NFL Week 8: Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2-4) @ Minnesota Vikings (5-2)

[cyber16]

How are the Vikes 5-2?

The Vikings could very well be a 3-4 team as easily as a 6-1 if not for last second wins/losses.
The first three weeks they were without a real deep down field game having Simpson serving his 3-game suspension. Then he was sidelined for another two.
To answer your question, Ponder in the first 3+ games 145+ passes did not have a single pick, then that has now changed the last three games with poor decisions & mechanics.
AP - Percy - te kyle Rudolph & short field play by ponder on O has ball control.

The D front four for the most part get their sacs without the blitz due to some great secondary play. Safety Smith has controlled the middle very well & will place a hurt on anyone if given the chance.
Then you have the rookie kicker, this guy has a leg not only on FGs, he limits returns by punching it to the back or out of the end-zone most of the time.

With that said, This game i feel is a very tough game for both teams.
Vikes have given up far to many 15yrd personals that could cost them this one, the D plays with some serious attitude, at times emotion has gotten the best of them.

Nonetheless, folks have a great game and both teams need to come out of it healthy.

[bwallstreet]

have any of you guys seen this? Run Stop Percentage

Foster is #1, David #6, and Black #84

David is #1 for 4-3 Outside Linebackers

good numbers for david and foster...and in case yall didnt know Bobby Wagner is BALLIN..I know some of us like him at draft time.



So this morning it hit me, if we win this game people will just say Minnesota's really overrated and it doesn't mean anything. Only way we come out of it showing the league how good we are is if we completely dominate them like we did the Chiefs.

GAME DAY..love it

[aecon13]

good numbers for david and foster...and in case yall didnt know Bobby Wagner is BALLIN..I know some of us like him at draft time.



So this morning it hit me, if we win this game people will just say Minnesota's really overrated and it doesn't mean anything. Only way we come out of it showing the league how good we are is if we completely dominate them like we did the Chiefs.

GAME DAY..love it

I actually think we could recieve a good amount of credit for winning this game. To beat a 5-2 team on primetime, in their home will earn some recognition.

[cyber16]

I would agree since we are 4-0 at home and the crowd noise can be fierce.
Your passing attack scares me with our very young for the most part secondary.
Ponder only came up with 57 yards last week, he was horrible.

[vikingsfan88]

Greetings I usually like to scope out game day opponents boards and see what they are thinking, thought I would drop in and give you some info on the vikes from someone who watches them every game.

Defense. Our defense is much improved over last year with the addition of Harrison smith to our secondary being the most visible upgrade. So far this year, most of our success in the secondary has been due to our ability to shut down the number one receiver on a team (Fitz, Megatron, Crabtree). Whether this is due to game planning or some super human effort on our secondaries part I do not know. But if you are looking for a game changing performance I would bet it would come from your number two or even number three receiver rather than your number one.

Our linebackers are our weakest link with most of our yardage being given up on those intermediate crossing routes if one of your tight-ends and freeman get it going in that area of the field you'll have a good chance of winning.

Our front four have been great this year however it is not due to jared allen, though he leads the team in sacks with 6 I believe. our interior, especially Kevin williams and Guion have done a great job disrupting play up the middle, with nearly a dozen batted balls and two blocked field goals. While they dont get many sacks they flush the pocket on a fairly regular basis. IMO our opposite DE of Jared Allen, Brian Robison should be a bigger worry for you on non broken plays. If a sack happens within 3-4 seconds of the snap it is most likely going to be Robison however on broken plays is where Jared Allen really shines. So if Freeman hasnt taken off after about 6 seconds start looking for number 69.

As far as running defense is concerned, last week was an anomaly as far as I can tell with terrible tackling across the board. prior to that we were one of the best tackling teams in the nfl. I execpt singaltery to do his scary eyes things and get the defense back on track tackle wise. of the 102 yards gained against us sunday well over half came after multiple contacts. while its possible. I would say unlikely that you'll win because your ground game comes to life.


Offensively.

Receivers... Whats a receiver? I don't know this thing of which you speak.

In all seriousiness we have no big guy, no fast guy, all we have is percy harvin. However if there is one other receiver to watch is would be Simpson. He may or may not play (why I dont know, maybe our coach hates having a passing game ) but if he does be aware. EVERY pass to him this year of over 12 yards that I have seen was either caught or has drawn a PI so far. EVERY ONE I have no idea how or why but just be ready for that especially if you have a penalty heavy secondary.

Harvin. I dont think he needs much of an explanation. give him the ball, profit. I dont honestly know what you can do, in all sincerity. Lions double covered him and he hardly noticed. Titans TRIPLE covered him on the play he made 3 guys miss and scored. They only thing I can think of is to be hyper aggressive and try to jump the passes behind the LOS.

