Tampa Bay Buccaneers 17    Minnesota Vikings 34 Sunday 24 September 2017        at US Bank Stadium
SCORING MIN 10:58-1Q Cook 1 run (Forbath kick) TB 6:18-1Q Folk FG40 MIN 10:25-2Q Wright 2 pass from Keenum (Forbath kick) MIN 0:47-2Q Diggs 17 pass from Keenum (Forbath kick) MIN 12:25-3Q Diggs 59 pass from Keenum (Forbath kick) TB 8:47-3Q Brate 15 pass from Winston (Folk kick) MIN 2:24-3Q Forbath FG20 TB 0:00-3Q Jackson 25 pass from Winston (Folk kick) MIN 8:40-4Q Forbath FG37
GAME REPORTS Rick Stroud reports on a disappointing day in Minnesota How Roy Cummings saw the game for Florida Football Insiders Bucs lament how game emulated their practice week Greg Auman’s notes column and the list of injuries sustained Tom Jones adds his report card on the game Bucs join other NFL players in protesting the National Anthem Scott Smith’s official game report Click here for the play-by-play and the NFL Gamebook
The first road game of the season was much like the one from 2016 - a pretty crushing defeat with seemingly everything going wrong for Dirk Koetter’s team.  The Bucs were down early, down 28-3 at the half and spent the second half watching defensive players carted off through injury.  The team had sustained a flu bug leading into the game but no amount of excuses could detract from a totally miserable performance all round.
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING BUCS:  Rodgers 5-15, Sims 2-4, Winston 1-4, Reedy 1-3. VIKINGS: Cook 27-97, Keenum 6-18, Murray 2-5, McKinnon 2-5. PASSING BUCS:  Winston 40-28-328-3-2. VIKINGS: Keenum 33-25-369-0-3. RECEIVING BUCS:  Evans 7-67, Humphries 6-68, Jackson 4-84, Brate 4-33, Godwin 3-44, Howard 1-12, Sims 1-9, Reedy 1-6, Cross 1-5. VIKINGS: Diggs 8-173, Thielen 5-98, Cook 5-72, Wright 2-9, McKinnon 2-(-1), Ham 1-12, Rudolph 1-4, Treadwell 1-2. INTERCEPTIONS BUCS:  none. VIKINGS: Sendejo 1-36, Waynes 1-18, Smith 1-12. KICK RETURNS BUCS:  Reedy 3-79. VIKINGS: McKinnon 1-20, PUNT RETURNS BUCS:  Reedy 0-0. VIKINGS: Sherels 0-0. SACKS BUCS:  none. VIKINGS: Stephen 1-9, Griffen 1-3.
STARTERS OFFENSE DEFENSE LT 76 Smith LDE 57 Spence LG 62 E Smith DT 93 McCoy C 74 Marpet DT 98 McDonald RG 73 Sweezy RDE 92 Gholston RT 69 Dotson MLB 51 Beckwith TE 80 Howard WLB 54 David TE 45 Cross SLB 53 Glanton WR 13 Evans LCB 28 Hargeaves WR 11 Jackson RCB 29 R Smith QB 3 Winston SS 23 Conte RB 32 Rodgers FS 37 Tandy PLAYED 2 Folk, 9 Anger, 10 Humphries,12 Godwin, 18 Reedy, 21 Evans, 25 Barber, 26 Robinson, 34 Sims, 35 Elliott, 36 McClain, 43 Ward, 52 Lynch, 59 Bond, 64 Pamphile, 65 Sanborn, 77 Benenoch, 84 Brate, 88 Stocker, 91 Ayers, 94 Clarke, 95 Russell, 96 Siliga. DID NOT PLAY 14 Fitzpatrick INACTIVES 24 Grimes, 56 J Smith, 58 Alexander, 66 Wester, 68 Hawley, 82 Auclair, 90 Baker
COMMENTARY CREW Thom Brennaman and Chris Spielman
GAME HIGHLIGHTS Click on the boxes below to view the big plays Jameis Winston and Cameron Brate hooked up for their first touchdown of the year DeSean Jackson ended the third quarter with his first Buccaneer score Bernard Reedy’s 50-yard kick return was a rare moment of success for the Bucs