Minnesota Vikings vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Full Report Card Grades for Vikings
It certainly wasn't the prettiest win in Minnesota Vikings' history, but rookie linebacker Anthony Barr's overtime heroics kept it from being among the ugliest of losses.
Barr stripped Tampa Bay's Austin Seferian-Jenkins after a 10-yard reception on the first play of overtime and then scooped up the ball and took it 27 yards for the game-winning score in the Vikings 20-13 win over the Buccaneers.
The Vikings defense dominated the Buccaneers offense for most of the afternoon, but once again wilted late in the fourth quarter.
Tampa Bay had gained only 154 yards of offense before mounting a nine-play, 71-yard drive that was capped off by a seven-yard touchdown pass from Mike Glennon to Seferian-Jenkins that gave the Buccaneers their only lead of the day with just over two minutes left in the game.
Barr's fellow first-round draft pick, Teddy Bridgewater, then led the Vikings on a nine-play, 61-yard drive that culminated with Blair Walsh's 38-yard field goal that sent the game into overtime.
Minnesota lost the overtime coin toss, but it didn't matter after Barr ended things quickly in the extra session.
Barr might have already graduated from his star-in-the-making status after the ninth overall choice in the 2014 draft scored the winning touchdown to cap off an afternoon where he racked up eight tackles, had a sack, a pass defensed and a forced fumble.
It wasn't a great day for the Vikings offense, but they did enough to get the win.
After a pitiful offensive performance from both teams saw the Vikings go to the half with a 3-0 lead, Bridgewater hit Greg Jennings with a 17-yard touchdown pass midway through the third quarter to put Minnesota up 10-0.
That looked like it might be enough as the Buccaneers offense looked like they were playing in potato sacks for most of the afternoon.
The Buccaneers finally started moving the ball in the fourth quarter, though, and inched closer with a pair of field goals before they took the lead on Glennon's touchdown pass to Seferian-Jenkins.
It was another gut punch for the Vikings defense, but it quickly made up for it by winning the game in overtime.
The Vikings move to 3-5 on the season and Tampa Bay falls to 1-6.
Quarterback
1 of 10
For Vikings' rookie quarterback Teddy Bridgewater, the final numbers from Sunday's 20-13 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers weren't great, but in the end they don't matter.
What does matter is that during the Vikings final drive in regulation, when they needed three points to send the game to overtime, Bridgewater was 5-of-8 for 54 yards.
The biggest completion of the day was a 12-yard pass to tight end Chase Ford that moved the Vikings from the Tampa Bay 31 to the 19-yard line with under 10 seconds left and reduced Blair Walsh's game-tying field goal from 50 to 38 yards.
Bridgewater found Cordarrelle Patterson, Greg Jennings, Jarius Wright and Ford twice on the final drive. He moved Minnesota down the field with poise and confidence, and his calm demeanor seemed to rub off on his teammates.
Bridgewater finished the afternoon 24-of-42 for for 241 yards and a touchdown, with no interceptions and just one sack.
There were certainly some rough patches and poor throws, but the victory obviously makes them easier to forget.
Sometimes you need a little luck to win football games, and Bridgewater and the Vikings certainly had some, when Buccaneers cornerback Jonthan Banks dropped an interception that could have clinched the game for Tampa Bay. Bridgewater had an interesting take on Banks' miscue, per Matt Vensel of the Star Tribune.
"Teddy Bridgewater on the late pick dropped by Johnthan Banks: "That's why they play defensive back."
— Matt Vensel (@mattvensel) October 26, 2014"
Bridgewater was given more time to throw on Sunday, and he played better because of it. He still stared down too many receivers and waited too long to make some throws, but once again, a win is a win and in the end the numbers don't matter.
A great sign is that once again, Bridgewater seemed to get better as the game wore on and was clutch during the one drive where he absolutely had to be.
Grade: C+
Running Back
2 of 10
Rookie running back Jerick McKinnon continued to impress on Sunday against the Buccaneers, rushing for 83 yards on 16 carries.
McKinnon had one of the Vikings' best offensive plays of the day when he weaved in and out of Buccaneer defenders on a 28-yard run in the third quarter.
After that carry, McKinnon touched the ball three more times on the day and finished with 83 yards on 16 carries, while Matt Asiata had six total touches and for carries for just one yard.