Running game. You have a stout run defense that will help. From what I have seen our biggest gains come from our interior of the oline creating a lane OR push/pulling the entire Dline one way and causing an over pursue so AP can cut back. I dont know if that plays into your hands or not. I guess if your interior is suspect, if you come hard from the edges, or you are aggressive, you might not shut down AP as much as you think.

TE we have rudolph. he is a 6'6'' beast who reminds me of a white Tony Gonzalas. Look for him to be Ponders saftey valve, as well as the target of endzone floaters if it comes to that. Carlson our TE free agent pick up has been non existent in our passing offense but had come up with several HUGE blocks our running game and can be cited as a reason for APs resurgence. His concussion will be felt this game sadly.


Ponder and passing blocking.
Terrible game last week for ponder. But that wasnt all his fault. Our OC kept forcing him to throw even when we had a 14 point lead and AP on pace to set the single game rushing record through the first half. I think it may have been a growing game for ponder. but idk. We have been very good at pass protecting for the most part. our tackles are superb so far this year. Our rookie Kalil has not given up a a sack and only two pressures. Our guards and center not so much. When pressure does happen its from the interior of the line getting pushed back and forcing ponder to roll out. If you have a strong DE look for a quieter game from him maybe but if you see our interior regularly caving you'll have a good chance. Just watch out for ponders scrambling, and except to see one of your line backers with the most sacks of the game.

Special teams. Harvin on kick returns is scary, he had a 105 yard return called back on sunday. Our special teams coach has been actually drawing up plays for the first kick off of each game based on game footage of opponents because I guess assignments are rarely changed. In three games harvin has taken the opening kickoff to the house twice. (had the second one called back ) so be careful about that. otherwise we have a better than average punter, and money rookie kicker how I would feel great about anything under 58 and would see a chance with anything under 63.

Good luck and hoping for no injuries. Watched the NO TB game and you guys got jobbed, welcome to THAT club. :cry: in all seriousiness I expect a vikings win only because the turn around for the Bucs might be too much coming off that kind of losswhere you played your ***** off till the last second as well as all the thursday night stuff too.

[bucsfan25]

good numbers for david and foster...and in case yall didnt know Bobby Wagner is BALLIN..I know some of us like him at draft time.



So this morning it hit me, if we win this game people will just say Minnesota's really overrated and it doesn't mean anything. Only way we come out of it showing the league how good we are is if we completely dominate them like we did the Chiefs.

GAME DAY..love it

ANDREW!!!! Please tell me you didnt just realize this!?!?! It has been like this forever.... even when we won the super bowl!

[bwallstreet]

Not when we won the Super Bowl...No one can take that from us. One of if not THE most dominating defensive performances in a Super Bowl ever.

[bucsfan25]

"The top offensive team goes down"

[youngMan]

LOL yeah I live in California its's amazing how many people say we won because we either knew the raiders plays and some say Jon Gruden was fired mid season and we hired him lol.

[bucsfan25]

As much as i hate to say it, i didnt think we would win last week. this week, i have this weird gut feeling we shut the vikings out. 31-0. Do i really believe it will happen? no, but its a weird feeling...... maybe its just the stomach bug that i have :cry:

[yanksbucs]

Bowers is active and should play! Maybe we can get within one foot of the qb this week

[Tbatw360]

Bowers is active and should play! Maybe we can get within one foot of the qb this week

Hopefully there is not that much rust to knock off. Need another pass rusher desperately.

P.s. we play tonight and I've only seen 30 seconds of the buccs being mentioned on tv and that was them saying Blount should be traded to the Raiders before deadline

[youngMan]

Hopefully there is not that much rust to knock off. Need another pass rusher desperately.

P.s. we play tonight and I've only seen 30 seconds of the buccs being mentioned on tv and that was them saying Blount should be traded to the Raiders before deadline

Yeah in this game I like seeing us as the under dog in a primetime game with high expectations and at home I know the Vikes feel some pressure.

[Quikdraw]

Hopefully there is not that much rust to knock off. Need another pass rusher desperately.

Yeah we do. I'm pretty sure I read earlier that we have yet to register a sack in October.

[Tbatw360]

Yeah we do. I'm pretty sure I read earlier that we have yet to register a sack in October.

We need to draft a DE/DT in the 1-2 rd. unless we get lucky and can get a great starter in the late rds. Our secondary will be better if we can get pressure with the front four and a rotation will keep them fresh. We haven't had a consistent pass rusher sense rice... Sad