdowns. It was the first time in NFL history that a player had record two 80+ yard rushes in a single game. The Lions added a 79-yard pass play from Scott Mitchell to Herman Moore and only John Lynch forcing a fumble from Sanders at the Buc three, prevented the score from being worse.
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICSRUSHINGBUCS: Alstott 12-40, Dilfer 3-23, Dunn 10-9. LIONS: Sanders 24-215, Vardell 4-30, Mitchell 3-7, Rivers 1-7, Schlesinger 1-0. PASSINGBUCS: Dilfer 31-17-237-2-1. LIONS: Mitchell 20-16-222-0-1. RECEIVINGBUCS: Copeland 6-105, Dunn 3-71, Anthony 3-22, Williams 2-20, Harris 2-13, Thomas 1-6. LIONS: Morton 7-66, Moore 5-120, Schlesinger 1-15, Sloan 1-11, Sanders 1-7, Metzelaars 1-3. INTERCEPTIONSBUCS: none. LIONS: Raymond 1-17, Bailey 1-0. KICK RETURNSBUCS: Anthony 2-75, Williams 2-1. LIONS: none. PUNT RETURNSBUCS: Williams 4-23. LIONS: Milburn 1-40. SACKSBUCS: Sapp 1-13, Upshaw 1-10, Ahanotu 1-8, Culpepper 1-3. LIONS: Porcher 1.5-10.5, Scroggins 0.5-4, Ellis 0.5-4, Waldroup 0.5-1.5.
VIDEO CLIPSWarrick Dunn’s score was the only offensive highlight for the BucsChidi Ahanotu had one of the four sacks on the dayNaturally Warren Sapp had one as well