"At this point, playing Asiata instead of McKinnon should get the Vikings fined for tanking.
— Jim Souhan (@SouhanStrib) October 26, 2014"
We'll get to the Vikings' use of their two backs more in the coaching slide later on.
McKinnon averaged 5.2 yards a carry on Sunday is is beginning to look like a steal as a third-round draft pick. He runs with a nice bounce to his gait and is able to shrug off tacklers while changing speed and direction.
Asiata' usefulness as running back continues to diminish. He needs a hole to gain anything, and his lack of quickness or elusiveness is glaringly obvious behind a struggling offensive line.
He has, however, become a very good option catching passes out of the backfield. Sunday he caught four passes for 26 yards and had another reception of 21 yards called back because of a Vikings penalty.
There are ways to use both of the Vikings running backs effectively, but it's clear that if they're going to run the ball, McKinnon is the one to whom they want to hand it.
Grade: B-
Wide Receiver and Tight End
3 of 10
In what may be one of the best developments of the Vikings' 20-13 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers is that wide receiver Cordarrelle Patterson was targeted 12 times, twice as many as any other Vikings receiver.
Patterson is the only wideout the Vikings have who might one day be a number one receiver.
While it's clear that Patterson is still struggling with how to get open, he made six catches for 86 yards on Sunday, two of the spectacular variety when he made catches near the sideline and got his feet down in bounds.
Patterson is probably the best athlete the Vikings have, and he's certainly their best playmaker with the ball in his hands, so they absolutely have to have him become a key cog in their passing game to get the most out of his abilities. What we still need to see is Patterson catching the ball on crossing routes when he can catch the ball in full stride and letting his running skills take over.
Greg Jennings had three catches for 38 yards, including a 17-yard touchdown that staked the Vikings to a 10-point lead in the third quarter. As Bridgewater gets more comfortable in the pocket, Jennings will become a more valuable commodity for the Vikings, as he should be able to catch plenty of balls in the six- to 12-yard range.
Tight end Chase Ford acted as Bridgewater's security blanket against Tampa Bay, catching all six balls that were thrown his way for 61 yards. As we mentioned earlier, Ford's 12-yard reception that set up Blair Walsh's game-tying field goal might have been the play that kept the Vikings season from careening off the rails.
Jarius Wright and Charles Johnson each had a pair of catches.
There's no doubt that Bridgewater's 18 incompletions are far too many. Some of those errant throws were on him, some on those protecting him and some on his receivers. It still looks like the Vikings check-down options have to do a better job of getting open quickly and making themselves available to Bridgewater.
Minnesota looks like it's working way too hard to gain little yardage on too many passing plays. Bridgewater goes into deep drops and hits backs or receivers on short passes that end up gaining only a yard or two.
It was a better performance by the Vikings receivers on Sunday, but there's still a long way to go.
Grade: B-
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Offensive Line
4 of 10
It's amazing how much better an offensive line can look when they go from playing two of the best defensive fronts in the league to one of the worst.
Bridgewater had been sacked 13 times against the Detroit Lions and the Buffalo Bills and the Buccaneers sacked him only once on Sunday and hit him jut five times.
The run blocking was spotty again but looked to be much improved over the last two weeks. The pass protection, while better, still wasn't great. Bridgewater did a better job of getting rid of the ball quickly, but he was too quickly under duress too many times.
The Vikings put up 332 yards which isn't near enough to win in the NFL on most Sundays.
Minnesota had 15 plays that were either rushes or completed passes that gained three yards or less. That's just too inconsequential plays.
While Minnesota's offensive line can be happy that Bridgewater was sacked only once, there were still too many occasions when defenders had an easy path the rookie signal-caller. Minnesota offensive tackle Matt Kalil completely whiffed on a block on Bucs linebacker Lavonte David early in the third quarter, but Bridgewater luckily threw the ball away before he got annihilated.
""We felt like we owed our 'D' one. They battled their butts off." #Vikings LG Charlie Johnson on driving for tying FG
— Brian Murphy (@murphPPress) October 26, 2014"
Johnson is absolutely right. The offense did owe the defense that drive. Credit the Vikings offensive line for digging in during that last drive, but it still has to play a lot better.
