1978 Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 5-11-0
Previous Season Next SeasonHome record: 3-5-0 (122 points scored, 130 allowed) Road record: 2-6-0 (119 points scored, 129 allowed) Head Coach: John McKay 241 points scored (25th of 28 teams), 259 points allowed (7th) NFL Averages: 18.3 points/game (293.3 points/team) Team stats and rankings: ---------------- PASSING ---------------- ----------- RUSHING ---------- --- TOTAL --- Cmp Att Yards (Rank) Yd/Att TD Int Att Yards (Rank) Yd/Att TD Yards (Rank) Turnovers Offense: 151 361 1,703 (28) 4.12 12 18 549 2,098 (19) 3.8 16 3,801 (28) 38 Defense: 241 419 2,279 ( 4) 5.04 13 29 595 2,049 ( 7) 3.4 12 4,328 ( 4) 43
Team roster (starters in bold): # Player Pos GP Hgt Wgt Age Exp College 4 Dave Green P 16 5'11 205 29 6 Ohio 6 Neil O'Donoghue K 15 6'6 205 25 2 Auburn 10 Mike Boryla QB 1 6'3 200 27 4 Stanford 12 Doug Williams QB 10 6'4 215 23 R Grambling 15 Mike Rae QB 6 6'0 190 27 3 Southern California 19 Gary Huff QB 6 6'1 195 27 6 Florida State 23 George Ragsdale RB 15 5'11 185 25 2 North Carolina A&T 25 Curtis Jordan DB 16 6'2 185 24 3 Texas Tech 28 Alvin Maxson RB 1 5'11 205 26 5 Southern Methodist 28 Charlie White RB 7 6'0 222 25 2 Bethune-Cookman 31 Jerry Anderson DB 2 5'11 195 25 2 Oklahoma 32 Louis Carter RB 16 5'11 210 25 4 Maryland 33 Mark Cotney DB 16 6'0 205 26 4 Cameron 34 Cedric Brown DB 14 6'1 190 24 3 Kent State 35 Jimmy DuBose RB 6 5'11 215 24 3 Florida 38 Johnny Davis RB 16 6'1 235 22 R Alabama 40 Mike Washington DB 16 6'3 190 25 3 Alabama 41 Dave Farmer RB 3 6'0 205 24 1 Southern California 42 Ricky Bell RB 12 6'2 220 23 2 Southern California 44 Billy Cesare DB 10 5'11 190 23 1 Miami 45 Jeris White DB 16 5'11 180 26 5 Hawaii 46 Danny Reece DB 15 5'11 190 23 3 Southern California 49 Randy Gill LB 1 6'2 230 22 R San Jose State 50 Steve Wilson C 16 6'3 265 24 3 Georgia 51 Dana Nafziger LB 14 6'1 220 25 2 Cal Poly-S.L.O. 52 Paul Harris LB 5 6'3 215 23 2 Alabama 53 Rik Bonness LB 16 6'3 220 24 3 Nebraska 54 Richard Wood LB 16 6'2 215 25 4 Southern California 55 Aaron Brown LB 16 6'2 235 22 R Ohio State 56 Cecil Johnson LB 13 6'2 220 23 2 Pittsburgh 57 Dave Lewis LB 16 6'4 230 24 2 Southern California 58 Dewey Selmon LB 16 6'1 250 24 3 Oklahoma 59 Earl Inmon LB 2 6'1 215 24 R Bethune-Cookman 60 Wally Chambers DE 12 6'6 250 27 6 Eastern Kentucky 62 Jeff Winans OG 1 6'5 265 27 5 Southern California 63 Lee Roy Selmon DE 14 6'3 260 24 3 Oklahoma 64 Greg Horton OG 14 6'4 245 27 3 Colorado 65 Randy Johnson OG 10 6'2 255 25 2 Georgia 67 Brett Moritz OG 6 6'5 250 23 R Nebraska 68 Dan Medlin OG 14 6'4 255 29 5 North Carolina State 70 Darryl Carlton OT 13 6'6 270 25 4 Tampa 71 Randy Crowder DT 14 6'2 245 25 4 Penn State 72 Garry Puetz OG 10 6'4 265 26 6 Valparaiso 73 Charley Hannah DE 16 6'5 250 23 2 Alabama 74 Rocky Freitas OT 13 6'6 275 33 11 Oregon State 75 Dave Reavis OT 16 6'5 250 28 5 Arkansas 76 Dave Pear DT 16 6'2 250 25 4 Washington 77 Bill Kollar DT 16 6'4 256 25 5 Montana