Tampa Bay Buccaneers 23 New Orleans Saints 20 Sunday 30 November 2008 at Raymond James Stadium
SCORING NO 5:37-1Q Hartley FG47 TB 14:50-2Q Bryant FG38 TB 2:34-2Q Bryant FG23 NO 0:33-2Q Moore 13 pass from Brees (Hartley kick) TB 10:14-3Q Williams 8 run (Bryant kick) TB 8:36-3Q Bryant 39 pass from Garcia (Bryant kick) NO 12:09-4Q Thomas 20 pass from Brees (Hartley kick) NO 5:34-4Q Hartley FG43 TB 1:55-4Q Bryant FG37
The highpoint of the 2008 season as the Bucs moved to 9-3 on a wet afternoon in Tampa. It was also the return from injury for Cadillac Williams and his scoring run in the third quarter brought the house down. But stories had surfaced about Monte Kiffin leaving the Bucs and the ensuing turmoil would come to a head the next game.
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING BUCS: Dunn 22-74, Garcia 7-42, Williams 4-20, Bryant 1-13. SAINTS: Thomas 11-34, McAllister 3-13, Bush 3-0, Henderson 1- (-3). PASSING BUCS: Garcia 23-9-119-0-1. SAINTS: Brees 47-25-296-3-2. RECEIVING BUCS: Bryant 3-63, Clayton 3-29, Stevens 2-21, Gilmore 1-6. SAINTS: Colston 6-106, Bush 5-32, Shockey 4-52, Miller 3-26, Henderson 2-33, Moore 2-15, Thomas 1-20, Meacham 1-9, McAllister 1-3. INTERCEPTIONS BUCS: Phillips 1-13, Buchanon 1-7, June 1-0. SAINTS: none. KICK RETURNS BUCS: C.Smith 3-76. SAINTS: Roby 4-71, Meacham 1-9. PUNT RETURNS BUCS: C.Smith 5-82. SAINTS: Bush 2-(-16). SACKS BUCS: Adams 0.5-4, White 0.5-4. SAINTS: McCray 2-3, Shanle 1-6, Vilma 1-5.
STARTERS OFFENSE DEFENSE LT 70 Penn DE 93 Carter LG 78 Sears DT 71 Haye C 52 Faine DT 95 Hovan RG 75 Joseph DE 90 Adams RT 65 Trueblood WLB 55 Brooks TE 88 Gilmore MLB 51 Ruud WR 80 Clayton DB 25 Talib WR 89 Bryant LCB 31 Buchanon FB 35 Askew RCB 20 Barber RB 28 Dunn SS 23 Phillips QB 7 Garcia FS 36 Jackson PLAYED 3 Bryant, 9 Bidwell, 19 Hilliard, 21 Piscitelli, 22 Smith, 24 Williams, 26 Allen, 33 Cook, 43 Mack, 48 Economos, 57 Hayward, 58 Black, 59 June, 76 Zuttah, 79 Mahan, 81 Smith,84 Galloway, 86 Stevens, 87 Clark, 91 White, 97 Wilkerson, 98 Sims DID NOT PLAY 12 McCown INACTIVES 8 Griese, 10 Jackson, 11 Johnson, 30 Nicholson, 39 Herron, 50 McCoy, 77 Lee, 96 Peterson
COMMENTARY CREW Dick Stockton, Brian Baldinger and Brian Billick
GAME REPORTS Roy Cummings reports from a wet Raymond James Stadium Martin Fennelly's award-winning column The dean of Tampa sports writers, Tom McEwen Rick Stroud offers his take on the game Gary Shelton on stories surrounding Monte Kiffin Tom Jones on the Fox broadcast of the game In spite of conditions, Garcia leads the offense The key players and moments of the game Notes and anecdotes from the victorious locker room Scott Smith's official game report The official gamebook and the play-by-play