GAME THREAD: GAME THREAD: NFL: ST LOUIS (0-2) at TAMPA BAY (1-1)

TAMPA, Florida (Ticker) -- The combination of a strongdefensive effort and the home crowd lifted the Tampa BayBuccaneers to another victory.


The Buccaneers held the St. Louis Rams without a touchdown andkept them winless on the season with a 24-3 victory on Sunday.

Tampa Bay (2-1) put together just enough offense, getting a pairof fourth-quarter touchdown runs from Earnest Graham, and tookadvantage of two misses by Rams placekicker Jeff Wilkins to wintheir second consecutive game.


After losing in the season opener at Seattle, 20-6, the Bucsdefeated the Saints in last week's home opener, 31-14.

"That was a very good victory for us," Tampa Bay coach JonGruden said. "I can't be more pleased. We were punishing attimes offensively, just the way you want to close out a footballgame."


Jeff Garcia directed two touchdown drives and Graham scored hisfirst two career NFL touchdown, while the Bucs' defense limitedMarc Bulger to 116 yards passing with three interceptions.

Graham rushed for a career-high 75 yards on eight carries.

"Earnest Graham exploded onto the scene today and the bigquestion is why in the heck hasn't he been playing?" Grudensaid. "I just want to tip my hat to him. That's a tribute to aguy that's has really been a team guy."


Locked in a scoreless battle late in the second quarter, theBucs gained control with consecutive scoring drives bridging thesecond and third quarters.


With three seconds remaining in the first half, Matt Bryant's27-yard field goal gave Tampa Bay a 3-0 lead.


The Bucs then took the opening possession of the third quarterand drove 53 yards on seven plays. On the drive, Carnell"Cadillac" Williams carried six times for 38 yards, capped byhis 7-yard touchdown run.


"I thought the opening drive of the second half was thesignature drive of the game," Gruden said. "It was a greatdrive by our offense, and defensively, we gave up some yardsbetween the twenties, but we were able to make some big plays inthis game to get off the field."


The Rams (0-3) responded with a drive inside Tampa Bay's 10, butBulger was intercepted in the end zone by Phillip Buchanon.

"We have to keep working on that," St. Louis coach Scott Linehansaid. "There are other plays in that game, other than that playthat were significant as far as the game goes."


On St. Louis' next possession, Wilkins missed a 43-yard fieldgoal. Wilkins' 25 yard field goal in the fourth pulled the Ramswithin 10-3, but Tampa Bay answered with a six-play 80-yardtouchdown drive.


Graham accounted for the final 28 yards on the drive, includingan 8-yard touchdown run, with 3 1/3 minutes to play. He added a28-yard scoring burst two minutes later to cap the scoring.

"When I was in, I got yards," Graham said. "It's just allcredit to the offensive line. They did well today and it showedon the scoreboard."


Stephen Jackson exceeded the 100-yard mark by the third quarterand finished with 115 yards on 30 carries.


"I don't think there's any broad problem or anything like that,"Rams receiver Drew Bennett said. "I just think it's thoselittle things, that we need to start focusing on."

 

NFL: ST LOUIS at TAMPA BAY

<div class="pre">NFL FINAL 1ST 2ND 3RD 4TH TOTAL
--- --- --- --- -----
ST LOUIS 0 0 0 3 3
TAMPA BAY 0 3 7 14 24 FINAL

SCORING SUMMARY

1ST QUARTER:

NONE

2ND QUARTER:

14:57 TAM - FG, MATT BRYANT 27 YD.
Drive: 12 plays, 59 yards in 1:57.
Key plays: Pittman 11-yard run to Tampa Bay 43; Garcia 15-yard pass
to Hilliard on 3rd-and-10 to St Louis 42; Garcia 12-yard pass to Clayton
on 3rd-and-10 to St Louis 30; Garcia 11-yard pass to A Smith to St Louis
17. TAMPA BAY 3-0.

3RD QUARTER:

4:19 TAM - TD, CARNELL WILLIAMS 7 YD RUN (MATT BRYANT KICK).
Drive: 7 plays, 53 yards in 4:19.
Key plays: Jones 36-yard kick return to Tampa 47; Garcia 10-yard
pass to Galloway to St Louis 25. TAMPA BAY 10-0.