Grade: C
Defensive Line
5 of 10
The Vikings defensive line racked up four sacks and five quarterback hits against the Buccaneers in Week 8.
It dominated the Tampa Bay offensive line for almost the entire ballgame and forced five consecutive three-and-outs during one stretch.
Obviously, sacks don't tell the whole story of a defensive front's impact during a game. In fact, they barely tell half of it.
Minnesota's defensive line physically dominated Tampa Bay's offensive front all afternoon, limiting the Buccaneers to a measly 66 yards rushing on 23 carries, just 2.9 yards per rush.
While everyone up front played well for the Vikings, tackle Sharrif Floyd stood out and probably had his best day as a pro. Floyd stuffed the stat sheet with eight tackles, a sack, another quarterback hit and tackle for loss. Floyd and Linval Joseph bottled up the middle of the line all afternoon, and the Tampa Bay running backs never had much room to run.
Brian Robison has been close to notching a sack all year long, and he finally got one on Sunday. He added another quarterback hit and had three tackles, while continuing to make quarterbacks throw the ball before they want to.
Everson Griffen kept his sack tear going, picking up his eighth of the year, which ties a career high. He also had a quarterback hit, two tackles for loss and four tackles.
Tom Johnson picked up his fifth sack of the year, and Corey Wootton returned to the lineup and pitched in with three tackles. Rookie Shamar Stephen had two tackles and continued to be a force in the middle when spelling Floyd or Joseph.
Johnson, Wootton and Stephen give the Vikings defensive line the best depth it's had in years.
Grade: B+
Linebacker
6 of 10
As we said in the intro slide, rookie Anthony Barr's days as a star-to-be might be in the rearview mirror.
The 6'5", 255 pound rookie is an athletic wonder, combining size, speed and strength like very few players in the league. Barr was having another great game, with eight tackles, a sack and a pass defensed before the overtime.
Then he went and won the game.
On the first play of overtime, Mike Glennon hit tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins with 10-yard completion near the right sideline. Barr closed immediately and as he spun Seferian-Jenkins around, he ripped at the ball and had it loose before a huge hit by Harrison Smith popped it completely out.
Barr then scooped up the fumble and the former college running back at UCLA had no problem taking it 27 yards to the house for the game-winning score.
"That is the kind of splashy play that puts Anthony Barr into the conversation for Rookie Of The Year.
— Paul Charchian (@PaulCharchian) October 26, 2014"
"Anthony Barr makes a few “wow” plays each week. This one won the game.
— gregg rosenthal (@greggrosenthal) October 26, 2014"
Barr only played linebacker for two seasons in college and some draft experts worried that he was too raw to be taken early in the first round. The Vikings never doubted his skill, and they've been proven right probably even quicker than they imagined.
Barr has to be the leader in the clubhouse for Defensive Rookie of the Year at this point.
Chad Greenway again led Minnesota with nine tackles. Middle linebacker Jasper Brinkley had a so-so game, coming up with three tackles. Brinkley isn't noticeable enough for a middle linebacker, and it wouldn't be a huge surprise if he started to lose snaps as the season wears on.
A special shout-out goes to reserve Michael Mauti, who had the hit of the game and perhaps the season, when he exploded into Buccaneers return man Trindon Holliday with a hit that could probably heard down in Miami.
Grade: A+
Secondary
7 of 10
If the opposing offense only throws for 171 yards, your defensive secondary has done their job.
While it looked like a sort of underwhelming performance for the Vikings' defensive backs statistically, they were part of a defensive unit that completely shut down the Buccaneers offense.
Captain Munnerlyn had the first big play of the game when he ended Tampa Bay's first offensive series by intercepting a Mike Glennon pass that was intended for Mike Evans. Munnerlyn was active all day and led the Vikings defensive backs with four tackles.
Harrison Smith had a pretty quiet game for his standards, making three tackles and getting a quarterback hit before coming up with the game-changing hit, finishing off the fumble by Seferian-Jenkins that Barr returned for the game-winning touchdown.
The Vikings only had two passes defensed on the afternoon, one each Munnerlyn and Barr.
Xavier Rhodes continues to struggle in crunch time. Once again, he doesn't seem to know how to make plays on the ball. Tampa Bay took the lead late in the game when Glennon lofted a pass across the field to Seferian-Jenkins, who had gotten behind Rhodes and Barr.
