Tampa Bay Buccaneers 27 New Orleans Saints 13 Sunday 1 January 2006 at Raymond James Stadium FOX COMMENTARY CREW Kenny Albert and Brian Baldinger
A win over the lowly Saints would cap a worst-to-first season and in spite of a few worries, Dewayne White’s fumble return inside the final two minutes set off the celebrations on a division title. "We just threw it all out there each week and let the chips fall” said Simeon Rice. “But we're not done yet. We're looking for much more. We're looking to finish this thing. It's sudden death now - in or go home - but that's fine.”
GAME SCORING TB 2:52-1Q Galloway 7 pass from Simms (Bryant kick) NO 12:32-2Q Carney FG25 TB 11:25-2Q Galloway 4 pass from Simms (Bryant kick) NO 3:36-2Q Henderson 24 pass from Bouman (Carney kick) TB 0:45-2Q Bryant FG46 NO 12:06-4Q Carney FG34 TB 7:16-4Q Bryant FG26 TB 1:43-4Q White 34 fumble return (Bryant kick)
GAME REPORTS Roy Cummings' review of the game Martin Fennelly's award winning column What Joe Henderson thought of it all Those important rookies now face more new challenges The end of a long difficult year for the Saints Throwing the red flag was a big play for the Bucs Chris Simms - talking after the game to the Tampa media Game notes and anecdotes The game report The gamebook and the play-by-play of the game
STARTERS OFFENSE DEFENSE LT 69 Davis DE 94 Spires LG 72 Buenning DT 95 Hovan C 76 Wade DT 92 McFarland RG 79 Mahan DE 97 Rice RT 67 Walker LLB 56 Nece TE 88 Becht MLB 53 Quarles WR 19 Hilliard RLB 55 Brooks WR 84 Galloway LCB 25 Kelly FB 40 Alstott RCB 20 Barber RB 24 Williams SS 26 Allen QB 2 Simms FS 34 Jackson PLAYED 3 Bryant, 9 Bidwell, 21 Bolden, 27 Cox, 28 Nicholson, 32 Pittman, 33 Graham, 39 Pearson, 43 Cook, 46 Adams, 51 Ruud, 54 Mallard, 58 Cooper, 75 Steussie, 77 Terry, 81 Smith, 83 Moore, 86 Shepherd, 89 Jones, 90 White, 91 Bradley, 96 Wyms DID NOT PLAY 12 McCown INACTIVES 13 Rattay, 22 Watson, 23 Phillips, 61 Colmer, 64 Bryant, 74 Jackson, 80 Clayton, 85 Heller
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING BUCS: Williams 22-81, Pittman 1-64, Simms 2-2, Alstott 1-2. SAINTS: Smith 16-55, Stecker 2-10, Thomas 4-7, Bouman 1-(-1). PASSING BUCS: Simms 25-12-143-0-2. SAINTS: Bouman 37-25-265-2-1. RECEIVING BUCS: Galloway 4-38, Pittman 3-35, Hilliard 2-20, Alstott 1-24, Smith 1-22, Shepherd 1-4. SAINTS: Hakim 6-71, Stallworth 6-61, Hilton 5-74, Stecker 4-16, Henderson 2-30, Horn 1-11, Thomas 1-2. INTERCEPTIONS BUCS: Bolden 1-18, Allen 1-0. SAINTS: none. KICK RETURNS BUCS: Pittman 3-85. SAINTS: Stecker 3-62, McAfee 1-13, Hall 1-5. PUNT RETURNS BUCS: Jones 2-24. SAINTS: Hakim 3-32. SACKS BUCS: Rice 2-13, White 1-12, Spires 1-5. SAINTS: Thomas 1-7.