4TH QUARTER:

3:29 STL - FG, JEFF WILKINS 25 YD.
Drive: 7 plays, 26 yards in 3:20.
Key plays: Atogwe recovery of C Williams fumble at Tampa Bay 33;
Bulger 18-yard pass to Holt on 3rd-and-6 to Tampa Bay 11. TAMPA BAY 10-3.
7:04 TAM - TD, EARNEST GRAHAM 8 YD RUN (MATT BRYANT KICK).
Drive: 6 plays, 80 yards in 3:35.
Key plays: Garcia 17-yard pass to Hillard to Tampa Bay 37; Garcia
16-yard pass to Pittman to St Louis 47; Garcia 15-yard pass to Pittman to
St Louis 28; Graham 20-yard run to St Louis 8. TAMPA BAY 17-3.
10:00 TAM - TD, EARNEST GRAHAM 28 YD RUN (MATT BRYANT KICK).
Drive: 3 plays, 40 yards in 1:36.
Key plays: M. Jones 35-yard punt return to St Louis 40. TAMPA BAY
24-3.

ST LOUIS - TAMPA BAY Final Statistics

TEAM STATISTICS ST LOUIS TAMPA BAY

FIRST DOWNS 17 22
Rushing 7 11
Passing 8 10
Penalty 2 1
THIRD DOWN EFFICIENCY 3-12-25% 3-8-38%
FOURTH DOWN EFFICIENCY 1-1-100% 0-0-0%
TOTAL NET YARDS 245 322
Total offensive plays 61 55
Average gain per play 4.0 5.9
NET YARDS RUSHING 136 182
Rushing attempts 34 32
Average gain per rush 4.0 5.7
Tackles for loss-yards 2-4 2-4
NET YARDS PASSING 109 140
Times sacked: Number-Yards 1-7 1-11
Gross passing yards 116 151
PASS ATTEMPTS-COMPLETIONS-HAD INTERCEPTED 26-17-3 22-14-0
Avg gain per pass play 4.0 6.1
KICKOFFS: Number-In End Zone-Touchbacks 2-1-1 5-1-1
PUNTS: Number and Average 3-51.0 3-49.3
Had blocked 0 0
Net punting average 47.7 37.7
TOTAL RETURN YARDAGE (Not including kickoffs) 10 56
Number-Yards: Punt Returns 1-10 1-35
Number-Yards: Kickoff Returns 4-50 1-36
Number-Yards: Interception Returns 0-0 3-21
PENALTIES: Number-Yards 3-10 5-40
FUMBLES: Number-Lost 1-0 2-1
TOUCHDOWNS 0 3
Rushing 0 3
Passing 0 0
Interceptions 0 0
Other (blocked kicks, etc.) 0 0
EXTRA POINTS: Made-Attempts 0-0 3-3
Kicking: Made-Attempts 0-0 3-3
Passing: Made-Attempts 0-0 0-0
Rushing: Made-Attempts 0-0 0-0
FIELD GOALS: Made-Attempts 1-3 1-2
FGs - PATs had blocked 0-0 0-0
RED ZONE EFFICIENCY 0-2-0% 2-4-50%
GOAL TO GO EFFICIENCY 0-1-0% 2-2-100%
SAFETIES 0 0
TIME OF POSSESSION 32:46 27:14


INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

ST LOUIS TAMPA BAY

RUSHING ATT YDS AVG LG TD RUSHING ATT YDS AVG LG TD
-------------------------------------- --------------------------------------
S JACKSON 30 115 3.8 14 0 E GRAHAM 8 75 9.4 28 2
B LEONARD 4 21 5.3 9 0 M PITTMAN 7 56 8.0 12 0
C WILLIAMS 12 46 3.8 13 1
J GARCIA 3 3 1.0 4 0
M CLAYTON 2 2 1.0 5 0

PASSING CM-AT-YDS IN TD LG PASSING CM-AT-YDS IN TD LG
-------------------------------------- --------------------------------------
M BULGER 17-26-116 3 0 18 J GARCIA 14-22-151 0 0 17

Sacked-Yards Lost: M BULGER 1-7. Sacked-Yards Lost: J GARCIA 1-11.

