On December 6, 1987, a game was played between 2 clubs who meet on this week’s NFL schedule – the New Orleans Saints and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. That game will be our feature for this week’s Throwback Thursday. Coach Jim Mora’s Saints, at 8-3, were fighting for a playoff spot while the Bucs were languishing in a losing season. New Orleans looked to take the fight out of their opponent as quarterback Bobby Hebert and tight end John Tice hooked up on a pair of short touchdown passes in the first quarter to jump out to a 14-0 lead. Bucs’ QB Vinny Testaverde worked his way into the end zone from a yard out to give Tampa their first score. New Orleans, obviously proving to be the better team, started the second quarter the same as they did the first. This time their running game finished drives, as Rueben Mayes scored on a 7 yard run and Dalton Hilliard pranced in from 3 yards out. The Bucs managed a field goal before the half to cut the Saints’ lead to 28-10, but the game appeared to be all but over when New Orleans added 2 more scores – a 40 yard Morten Andersen field goal and a 2 yard Mayes rushing TD, to move ahead 38-10.
Tampa Bay was not about to roll over and play dead yet, however. Testaverde found Mark Carrier for a 37 yard touchdown pass, and Donald Igwebuike booted a 43 yard field goal to cut the deficit to 38-20 after 3 quarters. Andersen stemmed the tide with another field goal but Testaverde went back to work and tossed a 12 yard touchdown pass to Bruce Hill. Now leading 41-27, Andersen finished the Saints’ scoring with another three pointer. Still not finished battling, the Bucs drove to another touchdown behind Testaverde, this one completed by a 2 yard Bobby Howard run. A loss is a loss, and the defeat lowered Tampa’s season record to 4-8, but the team’s effort to shorten the final score to 44-34 was valiant. Testaverde wound up throwing for 369 yards, while Carrier had a career day with 8 receptions for 212 yards and his TD. This Saints’ victory officially qualified them for the playoffs for the first time in franchise history, but they wound up being blown out 44-10 in the wild card round by Minnesota.
Coach Jim Mora, architect of the Saints’ first playoff team