The Minnesota Vikings' offense thus far has been ugly with a capital ugh, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are taking full advantage.
The Vikings went three-and-out on their third possession, just as they did on their first two. Buccaneers' return man Roscoe Parrish muffed the punt return, but Tampa managed to fall on the ball. Josh Freeman found Vincent Jackson for a big play on third down to the Minnesota 22-yard line, and found Jackson again to get Tampa down to the Minnesota 1-yard line.
Unlike their loss to New Orleans last week, the Buccaneers converted from a yard out in this one, as Josh Freeman faked a handoff and found his fullback, Erik Lorig, for a 1-yard touchdown pass. Connor Barth added the extra point, and the Buccaneers took a 10-0 lead.
Minnesota needs to get something figured out on offense, and quickly. Christian Ponder is currently 0-for-5 throwing the football, and has looked awful. That trend can't continue if the Vikings want to come back in this one. . .or even make a game of it.
We have three and a half minutes remaining in the first quarter of play at the Metrodome, and the Minnesota Vikings trail the Tampa Bay Buccaneers by a score of 10-0.