The Associated Press
TAMPA, Fla.—Anthony Barr stripped the ball, scooped it up, and took off for the end zone.
“I’m thinking win, score, get out of here,” the young Minnesota linebacker said yesterday after his 27-yard fumble return on the first scrimmage play of overtime enabled the Vikings to stop a three-game losing streak with a 19-13 victory over the struggling Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
And to think the whole sequence began with the rookie being out of position—much to coach Mike Zimmer’s consternation.
“I was a little late to get there, but I was able to get my hand on the ball and strip it, and fortunate enough to pick it up and score,” Barr noted.
Barr ran down Bucs’ tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins after a 10-yard gain that would have given Tampa Bay a promising start to the extra period.
“Initially, I was a little bit upset with him [Barr] because he didn’t widen with the tight end enough and he let him catch the ball,” Zimmer said.
“But now that it’s over, I’m glad he did.”
Teddy Bridgewater cut down on mistakes that have hindered him as a first-year quarterback, throwing for 241 yards, one touchdown, and no interceptions for the Vikings in his fourth NFL start.
The Vikings (3-5) improved to 2-2 in those games, with both wins coming on the road.
The stunning end to this one came just 17 seconds after Minnesota extended the game on Blair Walsh’s 38-yard field goal on the final play of regulation.
Tampa Bay (1-6), playing for the first time since allowing Joe Flacco to throw five TD passes in the first 16 minutes of a 48-17 loss to Baltimore, fell to 0-4 at home.
The Bucs now have lost 16-straight games in which the opponent scored first.
Coach Lovie Smith hoped last week’s bye would help his team return with a more competitive effort.
“Ideally that’s not how we wanted to start it, as simple as that,” Smith said. “We let one slip away.
“But after the disappointment, you still analyze where we are and looking at our division, we’re still in it,” he added.
“At the end when you have a lead, you’ve got to be able to close it out, especially at home,” Smith stressed.
“Late in the game we needed someone to step up.”
Mike Glennon threw a seven-yard pass to Seferian-Jenkins to give Tampa Bay a 13-10 lead with just over two minutes left in regulation.
But the Bucs’ porous defence couldn’t stop Bridgewater from putting together a nine-play, 61-yard march to get the game into OT.
“It was just one of those deals where we knew we had to go down and get some points, some way, somehow,” Bridgewater said.
“The guys in the huddle, they believe in each other. . . .
“That last drive, guys just made big plays for this team,” he added.
“I felt like we were in pretty good control of the ballgame most of the time,” Zimmer said.
“During the week, the practices, we were humming pretty good defensively.
“I said, ‘If we can continue to do these things, then we have a chance to be a good defensive football team,’” he noted.
“We’re definitely not there yet, we’ve got a long way to go, but I think we’ve made pretty good strides since the beginning of the season.”
Many of the Bucs walked to the sideline with heads bowed, waiting for an official’s replay review to confirm the game was over.
“It’s a lot of ups and downs, a roller-coaster,” said Bucs’ defensive tackle Gerald McCoy.
“It’s not how you want to see a game end.
“We’ve just got to do a better job of finishing,” he stressed.
Elsewhere in the NFL, New Orleans beat Green Bay 44-23, New England routed Chicago 51-23, Detroit edged Atlanta 22-21, Kansas City crushed St. Louis 34-7, Houston dumped Tennessee 30-16, Seattle downed Carolina 13-9, and Cincinnati shaded Baltimore 27-24.
Miami beat Jacksonville 27-13, Buffalo dumped the N.Y. Jets 43-23, Arizona downed Philadelphia 24-20, Cleveland upended Oakland 23-13, and Pittsburgh routed Indianapolis 51-34.
Washington plays at Dallas tonight.
