MONDAY NIGHT/WEEKEND NOTES

FOR USE AS DESIRED		FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION,
NFL-45 9/4/03		CONTACT: MICHAEL SIGNORA (212/450-2076)

MONDAY NIGHT: NFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME REMATCH

AS BUCS VISIT EAGLES

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will make a return trip to the City of Brotherly Love this Monday night as the defending Super Bowl champions square off against the Philadelphia Eagles on ABC’s NFL Monday Night Football.

The teams last met in the 2002 NFC Championship Game in Philadelphia in January, with the Buccaneers earning a 27-10 victory to advance to Super Bowl XXXVII. But as Buccaneers head coach JON GRUDEN is quick to point out, that was last season – and in another stadium (Veterans). The Eagles will open their new home, Lincoln Financial Field, before Monday’s national television audience.

“Last year is over, it’s under the bridge now,” says Gruden. “It’s the opening game of the season. Spirits are high everywhere. This game is going to be exciting. It’s going to be a great crowd, it’s going to be loud and it’s going to be a lot of fun.”

PROFICIENT UNDER CENTER: Quarterbacks DONOVAN MC NABB of Philadelphia and BRAD JOHNSON of Tampa Bay take pride in rarely throwing interceptions. Perhaps that goes a long way toward explaining why both are among the NFL’s winningest quarterbacks. A look at the NFL all-time leaders in interception percentage, and the active quarterbacks with the highest winning percentage:

ALL-TIME				ALL-TIME				ACTIVE
QB	INT Pct.	Att.	INT.	QB	INT Pct.	Att.	INT.	QB	Winning Pct.
N. O’Donnell	2.09	3,202	67	R. Gannon	2.50	3,913	98	K. Warner	.714 (35-14)
J. Garcia	2.18	1,968	43	J. Montana	2.58	5,391	139	J. Fiedler	.690 (29-13)
*D. McNabb*	*2.32*	*1,639*	38	S. Young	2.58	4,149	107	B. Favre	.665 (115-58)
M. Brunell	2.42	3,561	86	B. Kosar	2.59	3,365	87	*D. McNabb*	*.646 (31-17)*
S. Bono	2.47	1,701	42	*B. Johnson*	*2.61*	*2,831*	74	*B. Johnson*	*.646 (51-28)*

- NFL KICKOFF 2003 -

DOMINATING DEFENSES: The prowess of the 2002 Tampa Bay defense has been well documented, but since the 2000 season, Philadelphia’s “D” also has been among the NFL’s best. How the Buccaneers and Eagles compare in key defensive categories, with their NFL ranking, over the past three seasons (2000-02).

Team	Points Allowed	Opp. Pass Yards	Takeaways	Sacks	Opp. Pass. Rating
Philadelphia	694 (1)	8,948 (4)	102 (7)	151 (2)	71.3 (5)
Tampa Bay	745 (2)	8,593 (1)	118 (1)	140 (4)	59.8 (1)

- NFL KICKOFF 2003 -

WARNER’S 50TH START: St. Louis Rams quarterback KURT WARNER will make his 50th career start on Sunday against the New York Giants. Warner has 1,078 completions in his 49 starts and needs two to pass DREW BLEDSOE (1,079) for most completions by a quarterback in his first 50 starts (since 1970). How Warner – through 49 games -- ranks in some key passing categories among quarterbacks after 50 career starts:

QB	Comp.	QB	TDs.	QB	300-Yd Games	QB	Yards	QB	Comp. Pct.
D. Bledsoe	1,079	D. Marino	116	K. Warner	29	K. Warner	14,030	K. Warner	66.9
K. Warner	1,078	K. Warner	101	D. Marino	19	D. Marino	13,737	J. Montana	63.5
P. Manning	1,059	D. Krieg	91	B. Esiason	13	P. Manning	12,939	Brian Griese	62.6
B. Favre	1,058	P. Manning	91	M. Brunell	13	T. Green	12,237	J. Garcia	62.5
D. Marino	1,037	J. Garcia	86	5 Tied	12	K. O’Brien	12,134	B. Favre	62.0