Tampa Bay Buccaneers 24 Oakland Raiders 31 Sunday 28 December 2008 at Raymond James Stadium
SCORING OAK 10:36-2Q Bush 4 run (Janikowski kick) TB 5:38-2Q Williams 9 run (M.Bryant kick) OAK 0:30-2Q Schilens 3 pass from Russell (Janikowski kick) TB 10:03-3Q Clayton 58 pass from Garcia (M.Bryant kick) TB 14:51-4Q M.Bryant FG29 TB 11:27-4Q Williams 8 run (M.Bryant kick) OAK 9:53-4Q Higgins 12 pass from Russell (Janikowski kick) OAK 7:03-4Q Bush 67 run (Janikowski kick) OAK 1:09-4Q Janikowski FG25
And then it was all over for the Bucs and Jon Gruden. The defense was run all over once more with Raider 3rd string RB Michael Bush going for 177 yards and the Tampa offense unable to respond. The Bucs became the first team in the new league format to miss the playoffs having been 9-3 and Gruden was fired the week after.
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING BUCS: Williams 12-78, Dunn 10-37, Garcia 3-10, Askew 1-0. RAIDERS: Bush 27-177, Fargas 6-11, McFadden 1-2, Russell 1-2. PASSING BUCS: Garcia 33-17-257-1-1. RAIDERS: Russell 21-14-148-1-2. RECEIVING BUCS: Williams 5-37, A.Bryant 3-77, Clayton 2-87, Stevens 2-28, Hilliard 2-20, Dunn 2-4, Askew 1-4. RAIDERS: Higgins 6-52, Schilens 3-46, Miller 2-34, McFadden 2- 10, Bush 1-6. INTERCEPTIONS BUCS: Piscitelli 1-84. RAIDERS: Baker 1-0. KICK RETURNS BUCS: C.Smith 3-78. RAIDERS: Miller 4-90, Gunheim 1-9. PUNT RETURNS BUCS: C.Smith 2-16, Hilliard 0-0. RAIDERS: Higgins 4-67. SACKS BUCS: Adams 1-3. RAIDERS: Gunheim 1-2.
STARTERS OFFENSE DEFENSE LT 70 Penn DE 93 Carter LG 78 Sears DT 95 Hovan C 52 Faine DT 97 Wilkerson RG 75 Joseph DE 90 Adams RT 65 Trueblood WLB 55 Brooks TE 88 Gilmore MLB 51 Ruud TE 81 Smith SLB 59 June WR 89 Bryant LCB 31 Buchanon WR 84 Galloway RCB 20 Barber RB 28 Dunn SS 21 Piscitelli QB 8 Griese FS 36 Jackson PLAYED 3 Bryant, 9 Bidwell, 19 Hilliard, 22 Smith, 24 Williams, 25 Talib, 26 Allen, 30 Nicholson, 33 Cook, 35 Askew, 43 Mack, 48 Economos, 50 McCoy, 57 Hayward, 58 Black, 71 Haye, 76 Zuttah, 80 Clayton, 86 Stevens, 91 White, 98 Sims DID NOT PLAY 12 McCown, 79 Mahan INACTIVES 8 Griese, 10 Jackson, 11 Johnson, 56 Wilson, 77 Lee, 87 Clark, 94 Chukwurah, 96 Peterson
COMMENTARY CREW Kevin Harlan and Rich Gannon
GAME REPORTS Roy Cummings reports from Raymond James Stadium Martin Fennelly looks at the great collapse Joe Henderson wonders if it's time to pull the plug on Gruden How Rick Stroud saw it all unfold Gary Shelton weighs in with his post-game opinions Another crippling injury for Cadillac cripples the Buccaneers This is not how Monte Kiffin wanted it to end The defense comes up short in the fourth quarter again Tom Jones looks at the CBS coverage of the game Game notes and anecdotes Scott Smith's game report The official gamebook and play-by-play