Regular Season Week 2 - FINAL - Buccaneers 24 Vikings 20
Team Stat Comparison
TB
MIN
1st Downs 19 25
Passing 1st downs
12 12
Rushing 1st downs
6 12
1st downs from Penalties
1 1
3rd down efficiency
7-12 5-11
4th down efficiency
0-0 0-0
Total Plays 52 65
Total Yards 335 398
Passing 230 212
Comp-Att
22-31 18-30
Yards per pass
7.4 7.1
Rushing 105 186
Rushing Attempts
19 33
Yards per rush
5.5 5.6
Red Zone (Made-Att) 1-3 2-4
Penalties 6-53 8-65
Turnovers 1 1
Fumbles lost
0 1
Interceptions thrown
1 0
Defensive / Special Teams TDs 0 0
Possession 26:30 33:30
Passing Leaders
Tampa Bay C/ATT YDS AVG TD INT NFL RATING
Freeman 22/31 243 7.8 1 1 91.2
Minnesota C/ATT YDS AVG TD INT NFL RATING
McNabb 18/30 228 7.6 0 0 83.8
Rushing Leaders
Tampa Bay CAR YDS AVG TD LG
Blount 13 71 5.5 2 27
Graham 3 18 6.0 0 7
Minnesota CAR YDS AVG TD LG
Peterson 25 120 4.8 2 19
Gerhart 2 36 18.0 0 31
Receiving Leaders
Tampa Bay REC YDS AVG TD LG TGTS
Parker 6 98 16.3 0 51 7
Winslow 4 44 11.0 0 18 8
Minnesota REC YDS AVG TD LG TGTS
Harvin 7 76 10.9 0 19 8
Gerhart 1 42 42.0 0 42 1
Scoring Summary
FIRST QUARTER TAM MIN
TD 00:02 Adrian Peterson 1 Yd Run (Ryan Longwell Kick) 0 7
SECOND QUARTER TAM MIN
FG 05:06 Ryan Longwell 22 Yd 0 10
TD 00:52 Adrian Peterson 9 Yd Run (Ryan Longwell Kick) 0 17
THIRD QUARTER TAM MIN
TD 10:59 LeGarrette Blount 27 Yd Run (Connor Barth Kick) 7 17
FG 00:29 Connor Barth 36 Yd 10 17
FOURTH QUARTER TAM MIN
FG 09:41 Ryan Longwell 29 Yd 10 20
TD 06:39 Arrelious Benn 25 Yd Pass From Josh Freeman (Connor Barth Kick) 17 20
TD 00:31 LeGarrette Blount 4 Yd Run (Connor Barth Kick) 24 20
MINNEAPOLIS -- Josh Freeman and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers retreated to the locker room after an awful first half, still confident they could win despite a 17-0 deficit.
The comeback, after all, is what Freeman has perfected in his 26-game career.
LeGarrette Blount's 4-yard touchdown run with 31 seconds left sent the Buccaneers past the stunned Minnesota Vikings 24-20 on Sunday, completing another rally guided by Tampa Bay's calm young quarterback.
Eight of Freeman's 14 career victories have come when the Bucs (1-1) went ahead in the fourth quarter or overtime. Given how overwhelmed they were before halftime, outgained 284 yards to 62 during the first two quarters, this might have been the most impressive.
"Arguably our worst half of football since I've been a head coach," Morris said.
After expressing frustration he wasn't more involved last week, Blount finished with 71 yards and two scores on 13 carries.
"We just came together and collectively said, 'This is not how we play football. Let's go out and do what we do best,' " Freeman said.
There was no screaming, throwing chairs or drastic readjustments to the game plan. The Bucs simply emerged with the kind of steadiness and confidence down the stretch that the Vikings (0-2), still led by a bunch of veterans, haven't shown yet.
"We have to have that attitude that we can't be stopped," quarterback Donovan McNabb said.
Freeman found Arrelious Benn for a 25-yard touchdown pass over Cedric Griffin with 6:39 remaining to cut Minnesota's lead to three points. A 19-yard leaping catch by Dezmon Briscoe and a 15-yard late hit penalty on Jared Allen set up the score.
Freeman told Benn to watch for the ball because the Vikings were focusing on Blount.
"He just ran by him, straight up," Freeman said. "There's just nothing special about that play."
Morris said he thought his young team "blinked" last week in the 27-20 loss to Detroit, when the Lions led at the half and held on.
This time, the Bucs didn't flinch.
"If we thought we were going to lose in the second half, we would've stayed in the locker room," linebacker Quincy Black said.
Tampa Bay even overcame a couple of costly mistakes.
The Bucs recovered an onside kick after Blount's first touchdown, but Freeman threw off his back foot for Kellen Winslow into the end zone. Husain Abdullah returned the interception 32 yards.
Then an illegal shift penalty wiped out what would've been a terrific touchdown catch in the corner of the end zone by Mike Williams, and they settled for a field goal by Connor Barth to pull within 17-10.
"With the bitter taste in our mouths from last week, we had to be better," Blount said.
Adrian Peterson had 25 carries for 120 yards and two touchdowns in the first half for the Vikings (0-2), who blew a healthy lead for the second straight week and were booed off the field when their desperation drive was stopped around midfield as the clock ran out.
"Wow. You're not supposed to give away a game like that," Peterson said.
McNabb was much better than in his Minnesota debut, finishing 18 for 30 for 228 yards and effectively using the rollout often to find open receivers in the middle of the field. But Freeman was the better quarterback when it counted most, completing 22 of 31 passes for 243 yards, one touchdown and one interception.
"I thought Josh did a wonderful job of keeping his composure, being a great leader and leading his team to a big victory," McNabb said. "When the chips were down, they were able to keep confidence in themselves. Josh did a great job leading the charge, but this is a game we should've won."
The Vikings showed better balance than the week before. But in mixing up their play calls, they might have strayed too far in the second half from Peterson, who plowed and danced through Tampa Bay's front seven for much of the afternoon. The Bucs needed several ankle tackles to bring him down in the first half, and the Vikings had touchdown drives of 90 and 75 yards.
The Vikings were flawless on defense before halftime, but their tackling was substandard again down the stretch and Freeman was able to find cracks in the coverage with better protection.
The Bucs began the go-ahead drive at their 39-yard line and got to the Vikings 16 by the two-minute warning, but coach Leslie Frazier chose not to use any of Minnesota's three timeouts -- leaving only 24 seconds for the offense after Percy Harvin fumbled the kickoff and was tackled at the 10.
"I really had confidence we were going to stop them," Frazier said.
Last edited by FessJL0861; 09-19-2011 at 01:50 PM.
"Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect." - Mark Twain
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