1993 Tampa Bay Buccaneers season

The 1993 Tampa Bay Buccaneers season was the franchise's 18th season in the National Football League. The Buccaneers wore the initial Mr. C on the right side of the sleeve ends of the jerseys in honor of their owner Hugh Culver house who was battling cancer who then died after the 1993 season.

1993 Tampa Bay Buccaneers season
Owner	Hugh Culverhouse
Head coach	Sam Wyche
General manager	Rich McKay
Home field	Tampa Stadium
Results
Record	5–11
Division place	5th NFC Central
Playoff finish	Did not qualify
Pro Bowlers	MLB Hardy Nickerson
AP All-Pros	MLB Hardy Nickerson
Team MVP	MLB Hardy Nickerson

1993 was mostly seen as a rebuilding year for coach Sam Wyche[1] who moved on without Vinny Testaverde and went with young quarterback Craig Erickson, another University of Miami alumnus who won a national championship as their quarterback. He had a solid 3054 passing yards. The Bucs lost five of their first six games on the way to a 5-11 season.

The 1993 Buccaneers have the distinction of being the only team in NFL history to have played eleven games against teams that would go on to make the playoffs;[2] the Buccaneers were 3–8 in these games.

In his first season with the team, Hardy Nickerson set a Buccaneer record with 214 tackles.

Offseason

NFL Draft

Prior to the season they drafted John Lynch who would become one of the most popular players of all time in Tampa.

Pick	Round	Player	Position	School
6	Round 1	Eric Curry	Defensive End	Alabama
34	Round 2	Demetrius DuBose	Linebacker	Notre Dame
60	Round 3	Lamar Thomas	Wide Receiver	Miami
82	Round 3	John Lynch	Defensive Back	Stanford
91	Round 4	Rudy Harris	Running Back	Clemson
104	Round 4	Horace Copeland	Wide Receiver	Miami
145	Round 6	Chidi Ahanotu	Defensive Tackle	California
176	Round 7	Tyree Davis	Wide Receiver	Central Arkansas
220	Round 8	Darrick Branch	Wide Receiver	Hawaii
224	Round 8	Daron Alcorn	Kicker	Akron

Daron Alcorn was the last player selected in the draft, commonly referred to as "Mr. Irrelevant".

Personnel

Staff

1993 Tampa Bay Buccaneers staff
Front Office Owner – Hugh Culverhouse President – Gay Culverhouse Vice President of Football Administration – Rich McKay Director of Player Personnel – Jerry Angelo Director of College Scouting – Tim Ruskell Head Coaches Head Coach/Director of Football Operations – Sam Wyche Offensive Coaches Quarterbacks – Turk Schonert Running Backs – Willie Peete Wide Receivers – Harold Jackson Offensive Line – Bob Wylie Offensive Assistant – Jeff FitzGerald			Defensive Coaches Defensive Coordinator – Floyd Peters Defensive Line – Eddie Khayat Linebackers – Maxie Baughan Defensive Backs – Steve Shafer Defensive Assistant – Jeff FitzGerald Special Teams Coaches Special Teams/Tight Ends – George Stewart Strength and Conditioning Strength and Conditioning – Brad Roll

[3]

Roster

1993 Tampa Bay Buccaneers final roster

	Quarterbacks  7 Craig Erickson 13 Mark Vlasic 11 Casey Weldon Running backs 40 Gary Anderson KR 34 Reggie Cobb 37 Anthony McDowell 33 Mazio Royster Wide receivers 81 Robert Claiborne 89 Shawn Collins 88 Horace Copeland 85 Courtney Hawkins 84 Charles Wilson Tight ends 86 Tyji Armstrong 82 Ron Hall		Offensive linemen 62 Ian Beckles G 76 Scott Dill T/G 74 Paul Gruber T 79 Sean Love G 61 Tony Mayberry C 70 Charles McRae T/G 67 Mike Sullivan T 72 Rob Taylor T Defensive linemen 90 Chidi Ahanotu DE 75 Eric Curry DE 71 Santana Dotson DT 95 Eric Hayes DE 92 Shawn Price DE 98 Ray Seals DE 77 Mark Wheeler DT 96 Bernard Wilson DT		Linebackers 53 Ed Brady 55 Darrick Brownlow MLB 50 Reggie Burnette 93 Demetrius DuBose 56 Hardy Nickerson MLB 51 Broderick Thomas OLB 59 Jimmy Williams OLB Defensive backs 23 Marty Carter FS 24 Roger Jones CB 41 Joe King FS 47 John Lynch FS 21 Milton Mack CB 35 Martin Mayhew CB 29 Ricky Reynolds CB Special teams  5 Michael Husted K  4 Dan Stryzinski P		Reserve lists 25 Tony Covington SS (IR) 80 Lawrence Dawsey WR (IR) 64 Timothy Thomas Ryan G (IR) Practice squad Rookies in italics

