Tampa Bay Proves Point, 10-5 : Testaverde’s Touchdown Run Hands Bills Second Straight Loss

Coach Ray Perkins has been saying that Tampa Bay has been making progress despite its record and for once the Buccaneers proved it.

Vinny Testaverde ran 4 yards for the only touchdown and the Buccaneers handed the AFC East champion Buffalo Bills their second straight loss, 10-5, Sunday.

“I told the team last night that I’d like to be sitting in my den watching the Super Bowl and having a lot of satisfaction that we beat that team in the third to last game of the season,” Perkins said.

“This win shows we are not, in fact, as far away as we seem from being a competitive football team.

Tampa Bay (4-10) beat a team that will finish the season with a winning record for the first time since its 20-17 victory over the New York Giants on Nov. 11, 1984.

Testaverde, who completed 12 of 29 passes for 156 yards, didn’t have a turnover for the first time this season. He has thrown 31 pass interceptions, most in the NFL.

“After all the crap that Vinny Testaverde has received, and I haven’t seen the stats, he played one of the greatest games I’ve ever seen a quarterback play against a really fine football team that was coming after him with real bullets,” Perkins said.

Tampa Bay stopped the Bills (11-3), who lost their second straight game, with a third-quarter goal-line stand and intercepted Jim Kelly’s pass to stop a Buffalo drive in the final minute.

Buffalo may have given away the homefield advantage throughout the playoffs to Cincinnati (11-3), which beat the Bills, 35-21, last week.

“We have to go back and regroup and play better,” said Bills Coach Marv Levy, whose team clinched the AFC East title 3 weeks ago. “We made our share of mistakes and they had none.”

John Carney’s 29-yard field goal gave Tampa Bay a 3-0 lead midway through the second quarter and Testaverde’s touchdown made it 10-0 with 1:40 left in the half.

Buffalo, which had the ball for less than 10 minutes of the first half, began to move after Bruce Smith sacked Testaverde for a safety early in the third quarter.

After Ray Criswell’s free kick, Kelly directed a drive from his own 49 to the Tampa Bay 1, but the Buccaneers’ Ervin Randle stopped Robb Riddick for no gain on fourth and goal.

Buffalo’s Scott Norwood kicked a 30-yard field goal with 13:33 left, but it wasn’t enough.