State 78 Kurt Schumacher OG 4 6'3 255 25 4 Ohio State 80 Larry Franklin WR 2 6'1 185 23 1 Jackson State 81 Isaac Hagins WR 4 5'9 180 24 3 Southern 82 Alvis Darby TE 6 6'5 225 24 2 Florida 83 Frank Grant WR 10 5'11 181 28 6 Southern Colorado 84 Karl Farmer WR 2 5'11 165 24 3 Pittsburgh 84 Mike Levenseller WR 2 6'1 180 22 R Washington State 85 Morris Owens WR 16 6'0 190 25 4 Arizona State 86 Jim Obradovich TE 16 6'2 227 25 4 Southern California 87 Larry Mucker WR 16 5'11 190 23 2 Arizona State 88 Jimmie Giles TE 16 6'3 225 23 2 Alcorn State 89 John McKay WR 15 5'11 185 25 3 Southern California
Per Per Passing Att Cmp Pct Yards Att Cmp TD TD% Int Int% Sack Loss Rating Doug Williams 194 73 37.6 1,170 6.03 16.0 7 3.6 8 4.1 6 69 53.4 Mike Rae 118 57 48.3 705 5.97 12.4 4 3.4 7 5.9 37 288 53.8 Gary Huff 36 15 41.7 169 4.69 11.3 1 2.8 3 8.3 5 54 30.9 Louis Carter 5 2 40.0 87 17.40 43.5 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0 87.5 Mike Boryla 5 2 40.0 15 3.00 7.5 0 0.0 0 0.0 4 57 47.9 Dave Green 3 2 66.7 25 8.33 12.5 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0 92.4
Receiving Rec Yards Avg TD Morris Owens 32 640 20.0 5 Jimmie Giles 23 324 14.1 2 Louis Carter 19 139 7.3 0 Ricky Bell 15 122 8.1 0 Jim Obradovich 14 219 15.6 3 Larry Mucker 13 271 20.8 0 John McKay 9 166 18.4 1 Frank Grant 8 112 14.0 0 Isaac Hagins 6 65 10.8 0 Johnny Davis 5 13 2.6 0 George Ragsdale 3 41 13.7 1 Charlie White 2 31 15.5 0 Danny Reece 1 25 25.0 0 Jimmy DuBose 1 3 3.0 0 | Rushing Att Yards Avg TD Ricky Bell 185 679 3.7 6 Johnny Davis 97 370 3.8 3 Jimmy DuBose 93 358 3.8 4 Louis Carter 81 275 3.4 1 Mike Rae 20 186 9.3 0 George Ragsdale 25 121 4.8 1 Charlie White 11 42 3.8 0 Larry Mucker 5 35 7.0 0 Doug Williams 27 23 0.9 1 Gary Huff 3 10 3.3 0 Dave Green 1 0 0.0 0 Jimmie Giles 1 -1 -1.0 0 |
Kickoff Returns Att Yards Avg TD George Ragsdale 24 555 23.1 0 Danny Reece 11 240 21.8 0 Louis Carter 6 97 16.2 0 Jimmie Giles 5 60 12.0 0 Isaac Hagins 4 69 17.2 0 Jim Obradovich 3 48 16.0 0 Larry Mucker 2 9 4.5 0 Alvin Maxson 1 17 17.0 0 | Punt Returns Att Yards Avg FC TD Danny Reece 44 393 8.9 3 0 Larry Mucker 7 49 7.0 1 0 Mark Cotney 5 38 7.6 1 0 Isaac Hagins 4 23 5.8 1 0 Cedric Brown 2 9 4.5 1 0 |
1978 Draft: NFL Rnd Ovr Pos Player Games College 1 17 QB Doug Williams 88 Grambling [pick acquired from HOU] 2 30 RB Johnny Davis 119 Alabama 2 44 OG Brett Moritz 6 Nebraska [pick acquired from HOU] 6 162 WR Elijah Marshall North Carolina State [pick acquired from LA] 8 196 LB John McGriff Miami 9 223 WR Willie Taylor 1 Pittsburgh 10 252 LB Aaron Brown 73 Ohio State 12 308 RB Kevin McLee Georgia
Traded draft picks: #1 to HOU (Earl Campbell), #3 to OAK (Derrick Jensen), #4 to OAK (Maurice Harvey), #5 to MIA (Ted Burgmeier), #6 to OAK (Tom Davis), #7 to ATL (Alfred Jackson), #11 to PIT (Nat Terry)
Transactions:
| 01-1978 | traded Tampa's #3 pick in the 1978 draft to Raiders for Dan Medlin |
| 01-1978 | traded Tampa's #4 pick in the 1978 draft to Raiders for Jeff Winans |
