Winfield, whose father played nine seasons in Minnesota's secondary, recovered the fumble from his strip sack of Cousins at the Vikings 30 to set up an early field goal for the Buccaneers despite a drive that netted zero yards. They consistently clogged the middle with Vita Vea and friends to keep Mattison quiet on the ground. The Buccaneers, with seven starters left from the 2020 Super Bowl champions and four first-round draft picks on defense, surprised Cousins with a couple of safety blitzes by Antoine Winfield Jr. Rookie Jay Ward was penalized for lining up in the neutral zone on a field goal try by McLaughlin that gave the Buccaneers a fresh set of downs to finish a drive that took almost nine minutes out of the third quarter with a touchdown pass to rookie Trey Palmer that made it 17-10. “There was quite a few self-inflicted mistakes,” coach Kevin O'Connell said. But after going an NFL-record 11-0 in one-score games during the 2022 regular season, the Vikings ran out of that late-game mojo. Kirk Cousins went 33 for 44 for 344 yards and touchdowns to Jordan Addison and Alexander Mattison, and Justin Jefferson had nine catches for 150 yards. “The most important play is the next one.” “It just comes with playing quarterback for a long time,” said Mayfield, who hopped from the Browns to the Panthers to the Rams to before landing with the Bucs. Chris Godwin made a stretched-out fingertip catch to convert third-and-10 right after the 2-minute warning to clinch it. Mayfield hustled around right end to convert a third-and-2 around the three-minute mark at the Minnesota 39.
“Once you get it going and start clicking and get some points on the board, the game is going to change.” “I knew they were going to get it going,” Bucs linebacker Shaquil Barrett said.
He hit Mike Evans for a score right before halftime for a 10-all tie.
Mayfield, the first overall pick in the 2018 draft who landed with his fourth team in three years to take over for the retired Tom Brady, completed 21 of 34 passes after a 3-for-11 start. “It wasn’t our prettiest effort by any means, but we finished the right way,” Mayfield said.Ĭhase McLaughlin - another key offseason addition for Tampa Bay - matched his career long with a 57-yard field goal for the lead with 5:10 left, and the Buccaneers forced a three-and-out on each of Minnesota’s last two possessions. Mayfield recovered to throw two touchdown passes without a turnover, and the Buccaneers beat Minnesota 20-17 in the season opener after three first-half turnovers by the Vikings on Sunday. He had ample support from a more-than-capable defense, too. MINNEAPOLIS – The grit Baker Mayfield showed Tampa Bay down the stretch of his debut sure outweighed the rough start.
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