Thursday Night Recap

Buccing the Trend: Freeman and co hand Vikings first home defeat

The Minnesota Vikings have enjoyed an excellent start to the season, racing to 5-2 after seven weeks of action, and this can be attributed largely to their home form. Going into last nights matchup with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Vikings were boasting a 4-0 record at the Mall of America Field, and must have fancied themselves against a Bucs outfit that has had some difficulty in closing out games of late. 

No-one, however, least of all Leslie Frazier's team, expected Doug Martin to break out in the way that he did.

The first round draft pick out of Boise State exploded against what has been a very stout Vikings run defense, for over 200 yards from scrimmage and two scores. The 5-9", 223 pound back answered critics over his sluggish start to the season, with a number of  powerful runs, including a 64 yard reception from Josh Freeman, which he took to the house. 

So dominant was Martin's performance, that LeGarrette Blount was only given eight touches in relief, confirming the status of Martin as the true number one. Further fears of Blount vulturing away touchdowns in the red zone were also partly expelled last night, with Martin hitting pay dirt on a one yard run in the fourth quarter.

Teach me how to Dougie: Martin on his way to a breakout performance

Despite an impressive performance from Martin's counterpart, Adrian Peterson, who rushed for 123 yards and a score, it was not enough to keep up with the Bucs, who opened up an insurmountable 27-10 lead, only a few minutes into the second half.

Josh Freeman continues to impress, and kept up his recent good form - in his last three games he has thrown for three touchdowns in each one, with only one interception. This is the kind of score to turnover ratio that he promised during his encouraging rookie season, and has seemingly turned things around from his somewhat disappointing sophomore year (16 TD's and 22 INT's). While Mike Williams starred as the most prolific receiver last night, Vincent Jackson's sub-par performance of 40 receiving yards can be attributed to the dominance of the running game, and should turn things around next week against the Raiders.

With Tampa visiting Oakland next week and Minnesota travelling to Seattle, the former have the more favourable matchup - the Raiders have struggled defensively of late, and with the Bucs' passing and running games red hot at the moment, they have a very realistic chance of making it to .500 on the season. The Vikings will face a Seahawks defense that has been brutal at home, proving too much for the often unstoppable Patriots passing game a couple of weeks ago.

The trends therefore seem to have reversed after this surprising result, with the Buccaneers on the rise, and the Vikings facing some tough matchups going forward.