Here We Go! The Bucs Stop Here in Minnesota on Sunday
Vikings Territory Breakdown:
At long last, here we are—the start of the 2023 NFL Regular Season and the Vikings’ opening game of the year at home against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. That’s a Bucs team that is not defending a Super Bowl title and does not have The G.O.A.T., seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady behind center. Unless he somehow un-retires this week.
No, no, we are safe to assume that the “Old Goat” is finally out to pasture and one Baker Mayfield is in orange and pewter and now quarterbacking the Bucs. That’s a decidedly different prospect. So much so, that some folks think the Bucs, who last won a title in 2021, should be rebuilding, starting with a trade of famed wideout Mike Evans (who reportedly said Justin Jefferson is one of the players he would enjoy playing opposite of.) Well, that won’t happen before Sunday.
While Brady was a big part of that recent title team, the Bucs defense was, perhaps, even bigger (they beat the Kansas City Chiefs 31-9), and remnants of that defense remain (including former Golden Gopher Antoine Winfield, Jr.) to thwart Kirk Cousins and the Vikings offense. The Vikings offense should be up to the challenge, although we all hope that Vikes defensive coordinator Brian Flores’ new defense will play more like that vaunted Bucs D than the bottom-dwelling squad the Purple put on the field last season.
So what is going to happen? The Vikings Territory Breakdown podcast dudes (Joe Oberle from VT and purplePTSD and Mark Craig from the Star Tribune and startribune.com) are on hand to discuss exactly that. They will try to determine just what kind of season fans should come to expect and which players in Purple are going to excel this season, including 2,000 yards for JJ, 4,000 for Kirk, how many touchdown grabs for that newly highest-paid tight end in the league, T.J. Hockenson? Tune into the Breakdown and check it all out!
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Mitch Massman’s 2023 Vikings Prediction