Vikings @ Buccaneers · Week 3

WEEK 3 · FINAL

THE READ

Vikings edge Buccaneers by 3

A 3-point game to the end, and Vikings had it 34-31. Baker Mayfield was steady for Buccaneers — 26/37, 399 yards, 3 TD, 3 INT — in a losing effort. J.J. McCarthy did the damage for Vikings — 15/23, 228 yards, 2 TD, 3 INT. That is 3 straight games over 250 for Baker Mayfield. Through the air: Buccaneers 399, Vikings 228.

Caleb Brooks Beat reporter

THE WIDER PICTURE

Team	SRS	SOS	MARGIN	TO +/-
Vikings	+5.8	+2.2	+3.6	-5
Buccaneers	+10.9	-3.8	+14.7	+4

SRS is how many points a side beats an average team by once you account for who they played — beat a good team by 3 and it counts for more than beating a bad one by 20. SOS is how hard that schedule has been. Full table.

Buccaneers — NFC #2 · division · 7-2 Vikings — in the hunt · 4-4 Playoff picture →

In the MVP race

#5 Baker Mayfield QB · Buccaneers · 9.4% of the field

The whole board →

IN THE BOOTH

Daniel Keller The numbers guy

Tampa Bay passed on 92 percent of plays and still lost to a team that handed the ball off 22 times—the Bucs couldn't run, so they had no margin for error, and 3 interceptions proved there wasn't any.

Zoe Bell The contrarian · replying

Minnesota won a game it had no business winning—3 interceptions, minus-8 in turnovers on the season, and J.J. McCarthy completing 15 passes. Tampa Bay threw for 399 yards and still lost because 16 rushing yards means you're not really playing football, you're just hoping Baker Mayfield executes a one-dimensional scheme better than the other guy executes chaos.

They only ever read the box score and this league's own numbers — none of them has a source, and none of them can report anything that did not happen.

Baker Mayfield

Buccaneers

26/37, 399 yards, 3 TD, 3 INT

J.J. McCarthy

Vikings

15/23, 228 yards, 2 TD, 3 INT

Demond Claiborne

Vikings

17 carries, 85 yards, 2 TD

THE STORY SO FAR

🔥 Baker Mayfield has now cleared 250 passing yards in 3 straight games.

⭐ Bucky Irving has not had a better afternoon this season.

⭐ Demond Claiborne has not had a better afternoon this season.

⭐ Zachariah Branch has not had a better afternoon this season.

WHAT DECIDED IT

Through the air Buccaneers 399, Vikings 228 Buccaneers

On the ground Vikings 147, Buccaneers 16 Vikings

Total yards Buccaneers 415, Vikings 375 Buccaneers

Pressure Buccaneers 1 sacks, Vikings 2 Vikings

THE ROOM Final. The recap is below.

📺 THE WEEK 3 SHOW this game is in the week's show ▶ Watch the show

THE MATCHUP SCOUT every number below is counted from the export or read off the roster — nothing is inferred about playcalling

LEAGUE DATA counted by Madden, and arithmetic on top of it

Pass-heavy Pass 71% · Rush 29% · 37.0 scored, 33.4 allowed

10.9 yds/att 62.0% completions 5.8 yds/carry 393.9 yds/game 2.7 giveaways/game 4.6% sack rate last 5: 4-1

Primary weapon: Germie Bernard WR — 31% of the receiving yards · DEPENDENCY HIGH

SAPPHIRE METRICS QB efficiency 68 · Aggressive Balance 79 Ball security 24 Back usage 21% QB runs 3.3/game

Most exposed: ball security -- 2.7 giveaways a game

PERSONNEL off the roster — unit averages, best starters only

QB 77 WR 82 TE 83 RB 80 OL 83 DL 80 LB 78 DB 85

Best: Christian Darrisaw LT 90 Fastest: Zachariah Branch WR 95 SPD 9 at star dev or better

YOUR NOTEBOOK what you wrote about them — private, and never a Sapphire statistic

HOW THEY PLAY the man, not the franchise — only weeks the record attributes to him, this season

nardwick

Buccaneers · his last 8 games

Throws it Gives it away Runs the quarterback

Pass / run91% / 9% Points for / against39.1 — 28.2 Margin+10.9 Giveaways a game2.0 Sacks taken4.2% of dropbacks Lead backBucky Irving · 2.2/g Top targetAdonai Mitchell · 23% QB carries1.0 a game

thecozyfiles

Vikings · his last 7 games

Throws it Gives it away Runs the quarterback

Pass / run71% / 29% Points for / against37.0 — 33.4 Margin+3.6 Giveaways a game2.7 Sacks taken4.6% of dropbacks Lead backDemond Claiborne · 7.3/g Top targetGermie Bernard · 31% QB carries3.3 a game

Counted from the weeks each man actually held his team — so a franchise that changed hands is not credited to whoever has it now. Nothing above is a playcall: the export does not carry those, and neither does this.

THE SERIES thecozyfiles against nardwick — the men, not the teams

thecozyfiles leads it 1-0. thecozyfiles won the last one.

1 meeting avg 34.0 — 31.0 biggest: 3 pts to thecozyfiles

S1 · week 3 thecozyfiles 34 — 31 nardwick THECOZYFILES

Only meetings Sapphire can attribute to both men are counted — a Madden export never says who owned a team last season, so the series starts where the record does.

