The Buccaneers at Vikings: One Stat, Quote, and Matchup to Know Ahead of Week 1
K. Joudry
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Kevin O’Connell’s sophomore season as a head coach begins tomorrow at 12 p.m. CDT. In a perfect world, the youthful coach finds a way of propelling his team to a sparkling 1-0 record at the conclusion of the Buccaneers at Vikings showdown.
Giving fans a better understanding of what’s to come involves PurplePTSD offering up a single statistic, quotation, and matchup to keep in mind. The hope, valued reader, is that the information contained in this piece can function as a bit of a primer for what’s to come in tomorrow’s matchup. Enjoy.
The Buccaneers at Vikings
1 Stat: $77,044,032
Is money a stat? Technically, no. Nevertheless, let’s shoehorn it into the discussion as a way of illustrating where Minnesota’s opponent finds itself.
Tampa Bay is in the middle of a rebuild. Moving on from Tom Brady will do that. The team is thus navigating a roster in transition, and part of that process involves burning off a mountain of dead money. No team surpasses Tampa Bay when it comes to dead money. If things proceed as expected, the “Dead Money Championship” may be the only notable award to arrive for Tampa Bay in 2023.
Mr. Brady leaves behind a whopping $35+ million on the budget even though he’s nowhere near the field. Meanwhile, players like Donovan Smith, Lavonte David, and Leonard Fournette are gobbling up $5 million or more apiece, and that’s not even accounting for Akiem Hicks and his $4.9 million dead money hit.
Add it all together and we’ve got a team that’s definitely in transition. The Viking should — emphasis on should — beat the pirates from down in Florida.
BONUS STAT: Mike Evans has had more than 1,000 yards receiving since entering the league in 2014. Pulling off the feat once again in 2023 would mean it’s a cool ten-straight seasons of eclipsing the benchmark. Personally, I find it hard not to cheer for Evans to put forth a decade of dominance, but Vikings fans will be hoping the Week 1 output doesn’t contribute too much to the total.
1 Quote: Kevin O’Connell’s Thoughts on the Secondary
Vikings fans seem concerned about the corner depth, or lack thereof. O’Connell doesn’t seem to share those concerns.
Much of his confidence flows from having Brian Flores calling the shots on defense alongside the team’s impressive safety depth. An answer from his recent press conference reveals how he’s understanding the situation:
Kwesi and I had daily dialogue, that included dialogue with Flo, and I think we were talking about this the other day. From the interview process all the way through sitting down with Flo as he’s kind of built this defense, you talk about the versatility and the multiple personnel groupings a lot, but then as we talked about, when you start to see it and see what it looks like to have three safeties in the game. Being able to play multiple versions of five DBs on the field based upon what we think is best to not only apply what we’re doing schematically but what those players skill sets are.
Shortly thereafter, the general manager notes how the half dozen safeties are capable of helping the corners and special teams plenty. Yes, Baker Mayfield is an uninspiring replacement for TB12, but the Bucs’ WR tandem — Mike Evans and Chris Godwin — is no joke.
Tomorrow will be a difficult test for Brian Flores and the secondary. The safeties will need to step up.
1 Matchup: Vita Vea vs. the iOL
Tampa Bay’s powerful defensive tackle is going to a handful.
Standing at 6’4″ and weighing 347 pounds, Vita Vea stands out as a massive human being even among the other massive human beings. In 2022, the 28-year-old defender picked up 6.5 sacks and 13 QB hits. Most of his snaps featured him lining up in the B gap, so Ed Ingram and Ezra Cleveland will need to be crisp if the pattern holds in 2023.
Immediately collapsing the pocket makes it challenging for any passer. Presumably, O’Connell, Wes Phillips, and Chris Kuper have been in the lab all offseason seeking to concoct new ways of ensuring the pressure doesn’t arrive so frequently. After all, Cousins got sacked a career-high 46 times in 2022. Anyone who watched the Netflix series will tell you that the QB1 had to navigate some pain last season. Can the team avoid that outcome in 2023?
Reversing the troubling trend can hopefully begin in Week 1 as the Vikings find a way of corralling Vea so he can’t take over the game.
Editor’s Note: Information from Pro Football Reference, PFF, and Over the Cap helped with this piece.
K. Joudry is the Senior Editor for Vikings Territory and PurplePTSD. He has been covering the Vikings full-time since the summer of 2021. He can be found on Twitter and as a co-host for Notes from the North, a humble Vikings podcast.