While Vikings fans were having flashbacks to the days of Blair Walsh missing chip shots at critical moments, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were flashing back to about 4 weeks ago when the offense was last in sync like it was on Sunday. The Buccaneers overcame a rocky start to take care of the Vikings at home 26-14.
Slow Start
If you want to talk slow starts, there is no better place to start than the Bucs Vikings game on Sunday. The game was scoreless after one quarter. Then, things started to pick up in the second. After taking a long 8-minute drive into the second quarter, Dalvin Cook punched it from a yard out. Cook ran for 102 yards in this one. As aforementioned, Vikings fans had flashbacks to some bad misses on kicks from Blair Walsh in this one. In an attempt to keep Vikings fans reading, we won’t delve too deep into those flashbacks. But we will say that Dan Bailey missed the extra point. Spoiler alert, this wouldn’t be the worst miss he would have on the day. Because, after the Vikings defense forced a three and out, Dan Bailey missed a chip shot 36-yard field goal. That’s all the opportunity the Buccaneers needed to blow this game open.
It’s not about how you start, It’s about how you finish!
The Bucs went down the field quite quickly after that. They only needed four plays to get into the endzone, as the drive was capped off by a 48-yard touchdown pass from Tom Brady to Scotty Miller. Brady threw for 196 yards and lobbed 2 touchdown passes on the day. Then, as if things could not get worse, the Vikings drove down the field, only to have Bailey miss a 54 yarder.
The Buccaneers then proceeded to 56 yards down the field in a little under 4 minutes to score 7. The drive was capped off after a pass interference call in the endzone put Ronald Jones in prime position to get on the board with a 1-yard scamper. Jones went for 80 yards today on 18 carries. The extra point was good this time by Ryan Succop, and the score was 7-6 Buccaneers. With 44 seconds left in the first half, the half should have been over in retrospect.
But, after the Vikings went three and out and gave it back to the Buccaneers with 21 seconds to go, Tom Brady lobbed one to Rob Gronkowski, who drew a pass interference call with zero seconds left. If you know how the football rules work, you can’t end a half of football on a defensive penalty. So, the Bucs took a short 18-yard field goal. The score was 17-6 at the half.
Capitalizing on missed opportunities
In the second half, both teams traded touchdowns to start. The Buccaneers struck first with a nice strike to Gronk in the endzone by Brady. Then, after Kirk Cousins terrorized the Buccaneers defense on his way down the field, he decided to end off the 15 play drive with a dime to Irv Smith Jr in the endzone. The drive lasted over 8 minutes. Knowing they needed to go for two to make it a one-score game, they went for two. This had to also be due to trying to avoid having to bring out Dan Bailey once more. Kirk Cousins lofted one to Justin Jefferson to convert on the two-point conversion and cut the lead down to 8.
The Buccaneers were held to a three and out, which meant the Vikings would get it back with a chance to tie the game at 23. They didn’t quite get the chance to score 6, but they had a chance to take 3. But, Dan Bailey had been off all game, so his attempt from 46 yards away was not even close, as it slid ever so emphatically to the right. After that, the game was pretty much out of reach. Brady got the ball back, up 23-15. He put the game to rest by leading a drive that ended up putting three points on the board courtesy of a 48 yarder from Ryan Succop. Jason Pierre Paul was able to strip the ball from Kirk Cousins and recover it to ice the game. Cousins ended this one throwing for 225 yards and one touchdown.