It's one thing when Sammy Watkins beats you in the end zone; he's going to do that to a lot of guys over the next decade. It's another thing when a tight end gets behind you and you never even look for a pass that hangs in the air.
Rhodes is a tough, physical player, but he's got to become a better defender against the pass.
Grade: B
Special Teams
8 of 10
Vikings kicker Blair Walsh continues to be clutch and in a league where kickers can age coaches quicker than anything, Walsh is an excellent security blanket for the Vikings.
The Detroit Lions won their game on Sunday, but probably 75 percent of their fans thought Matt Prater was going to miss his game-winning kick.
Were there any Vikings fans doubting that Walsh would drill the 38-yard field goal on the last play of regulation to force overtime? Probably not.
One of the biggest plays of the game was Bridgewater hitting Chase Ford with a 12-yard gain that set up Walsh's game-tying kick, but most Vikings fans were probably comfortable with Walsh attempting a 50-yarder to tie.
Walsh missed a 56-yard attempt in the first quarter, which was probably a little surprising to many Minnesota fans. He had plenty of leg; it just sailed a bit left. You know you have a good kicker when he misses from 56 yards and you don't even think about questioning the coaches for attempting it.
It wasn't such a great day for punter Jeff Locke, who had eight kicks on the day for 44.8 yard average, which is decent enough, but he had three touchbacks that were pretty inexcusable and would have raised a lot more red flags if the Buccaneers offense wasn't so incompetent.
Again, no huge returns from Cordarrelle Patterson or Marcus Sherels, although Patterson had a 31-yard return that he came close to busting.
Another shout out to Michael Mauti, who, as we mentioned in the linebacker slide, had the hit of the season when he lit up Trindon Holliday on a punt return.
Grade: B-
Coaching
9 of 10
A win is a win and we'll first congratulate Mike Zimmer and his staff on a job well done.
Having said that, how on earth did it take overtime to beat a team that you dominated so thoroughly all afternoon?
Minnesota got away with one on Sunday and avoided what would have been one of the worst losses in team history.
We'll repeat what we wrote in the running back slide: McKinnon had one of the Vikings' best offensive plays of the day when he weaved in and out of Buccaneers' defenders on a 28-yard run in the third quarter.
After that carry, McKinnon touched the ball three more times on the day, while Matt Asiata had six touches.
The Vikings' last series of the third quarter was completely wasted with three straight carries by Asiata. Deep in their own territory, the running back had a gain of zero and then was thrown for a five-yard loss on a slow-developing sweep before getting those yards back on a third-down rush.
It's clear that the Vikings are set at this point on alternating series between their two backs, but the refusal to adjust on the fly and go with the hot hand is simply bull-headedness or poor coaching, take your pick.
If you picked both, you're right.
McKinnon had 16 carries and Asiata had four. Which means that McKinnon should have had 20. That's not a lot by any stretch of the imagination.
When you have a team playing as poorly as the Buccaneers, you have to throttle them, not kick a field goal to get into overtime. The offensive production is still borderline terrible.
A win is a win though, right?
Grade: C+
Overall Grade
10 of 10
| Positional Unit | Grade |
| Quarterback | C+ |
| Running Back | B- |
| Wide Receiver and Tight End | B- |
| Offensive Line | C |
| Defensive Line | B+ |
| Linebacker | A+ |
| Secondary | B |
| Special Teams | B- |
| Coaching | C+ |
Overall Grade: B-
It's obviously thrilling to win a game in overtime, especially in spectacular fashion like the Vikings did on Sunday against the Buccaneers, when Anthony Barr scooped up a fumble and raced 27 yards to paydirt.
If you take a step back from the Vikings win though, the truth is Minnesota narrowly avoided one of the most humiliating losses in recent franchise history in Week 8.
The Buccaneers offense was beyond terrible.
Some of that was definitely due to the Vikings defense...but wow.
The Bucs had 154 yards of offense before they charged down the field late in the fourth quarter to take the lead. 154 yards. And they were still in the game.
Ugly wins count the same as pretty ones do. Now it's back home to take on the Washington Redskins, who are 2-5, as they head into their Week 8 Monday night game against the Dallas Cowboys. It's another game the Vikings should win.
Hopefully they won't make it as exciting as the win over the Buccaneers.
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