This was a key win in the NFC playoff battle as it put the Bucs two games ahead of their wild card rivals. The Vikings had their chances but three missed fieldgoals left them 17-6 down at the half with all the breaks going Tampa’s way. The second half saw the defense take over with six sacks. This was the first game played after Ray Perkins died. The first game after he was fired in 1990 was a 26-13 win over the Vikings. Uncanny.
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING BUCS: Jones 18-80, McCoy 4-32, Brady 3-(-2), Vaughn 1-(-3). VIKINGS: Cook 22-102, Cousins 5-41, Abdullah 3-11, Boone 2-8, Ham 1-0. PASSING BUCS: Brady 23-15-196-0-2. VIKINGS: Cousins 37-24-225-0-1. RECEIVING BUCS: Brown 5-49, Evans 3-56, Godwin 2-25, Miller 1- 48, Brate 1-9, Jones 1-4, McCoy 1-3, Gronkowski 1-2. VIKINGS: Conklin 5-40, Smith 4-63, Jefferson 4-39, Thielen 3-39, Ham 3-22, Abdullah 2-10, Cook 2-8, Boone 1-4. INTERCEPTIONS BUCS: none. VIKINGS: none. KICK RETURNS BUCS: none. VIKINGS: none. PUNT RETURNS BUCS: Barner 1-4. VIKINGS: Beebe 2-15. SACKS BUCS: Barrett 2-16, Winfield 1-12, O’Connor 1-10, Pierre-Paul 1-8, Suh 1-6. VIKINGS: none.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 26 Minnesota Vikings 14 Sunday 13 December 2020 at Raymond James Stadium
SCORING MIN 14:17-2Q Cook 1 run (kick failed) TB 7:41-2Q Miller 48 pass from Brady (Succop kick) TB 0:44-2Q Jones 1 run (Succop kick) TB 0:00-2Q Succop FG18 TB 10:09-3Q Gronkowski 2 pass from Brady (kick failed) MIN 1:36-3Q Smith 14 pass from Cousins (Jefferson pass) TB 5:16-4Q Succop FG48
GAME REPORTS Rick Stroud reports on a return to winning ways for the Bucs Why Antoine Winfield is a rookie only in name only Bucs pass rushers go hunting and bag six sacks against Vikings Better late than never: LeSean McCoy sighting sparks Bucs Kicking woes and whoas Scott Smith’s official game report Click here for the play-by-play and the NFL gamebook
COMMENTARY CREW Joe Buck and Troy Aikman
GAME HIGHLIGHTS Click on the boxes below to view the big plays Tom Brady hooked up on a deep ball with Scotty Miller for the first Buccaneer score Brady then found his favourite target, Rob Gronkowski from two yards out The defense went sack hunting in the second half - this was Antoine Winfield’s blitz sack
STARTERS OFFENSE DEFENSE LT 76 Smith DE 93 Suh LG 74 Marpet DT 56 Nunez-Roches C 66 Jensen DE 92 Gholston RG 65 Cappa LOLB 90 Pierre-Paul RT 78 Wirfs LILB 45 White TE 87 Gronkowski RILB 54 David TE 82 Auclair ROLB 58 Barrett WR 13 Evans LCB 24 Davis WR 14 Godwin RCB 23 Murphy-Bunting QB 12 Brady SS 31 Winfield RB 27 Jones FS 33 Whitehead PLAYED 3 Succop, 8 Pinion, 10 Miller, 17 Watson, 18 Johnson, 25 McCoy, 26 Adams, 29 Smith, 30 Vaughn, 32 Edwards, 36 Miller, 43 Cockrell, 44 Barner, 49 Gill, 51 Minter, 53 Russell, 64 Stinnie, 72 Wells, 73 Haeg, 79 O’Connor, 81 Brown, 84 Brate, 96 McLendon, 97 Triner, 98 Nelson DID NOT PLAY 11 Gabbert INACTIVES 4 Griffin, 28 Fournette, 35 Dean, 88 Hudson, 94 Davis, 95 Ledbetter