Regular season

Schedule

Regular season
Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Kickoff^[a]	Game site	TV	Attendance	Record
1	September 5, 1993	Kansas City Chiefs	L 27–3	1:00	Tampa Stadium	NBC	63,378*	0–1
2	September 12, 1993	at New York Giants	L 23–7	1:00	Giants Stadium	CBS	75,891	0–2
3	Bye
4	September 26, 1993	at Chicago Bears	L 47–17	1:00	Soldier Field	CBS	58,329	0–3
5	October 3, 1993	Detroit Lions	W 27–10	1:00	Tampa Stadium	CBS	40,794*	1–3
6	October 10, 1993	at Minnesota Vikings	L 15–0	1:00	Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome	CBS	54,215	1–4
7	Bye
8	October 24, 1993	Green Bay Packers	L 37–14	1:00	Tampa Stadium	CBS	47,354*	1–5
9	October 31, 1993	at Atlanta Falcons	W 31–24	1:00	Georgia Dome	CBS	50,647	2–5
10	November 7, 1993	at Detroit Lions	L 23–0	1:00	Pontiac Silverdome	CBS	65,295	2–6
11	November 14, 1993	San Francisco 49ers	L 45–21	1:00	Tampa Stadium	CBS	43,835*	2–7
12	November 21, 1993	Minnesota Vikings	W 23–10	8:00	Tampa Stadium	ESPN	40,848*	3–7
13	November 28, 1993	at Green Bay Packers	L 13–10	1:00	Lambeau Field	CBS	56,995	3–8
14	December 5, 1993	Washington Redskins	L 23–17	1:00	Tampa Stadium	CBS	49,035*	3–9
15	December 12, 1993	Chicago Bears	W 13–10	1:00	Tampa Stadium	CBS	56,667*	4–9
16	December 19, 1993	at Los Angeles Raiders	L 27–20	4:00	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum	CBS	40,532	4–10
17	December 26, 1993	at Denver Broncos	W 17–10	4:00	Mile High Stadium	CBS	73,434	5–10
18	January 2, 1994	San Diego Chargers	L 32–17	4:00	Tampa Stadium	NBC	35,587*	5–11

Notes:

^a All times in North American Eastern Time. (UTC–4 and UTC–5 during Standard Time)

• = blacked out locally

Standings

NFC Central
	W	L	T	PCT	PF	PA	STK
^(3) Detroit Lions	10	6	0	.625	298	292	W2
^(5) Minnesota Vikings	9	7	0	.563	277	290	W3
^(6) Green Bay Packers	9	7	0	.563	340	282	L1
Chicago Bears	7	9	0	.438	234	230	L4
Tampa Bay Buccaneers	5	11	0	.313	237	376	L1

References

1. Williams, Charean (6 December 1994). "Victories Have Wyche Wishing For More Time". Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved 7 December 2013.
2. Tampa Bay played Detroit, Minnesota and Green Bay twice each, as well as Giants, 49ers, Chiefs, Raiders and Broncos: Pro-Football-Reference.com: In a single season, from 1940 to 2011, in the regular season, in games against playoff teams only, sorted by most games in season matching criteria
3. 2009 Tampa Bay Buccaneers Media Guide. pp. 44–46. Archived from the original on 2010-03-15. Retrieved 2010-04-12.