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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Bucs Oust Lions Tampa Bay Stops Sanders, Dominates Offensive Play

Associated Press

The Big Sombrero rocked, and so did the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The Buccaneers celebrated their return to the playoffs after a 15-year absence Sunday, shutting down Barry Sanders and playing with the poise of postseason veterans in a 20-10 victory over the Detroit Lions.

Trent Dilfer threw a 9-yard scoring pass to Horace Copeland, Mike Alstott scored on a 31-yard run and Michael Husted kicked two field goals for Tampa Bay, which hadn’t won a playoff game since 1979.

The victory, in the Bucs’ first home playoff game since 1979, sends them to Green Bay next Sunday for a third meeting this season against the defending Super Bowl champion.

“If we can match their physicality and their emotion, we can go up there and win,” Dilfer said.

The Packers swept the season series between the NFC Central rivals and have won nine of 10 games against Tampa Bay in the past five years.

The Lions dedicated their postseason to linebacker Reggie Brown, who had spinal neck surgery after being injured in last week’s regular-season finale, and wore his “59” on their helmets in tribute.

Detroit also lost quarterback Scott Mitchell to a concussion late in the third quarter, leaving backup Frank Reich to lead the Lions back from a 20-0 deficit.

Mitchell was kept overnight in St. Jospeh’s Hospital for observation.

Sanders, the NFL’s co-MVP with Green Bay’s Brett Favre, became the third player to rush for more than 2,000 yards in a season. But he had only 65 on 18 carries Sunday, the first time since Tampa Bay held him to 20 yards in Week 2 he didn’t gain at least 100.

“We’ve come a long way,” coach Tony Dungy said. “I’m so proud of these guys coming from five wins to the playoffs in one year.”

Tampa Bay didn’t have a starter on offense with any previous playoff experience. Yet it was the Bucs who were moving the ball early. Dilfer’s touchdown pass to Copeland capped an 89-yard drive that lasted nearly nine minutes, and Husted’s second field goal made 13-0.

The Bucs held a better than 2-1 advantage in time of possession in the opening half, while outgaining the Lions 198-52. xxxx Buccaneers 20, Lions 10 Detroit 0 0 3 7 10 Tampa Bay 3 10 7 0 20 First quarter TBFG Husted 22, 5:25. Second quarter TB-Copeland 9 pass from Dilfer (Husted kick), 10:24. TB-FG Husted 42, 6:49. Third quarter TB-Alstott 31 run (Husted kick), 11:06. Det-FG Hanson 33, :28. Fourth quarter Det-Vardell 1 run (Hanson kick), 7:48. A-73,361.

Det TB First downs 18 15 Rushes-yards 27-109 32-141 Passing 198 175 Punt Returns 2-5 2-8 Kickoff Returns 5-140 3-52 Interceptions Ret. 1-2 1-19 Comp-Att-Int 21-40-1 13-26-1 Sacked-Yards Lost 2-9 2-6 Punts 4-38.0 5-40.4 Fumbles-Lost 1-0 2-1 Penalties-Yards 4-20 4-25 Time of Possession 28:23 31:37

Individual statistics RUSHING-Detroit, Sanders 18-65, Mitchell 4-20, Rivers 1-17, Reich 1-5, Vardell 2-1, Jett 1-1. Tampa Bay, Dunn 18-72, Alstott 11-68, Anthony 1-1, Dilfer 2-0. PASSING-Detroit, Mitchell 10-25-1-78, Reich 11-15-0-129. Tampa Bay, Dilfer 13-26-1-181. RECEIVING-Detroit, Morton 7-69, Sanders 5-43, Moore 4-44, Boyd 2-11, Scroggins 1-19, Vardell 1-12, Sloan 1-9. Tampa Bay, Anthony 3-62, Dunn 3-0, R.Thomas 2-66, Copeland 2-14, Williams 1-23, Alstott 1-12, Harris 1-4. MISSED FIELD GOALS-None.