The Buccaneers’ offense took some time to take on the Vikings in Week 1, but they were able to score a pair of touchdowns either side of the first half that propelled them to a 20-17 road win.
Bucs running back Rachaad White said this week This is key The turnaround was quarterback Baker Mayfield’s ability to figure out what the Vikings were doing on defense. White told Mayfield he “got all these signs” while letting the rest of the offense know what to look for on the Vikings’ side of the ball.
On Wednesday, Mayfield quipped that he was not an Astros fan in reference to the baseball team’s sign-stealing scandal while admitting that learning about what Minnesota was doing helped “Calm down a little“.
“When it comes down to it, you always try to find the tendencies of the defense,” Mayfield said Wednesday. “Just those adjustments within the game, you try to find those tendencies and sometimes it’s a little different than others. That’s why, as I said after the game, it was a chess match there in the first half with some slowdowns. They did a very good job and I can’t take credit for that.” on him [Vikings defensive coordinator] Brian Flores Enough about how they plotted against us. It took us a while to adapt, but you try to find every advantage you can.”
Beyond giving the Bucs an advantage, talking up Mayfield’s ability to decipher defensive signals gives upcoming opponents something else to think about as they prepare to face Tampa in the coming weeks.
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