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Bucs' Stroughter earns weekly NFC honor for TD return

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By ROY CUMMINGS | The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 21, 2009

Updated: 10/21/2009 12:34 pm

TAMPA - Tampa Bay Buccaneers rookie Sammie Stroughter is the NFC's special teams player of the week.

Stroughter returned a kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown in Sunday's 28-21 loss to the Carolina Panthers. He finished with three kick returns for 142 yards.

"With any kind of return, you've got to get through two or three people; you have to make one or two miss to have an effective return," Stroughter said Wednesday. "But the guys did a great job of putting hats on guys and getting blocks and opening it up. It was one of those deals where I said, 'I'm not getting stopped. No way.' "

A receiver drafted in the seventh round, Stroughter filled in for Pro Bowl returner Clifton Smith, who sustained a concussion earlier in the game when Carolina's Dante Wesley hit him illegally while Smith attempted to field a punt.

Wesley was fined $36,000 and suspended one game for his hit on a relatively defenseless Smith, who suffered a concussion and remains questionable for this week's game against the Patriots in London.

Smith was on Stroughter's mind during the touchdown return.

"I could hear him coaching me up as I'm going through the whole thing," Stroughter said. "He's out there and I'm shadowing him, doing different things, trying to see what he sees. I'm a reflection of him when I'm out there."

Stroughter is the third player in franchise history to return a kickoff for a touchdown. His 97-yarder late in the third quarter matched the team record set by Smith last season against Kansas City.

Micheal Spurlock became the first Bucs player to return a kickoff for a touchdown in 2007, ending the franchise's 31-season drought.

Stroughter's award marks the 24th time in team history, first this season, a Bucs players earned the NFC honor.

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