| 01-26-1978 | signed Neil O'Donoghue from Bills as a free agent |
| 03-19-1978 | traded Lon Boyett to Raiders for future considerations |
| 03-28-1978 | traded John Sciarra to Eagles for future considerations |
| 04-12-1978 | traded Tampa's #1 pick in the 1979 draft and Bob Moore (acquired 4/14/78) to Bears for Wally Chambers |
| 04-19-1978 | traded Dan Ryczek to Rams for future considerations |
| 04-24-1978 | traded Tampa's #1 pick in the 1978 draft to Oilers for Jimmie Giles, Houston's #1 and #2 picks in the 1978 draft, and Houston's #3 and #5 picks in the 1979 draft |
| 04-30-1978 | traded Anthony Davis to Oilers for Don Hardeman |
| 05-03-1978 | traded Oakland's #10 pick and Tampa's #11 pick in the 1978 draft to Steelers for Ernie Holmes |
| 05-10-1978 | traded Tampa's #4 pick in the 1979 draft to Lions for Rockne Freitas |
| 07-05-1978 | traded Council Rudolph to Dolphins for Miami's #8 pick in the 1979 draft |
| 07-06-1978 | traded Tampa's #10 pick in the 1979 draft to 49ers for Jim O'Bradovich |
| 07-19-1978 | claimed Robert Watts on waivers from Saints |
| 07-21-1978 | Packers claimed Allan Leavitt on waivers |
| 07-23-1978 | claimed Kurt Schumacher on waivers from 49ers |
| 07-27-1978 | traded Robert Watts to Bills for future considerations |
| 08-04-1978 | traded Tampa's #4 pick in the 1980 draft to Chargers for Booker Brown |
| 08-13-1978 | traded Don Hardeman to Colts for Baltimore's #3 pick in the 1979 draft |
| 08-25-1978 | Packers claimed Willie Taylor on waivers |
| 08-29-1978 | claimed Jerry Anderson on waivers from Bengals |
| 08-29-1978 | Vikings claimed Paul Harris on waivers |
| 09-1978 | sent Tampa's #3 pick in the 1979 draft to Dolphins as compensation for free agent Randy Crowder |
| 09-11-1978 | placed Jeff Winans on injured reserve |
| 09-11-1978 | placed Jerry Anderson on injured reserve |
| 09-11-1978 | placed Mike Boryla on injured reserve |
| 09-11-1978 | traded Tampa's #3 pick in the 1981 draft to Rams for Greg Horton |
| 09-12-1978 | traded Tampa's #5 picks in the 1980 and 1981 drafts to Raiders for Mike Rae |
| 10-10-1978 | traded Tampa's #7 pick in the 1979 draft to Redskins for Frank Grant |
| 10-19-1978 | placed Alvis Darby on injured reserve |
1978 Regular Season Game Log: Click on the date to view the game summary. Date Opponent Result Record 09/02/78 vs New York Giants L 13-19 0-1-0 09/09/78 vs Detroit Lions L 7-15 0-2-0 09/17/78 at Minnesota Vikings W 16-10 1-2-0 09/24/78 vs Atlanta Falcons W 14-9 2-2-0 10/01/78 vs Minnesota Vikings L 7-24 2-3-0 10/08/78 at Kansas City Chiefs W 30-13 3-3-0 10/15/78 at New York Giants L 14-17 3-4-0 10/22/78 vs Chicago Bears W 33-19 4-4-0 10/29/78 at Green Bay Packers L 7-9 4-5-0 11/05/78 at Los Angeles Rams L 23-26 4-6-0 11/12/78 at Detroit Lions L 23-34 4-7-0 11/19/78 vs Buffalo Bills W 31-10 5-7-0 11/26/78 at Chicago Bears L 3-14 5-8-0 12/03/78 vs Green Bay Packers L 7-17 5-9-0 12/10/78 at San Francisco 49ers L 3-6 5-10-0 12/17/78 vs New Orleans Saints L 10-17 5-11-0