The Minnesota Vikings are certainly one of the biggest surprises in the NFL this season, sitting at 5-2 on the season going into Week 8, in a Thursday night matchup at home against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
For the Bucs, they fell to a disappointing 2-4 record after a home loss to New Orleans on a last-second play that resulted in a penalty instead of the touchdown. ans in the stadium all became familiar with the rule relating to a receiver be unable to touch the ball first after coming out of bounds.
The result was a 35-28 loss, and now the Bucs find themselves four games behind the Atlanta Falcons in the NFC South.
Minnesota is just a half-game behind Chicago for the NFC North lead and one game in front of Green Bay. So this game against Tampa Bay on Thursday Night Football is certainly one of big importance.
The Vikings are a perfect 4-0 at home this season, and will try to push that record to five. Oddsmakers think that they will, as Minnesota is set as a touchdown favorite over the visiting Buccaneers. Quarterback Christian Ponder has exactly been lighting up the stats sheet, but he has been very efficient in his throws, and limited in his turning the ball over. Combine that with the fact that he gets to hand the ball off to Adrian Peterson, and dump it to Percy Harvin, and those playmakers are doing exactly what they get paid so much to do.
Make plays.
Tampa Bay quarterback Josh Freeman comes in off of a career high passing, where he tabbed over 400 yards and three touchdowns in the losing effort to the Saints on Sunday. At the very least, he should go in confident knowing that the offense had their best day so far this season.
But it will be a tough environment to go in and win at or Freeman and the Bucs, with a loss pushing them even further back in the division. They can’t afford too many more if they hope to put together a second-half run.
Tampa Bay and Minnesota kick off at 8:20 pm ET on Thursday night, with coverage on NFL Network.