After back-to-back losses to the Los Angeles Rams and Kansas City Chiefs before the Bucs went into their Week 13 bye week, dropping both contests 27-24, Tampa Bay bounced back with a much-needed 26-14 win over the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday.
After both teams exchanged punts to open the game, Minnesota would strike first with a short rushing touchdown from running back Dalvin Cook after moving down the field with relative ease on a 14-play, 84-yard drive but would settle for six after the missed extra point from kicker Dan Bailey. Bailey’s missed extra point would provide foreshadowing for a disastrous remainder of the day in which the 10-year veteran would go on to miss three more kicks, all field goal attempts. Tampa Bay would respond with 23 unanswered points of their own by way of a Ryan Succop field goal and touchdowns from Scotty Miller, Ronald Jones II and Rob Gronkowski. Quarterback Kirk Cousins would keep the Vikings’ hopes alive late with a touchdown pass to tight end Irv Smith Jr. in the fourth quarter, cutting the Bucs’ lead to 23-14. But Tampa Bay would add another field goal of their own and thwart a last-ditch effort from Minnesota with a strip sack from Jason Pierre-Paul, the Bucs’ sixth sack of the afternoon, with just over two minutes remaining.
Moving to 8-5 with a win on Sunday, the Bucs remain firmly in the NFC playoff picture as the sixth seed, above the Cardinals and Vikings and behind the 8-5 Seahawks as Seattle prepares to take on the New York Jets in Week 14.
Is shaq back?
Decent game with some luck involved, though the defense stepped up when they had too. I also noticed more motions on offense than I think they had in the first 12 games combined. At least some things were improved during the bye week. Sure is nice to have a fairly reliable kicker for a change.
Yeah. Compared to theirs. Vikings having a hard time with their kicker. Our Kickers are pretty solid, all around. That might come in handy in the play-offs