The Bucs opened the season against a poor Cowboy team starting the inexperienced Quincy Carter at QB. They held them to 127 yards total offense and still struggled to win. The Bucs converted 50 percent of their third-down tries (8-for-16), but three of those were the result of Cowboys penalties.

GAME SCORING TB 7:50-1Q Gramatica FG39 DAL 4:26-1Q Seder FG22 DAL 11:42-3Q Seder FG46 TB 12:35-4Q BJohnson 1 run (Gramatica kick)

GAME REPORTS Click here for how Roy Cummings saw it Click here for Rick Stroud's morning-after column Click here for the official gamebook and play-by-play

STARTERS OFFENSE DEFENSE LT 67 Walker DE 78 Jones LG 64 McDaniel DT 92 McFarland C 75 Washington DT 99 Sapp RG 60 Coleman DE 97 Rice RT 71 Wunsch LLB 53 Quarles TE 83 Moore MLB 59 Duncan WR 19 Johnson RLB 55 Brooks WR 81 Green LCB 21 Abraham FB 40 Alstott RCB 20 Barber RB 28 Dunn SS 47 Lynch QB 14 Johnson FS 34 Jackson PLAYED 3 Royals, 7 Gramatica, 22 Stecker, 25 Kelly, 27 Abdullah, 33 Vance, 38 Howell, 43 Cook, 46 Gibson, 50 Gooch, 51 Singleton, 52 Webster, 69 Pierson, 80 Yoder, 84 McDermott, 85 Anthony, 86 Williams, 91 Darby, 94 White DID NOT PLAY 10 King, 70 Hires, 76 Curry, 96 Wyms INACTIVE 1 Hamilton, 26 Smith, 58 Cerqua, 62 Christy, 65 Hochstein, 87 Murphy, 88 Wynn, 98 Cannida

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING BUCS: Dunn 22-56, Alstott 5-12, B.Johnson 4-2, Stecker 2-1. COWBOYS: Smith 13-40, Thomas 2-28, Carter 4-16, Hambrick 2-10, Ismail 2-3, Wiley 1-2. PASSING BUCS: B.Johnson 35-26-195-1-0. COWBOYS: Carter 19-9-34-2-0. RECEIVING BUCS: Green 8-75, K.Johnson 7-71, Dunn 4-21, Alstott 4-15, Williams 1- 9, Cook 1-4. COWBOYS: Galloway 6-18, Wiley 3-15. INTERCEPTIONS BUCS: Jackson 1-13, Lynch 1-4. COWBOYS: Woodson 1-0. KICK RETURNS BUCS: Williams 1-13. COWBOYS: Swinton 3-131. PUNT RETURNS BUCS: Williams 2-1. COWBOYS: McGarity 3-18. SACKS BUCS: White 1-3, Jones 1-3. COWBOYS: Reese 1-2, Ellis 1-1.