Pewter Report's Mark Cook and Dory LeBlanc offer up their analysis on how Tampa Bay's offense played against Minnesota in the Bucs' 36-17 victory over the Vikings, and dishes out the game grades for each offensive unit.

Quarterback
After a shaky start Bucs QB Josh Freeman settled down and ended up putting together another solid outing, his third game in a row. Maybe it was the nerves of the national stage, or the importance of getting to 3-4, but Freeman didn’t look comfortable early on Thursday but by the end of the night became the first Tampa Bay quarterback to toss three touchdowns in back-to-back games in franchise history.

Freeman wasn’t perfect but took what the Vikings defense gave as opposed to trying to force the ball down the field into coverage. Another aspect of Freeman’s game that shows his steady improvement was his ability – and willingness – to stand in the pocket and not let the Vikings pass rush force him into rushed throws.

Freeman finished 19-of-36 for 262 yards and three touchdowns.
Grade = B+

Running Backs
The Buccaneers had high hopes when they selected Bose State’s Doug Martin with the No. 31 pick in last April’s NFL draft, but I’m not sure they envisioned a 214 yard performances as witnessed on Thursday at Minnesota.

Martin was nearly unstoppable in the first half tallying 103 yards on the ground. But he wasn’t satisfied with his first half, and early in the third quarter took a Freeman screen pass 64 yards for a touchdown.

Later in the game Martin did what LeGarrette Blount wasn’t able to do last week – create a hole when there didn’t seem to be one. On Martin’s one-yard TD run the rookie refused to go down and literally overpowered the Vikings Jared Allen, determined to stretch the football across the goal line.

Blount was used little early in the game and got the majority of his carries in a late fourth quarter mop up role, gaining 16 yards on eight carries.
Grade = A

Wide Receivers
While it was considerably different than last week against the Saints, the production of Tampa Bay’s wide receiving corps was solid, and contributed greatly in the Bucs’ 36-17 victory.

Mike Williams continues to impress with his receiving ability making two more highlight reel type catches on the night, finishing with six receptions for 68 yards and one touchdown. Williams’ ability to concentrate on the ball while still contorting his body to stay in bounds is uncanny and showed the nation what Buccaneers fans have known since 2010.

Vincent Jackson was held in check for the most part, catching just two passes for 40 yards. But the two Jackson catches were vital in extending drives and putting points on the board. There is no doubt the addition of Jackson only help Williams succeed as it forces defenses to choose which of the Bucs talented receivers to try and game plan for each week.

Tiquan Underwood may be the third option at receiver but again came up big at times on Thursday, catching three Freeman tosses for 27 yards.
Grade = B

Offensive Line
Josh Freeman was under a decent amount of pressure in the first half, but as the line continued to hold up the more tired the Vikings defensive line seemed to get. Bucs LT Donald Penn was out-muscling Jared Allen the whole game and it was quite a battle between the two. Last year’s sack leader with 22, Allen is one of the most feared pass rusher in the league and Penn was easily handling him. That is, until the third quarter when Penn and Allen got mixed up in some extracurricular activities that resulted in the Viking defensive end’s helmet being ripped off and sustaining a cut on the nose while holding Penn an arm’s length away by the face mask. Flags were thrown and both players were given off-setting 15 yard penalties – Penn for unnecessary roughness and Allen for the facemask. On the next snap, a visibly angry Allen registered the only sack on Freeman on the night for a loss of five yards.

In run blocking the offensive line had their best performance of the year paving the way for running back Doug Martin to eclipse the 100 yard mark for the first time in his short NFL career. Against a very good all-around defense, the Bucs’ second first round draft pick carried a heavy workload in Minnesota, rushing for 135 yards and a touchdown on 29 attempts, an average of 4.7 yards per carry. One of the biggest lands of free agency, Carl Nicks, keeps on showing why the Bucs were willing to pull out their wallet to sign him. Nicks was a major factor in Martin’s 41 yard break out run, the longest on the year, as the Pro Bowl guard had the defender on his heels and pushed him back into the linebacker, opening up a hole so wide between himself and Penn that Target could have set up shop on Mall of America Field. All Martin had to do was run through the gaping hole gift-wrapped in front of him.

Last Sunday against the Saints, the O-Line looked like the chemistry was coming together in run blocking and pass protection and against the Vikings Thursday it seemed as if they aced their midterm.
Grade = A-

Tight Ends
Dallas Clark was the only tight end truly involved in the game against the Vikings and once again did not disappoint. Clark caught all three passes thrown at him for 40 yards, the longest a 17-yarder in the opening drive of the third quarter.

A few weeks ago, Tampa Bay head coach Greg Schiano said that despite it looking like the ten-year veteran wasn’t very involved in the offense, he was extremely involved from a leadership standpoint and that if the coverages allowed, the Bucs planned on utilizing Clark more on the field.