MATCHUP ADVANTAGES unit averages against each other — inside three points is a push

Vikings receivers vs Buccaneers secondary 82 v 88 BUCCANEERS

Buccaneers receivers vs Vikings secondary 85 v 85 EVEN

Vikings line vs Buccaneers front 83 v 86 BUCCANEERS

Buccaneers line vs Vikings front 81 v 80 EVEN

Vikings backs vs Buccaneers run defence 80 v 83 BUCCANEERS

Buccaneers backs vs Vikings run defence 84 v 80 BUCCANEERS

Vikings passer vs Buccaneers secondary 77 v 88 BUCCANEERS

Buccaneers passer vs Vikings secondary 96 v 85 BUCCANEERS

TOP PERFORMERS

Baker Mayfield QB Buccaneers 399 pass yds

J.J. McCarthy QB Vikings 228 pass yds

Bucky Irving HB Buccaneers 140 rec yds

Adonai Mitchell WR Buccaneers 112 rec yds

Zachariah Branch WR Vikings 99 rec yds

Demond Claiborne HB Vikings 85 rush yds

J.J. McCarthy QB Vikings 62 rush yds

Emeka Egbuka WR Buccaneers 54 rec yds

Ted Hurst III WR Buccaneers 52 rec yds

Jacob Parrish CB Buccaneers 2 INTs

🎬 The Game Recap
this game as an episode -- the score, the stars, the numbers that decided it -- and a video you can post ›

BOX SCORE

VIKINGS

PLAYER	C/ATT	YDS	TD	INT	SCK	LNG	RTG
J.J. McCarthy QB	15/23	228	2	3	1	39	87.1

BUCCANEERS

PLAYER	C/ATT	YDS	TD	INT	SCK	LNG	RTG
Baker Mayfield QB	26/37	399	3	3	2	81	98.8

VIKINGS

PLAYER	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	BTK	YAC	LNG	FUM
Demond Claiborne HB	17	85	5	2	1	17	32	0
J.J. McCarthy QB	5	62	12.4	0	0	2	22	0

BUCCANEERS

PLAYER	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	BTK	YAC	LNG	FUM
Baker Mayfield QB	1	13	13	0	0	3	13	0
Bucky Irving HB	2	3	1.5	1	0	2	2	0

VIKINGS

PLAYER	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	YAC	LNG
Zachariah Branch WR	4	99	24.8	1	30	39
Demond Claiborne HB	4	46	11.5	0	42	27
Jordan Addison WR	3	37	12.3	1	27	19
Germie Bernard WR	2	28	14	0	22	15
T.J. Hockenson TE	2	18	9	0	7	14

BUCCANEERS

PLAYER	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	YAC	LNG
Bucky Irving HB	12	140	11.7	0	105	48
Adonai Mitchell WR	3	112	37.3	1	48	81
Emeka Egbuka WR	5	54	10.8	0	18	18
Ted Hurst III WR	4	52	13	1	11	17
Eli Stowers TE	2	41	20.5	1	5	24

VIKINGS

PLAYER	TKL	SCK	INT	PD
Byron Murphy Jr CB	5	0	0	0
Tre Hawkins III CB	4	0	0	0
Isaiah Rodgers Sr CB	3	0	0	0
Jamal Adams WILL	2	0	0	0
Jakobe Thomas SS	1	0	0	2
A.J. Terrell Jr CB	1	0	0	1
Dallas Turner LEDG	1	1	0	0
Jonathon Cooper DT	1	0	0	0
Eric Wilson WILL	1	0	0	1
James Pearce Jr REDG	1	1	0	0
Josh Metellus FS	1	0	2	0
Tavierre Thomas FS	0	0	1	0

BUCCANEERS

PLAYER	TKL	SCK	INT	PD
Antoine Winfield Jr FS	6	0	0	0
Troy Andersen MIKE	4	0	0	0
Zyon McCollum CB	3	0	1	0
Vita Vea DT	2	0.5	0	0
Jacob Parrish CB	2	0	2	1
Kelee Ringo FS	2	0	0	0
Cor'Dale Flott SS	2	0	0	0
Keionte Scott CB	1	0	0	0
Benjamin Morrison CB	1	0	0	1
SirVocea Dennis MIKE	1	0	0	0
Shemar Stewart REDG	0	0.5	0	0

VIKINGS

PLAYER	FG	XP	LNG
Will Reichard K	2/2	4/4	34

BUCCANEERS

PLAYER	FG	XP	LNG
Chase McLaughlin K	1/1	4/4	25

RECENT FORM

Vikings

L 21–31 vs Bears WK 2

L 38–41 vs Packers WK 1

Buccaneers

W 45–14 vs Browns WK 2

W 42–17 vs Jets WK 1

W 35–0 vs Bengals WK 1

TEAM STATS

Vikings		Buccaneers
375	TOTAL YARDS	415
228	PASSING YARDS	399
147	RUSHING YARDS	16
1	SACKS ALLOWED	2
2	SACKS MADE	1
3	GIVEAWAYS	3
3	TAKEAWAYS	3

Bold is the side that won that line. Giveaways come off a team's own offensive rows and takeaways off its own defensive rows — two separate payloads, so they need not tie out against each other.

ALL-TIME HEAD-TO-HEAD

1 VIKINGS — 0 BUCCANEERS

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