RECEIVING NO YDS AVG LG TD RECEIVING NO YDS AVG LG TD
-------------------------------------- --------------------------------------
T HOLT 5 63 12.6 18 0 J GALLOWAY 4 42 10.5 14 0
S JACKSON 4 18 4.5 10 0 M PITTMAN 3 35 11.7 16 0
I BRUCE 3 14 4.7 11 0 A SMITH 3 27 9.0 15 0
R MCMICHAE 2 13 6.5 11 0 I HILLIARD 2 32 16.0 17 0
B LEONARD 1 6 6.0 6 0 M CLAYTON 1 12 12.0 12 0
D HALL 1 2 2.0 2 0 C WILLIAMS 1 3 3.0 3 0
D BENNETT 1 0 0.0 0 0

INTERCEPTIONS NO YDS AVG LG TD INTERCEPTIONS NO YDS AVG LG TD
-------------------------------------- --------------------------------------
P BUCHANON 1 19 19.0 19 0
B RUUD 1 2 2.0 2 0
J PHILLIPS 1 0 0.0 0 0

PUNTING NO YDS AVG T I LG PUNTING NO YDS AVG T I LG
-------------------------------------- --------------------------------------
D JONES 3 153 51.0 1 1 59 J BIDWELL 3 148 49.3 0 1 57

T = Touchbacks, I = Inside 20

PUNT RETURNS NO YDS AVG LG TD PUNT RETURNS NO YDS AVG LG TD
-------------------------------------- --------------------------------------
D HALL 1 10 10.0 10 0 M JONES 1 35 35.0 35 0

KICKOFF RETURNS NO YDS AVG LG TD KICKOFF RETURNS NO YDS AVG LG TD
-------------------------------------- --------------------------------------
D HALL 3 47 15.7 17 0 M JONES 1 36 36.0 36 0
T MINOR 1 3 3.0 3 0

KICKING XP/XPA FG/FGA KICKING XP/XPA FG/FGA
---------------------------------- ----------------------------------
J WILKINS 0/0 1/3 M BRYANT 3/3 1/2
Dist.: (42) (43) 25 Dist.: (54) 27

O-D O-D
FUMBLES NO LOST FF REC FUMBLES NO LOST FF REC
------------------------------------ ------------------------------------
S JACKSON 1 0 0 0-0 C WILLIAMS 1 1 0 0-0
B CHILLAR 0 0 1 0-0 M CLAYTON 1 0 0 0-0
C RYAN 0 0 1 0-0 D BROOKS 0 0 1 0-0
O ATOGWE 0 0 0 0-1 A SMITH 0 0 0 1-0
T HOLT 0 0 0 1-0

DEFENSE TK SO AS SK-YD DEFENSE TK SO AS SK-YD
------------------------------------ ------------------------------------
R BARTELL 6 6 0 0-0 B RUUD 11 8 3 0-0
W WITHERSPOON 6 5 1 0-0 D BROOKS 8 6 2 0-0
B CHILLAR 6 3 3 0-0 K CARTER 7 6 1 .5-3.5
C CHAVOUS 5 5 0 0-0 J PHILLIPS 7 5 2 0-0
C DRAFT 5 4 1 0-0 C JUNE 6 3 3 0-0
L LITTLE 4 4 0 0-0 G SPIRES 4 4 0 0-0
L GLOVER 3 3 0 0-0 T JACKSON 4 4 0 0-0
J HALL 3 3 0 0-0 P BUCHANON 4 4 0 0-0
O ATOGWE 3 3 0 0-0 G PETERSON 4 2 2 .5-3.5
J WADE 2 2 0 0-0 C HOVAN 4 2 2 0-0
C RYAN 2 2 0 0-0 R BARBER 3 2 1 0-0
T JOHNSON 1 1 0 1-11 J HAYE 2 1 1 0-0
L WALLS 1 1 0 0-0 G ADAMS 2 1 1 0-0
B KELLY 1 1 0 0-0
R NECE 1 1 0 0-0
G WHITE 1 1 0 0-0

Att: 65,267 Time of Game: 2:42</div>

 

NFL: ST LOUIS at TAMPA BAY

<div class="pre">NFL ST LOUIS AT TAMPA BAY
NOTE: RESENDING TO CORRECT FUMBLES FOR ST LOUIS.</div>