A rare game has been added to the Bucstop.com Vault yesterday, as the 1988 Bucs season is now complete with all 16 games in collection.
The game is the 1988 season finale, Detroit at Tampa Bay. The significance, if there is one back in ’88, is that this was a time Bucs fans thought the team was finally turning it around.
New Head Coach Ray Perkins started out strong in 1987, but the team floundered, so he turned the offense over to Vinny Testaverde. Vinny started out 1988 by throwing Interception after Interception. He had 35 on the year! But in week 14 something happened; the team started to play.
They upset the AFC East champs Buffalo Bills at home 10-5 on a Goal Line stand. Then they went up to fridid New England who was only 3 years removed from a Super Bowl appearance, and played the Pats to a 7-7 tie in regulation before Ray Perkins won the OT coin toss and elected to kick off. NE went down and scored and won 10-7.
Then came this game, with the Bucs beating Detroit 21-10, winning 2 of 3 games, and looking good defensively, it looked like the Bucs had turned the corner, and were on the way to re-capturing some of its winning ways from the early 80s.
The 89 season started out similar, but against Detroit at home, a 4th quarter collapse started a losing streak the Bucs never recovered from. In the end, a brilliant start ended up being yet another 5-11 season. But this game records some happy Bucs memories in those dark days.
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