Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Minnesota Vikings: First quarter recap and second quarter discussion

We’ve made it through the first fifteen minutes from U.S. Bank Stadium, and your Minnesota Vikings trail the Tampa Bay Buccaneers by a score of 3-0.

The Vikings got the football first in this one after the Bucs won the coin toss and chose to defer to the second half. After a nice run from Alexander Mattison to start the series, a penalty and a couple of incompletions from Kirk Cousins resulted in a three-and-out for the Vikings’ offense.

The Vikings’ defense then responded with a three-and-out of their own, with Brandon Powell fielding the punt at the Minnesota 13. The Vikings put together a very nice drive, marching all the way down to the Tampa 25-yard line, but Cousins fumbled the snap from Austin Schlottman (in for the injured Garrett Bradbury) with some assistance from Ed Ingram. . .don’t ask. . .and the Bucs recovered for a big turnover.

The Vikings then forced another punt after allowing one first down to the Tampa offense and took over again at their own 26. Then, the Vikings turned it over again as Antoine Winfield Jr. sacked Cousins and forced a fumble that was recovered by the Bucs inside the Minnesota 20-yard line. But the Minnesota defense stepped up and held the Bucs to a 36-yard field goal from Chase McLaughlin to give the visitors a 3-0 lead.

The Vikings went three-and-out on the next drive, but Ryan Wright blasted a monster punt that had a penalty from Tampa tacked on to put them down at their own 10-yard line to start their next possession. As we move on to the second quarter, the Bucs are looking at a 3rd-and-5 from their own 15-yard line.

It’s early, but the Vikings need to get it going on offense here in short order as they trail the Buccaneers by a score of 3-0 after one quarter of play. Come join us for quarter #2, folks!