The 1992 Tampa Bay Buccaneers season was the franchise's seventeenth season in the National Football League (NFL). It was the first season of Sam Wyche's four-year spell as the Buccaneers' head coach. Wyche said before the season that he believed he could turn Vinny Testaverde into a great player.
Tampa Bay had lop-sided wins in the first two weeks, and looked like they would prove good the coach's words. They started the season 3–1 but then lost ten of the next eleven, starting with a ten-point loss to the Indianapolis Colts. Tampa's closest loss of the year was a four-point Week Thirteen loss to the Los Angeles Rams. Tampa Bay had a first half 27–3 lead, but the Rams scored 28 unanswered points to steal the win in what was the Bucs' only national television appearance (on ESPN Sunday Night Football). Coincidentally, there would be a playoff game in 2022 where the Buccaneers trailed the Los Angeles Rams, 27–3, and tied the game up with 24 unanswered points, only to lose, 30–27.
Special teams suffered too, especially from kickers such as Ken Willis making only eight of fourteen field goals. Reggie Cobb became only the third player in the team's history to rush for 1,000 yards in a season and Santana Dotson made the All-Rookie team. The Bucs finished the season the way they started it, with a win over the Phoenix Cardinals.
Statistics site Football Outsiders calculates that the 1992 Buccaneers had the worst special teams squad of the year, and fourth-worst all time (later having been recalibrated to seventh-worst all-time): "Tampa Bay actually got a solid year from punter Dan Stryzinski, but the return men were poor, the kickers were horrific, and the kick coverage was putrid. Ken Willis and Eddie Murray combined to go 12-for-22 on field goals, and they couldn't stop kicking the ball out of bounds. Willis kicked the first nine games of the season and hit it out of bounds five times. [...] Murray took over for the final seven games and didn't have a single touchback, while hitting it out of bounds three more times. He averaged only 55.5 yards per kickoff. The Bucs weren't the only other team with a single-digit touchback total, but at least the others – New England, Green Bay, and the New York Giants – had the excuse of playing in cold weather."
NFL draft
Pick Round Player Position School 44 Round 2Courtney HawkinsWide ReceiverMichigan State59Round 3Mark WheelerDefensive TackleTexas A&M79Round 3Tyji ArmstrongTight EndOle Miss86Round 4Craig EricksonQuarterbackMiami (FL)118Round 5Rogerick GreenDefensive BackKansas State132Round 5Santana DotsonDefensive EndBaylor148Round 6James MaloneLinebackerUCLA184Round 7Ken SwillingDefensive BackGeorgia Tech200Round 8Anthony McDowellRunning BackTexas Tech222Round 8Mike PawlawskiQuarterbackCalifornia254Round 10Elijah AlexanderLinebackerKansas State284Round 11Mazio RoysterRunning BackUSC311Round 12Klaus WilmsmeyerPunterLouisville
The Buccaneers' first-round pick had previously been traded to the Indianapolis Colts in return for quarterback Chris Chandler, and was eventually used to select Quentin Coryatt.
Personnel
Staff 1992 Tampa Bay Buccaneers staffFront 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 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 – Ray Oliver Strength and conditioning assistant – Dennis Green
Roster
Regular season
Schedule Regular seasonWeek Date Opponent Result Game site Record Attendance 1 September 6 Phoenix Cardinals W 23–7 Tampa Stadium 1–0 41,315 2 September 13 Green Bay Packers W 31–3 Tampa Stadium 2–0 50,051 3 September 20 at Minnesota Vikings L 26–20 Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome 2–1 48,113 4 September 27 at Detroit Lions W 27–23 Pontiac Silverdome 3–1 51,374 5 October 4 Indianapolis Colts L 24–14 Tampa Stadium 3–2 56,585 6 Bye 7 October 18 at Chicago Bears L 31–14 Soldier Field 3–3 61,412 8 October 25 Detroit Lions L 38–7 Tampa Stadium 3–4 53,995 9 November 1 at New Orleans Saints L 23–21 Louisiana Superdome 3–5 68,591 10 November 8 Minnesota Vikings L 35–7 Tampa Stadium 3–6 49,095 11 November 15 Chicago Bears W 20–17 Tampa Stadium 4–6 69,102 12 November 22 at San Diego Chargers L 29–14 Jack Murphy Stadium 4–7 43,197 13 November 29 at Green Bay Packers L 19–14 Milwaukee County Stadium 4–8 52,347 14 December 6 Los Angeles Rams L 31–27 Tampa Stadium 4–9 38,387 15 December 13 Atlanta Falcons L 35–7 Tampa Stadium 4–10 39,056 16 December 19 at San Francisco 49ers L 21–14 Candlestick Park 4–11 60,519 17 at Phoenix Cardinals W 7–3 Sun Devil Stadium 5–11 29,645 Notes: Division opponents in bold text
Standings
Notes
References