By: John Mamola

It was the Doug Martin show in prime time as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat the Minnesota Vikings 36-17 on Thursday night.  Martin becoming the first player in Buccaneers history to rush for 135 yards (135) and 75+ receiving yards (79) amounting for a career high 214 total yards of offense and two touchdowns as the Buccaneers hand the Vikings their first home loss of the season.

The Bucs offense got out to a quick start all thanks to a suffocating effort by the Buccaneers defense against Christian Ponder and the Vikings offense.  The Bucs defense only allowing 17 yards total on the Vikings first three drives. 

Connor Barth got the Bucs on the board first with a 28 yard field goal early in the first quarter putting the Bucs up 3-0.  The Bucs would extend the lead to 13-0 on another Barth field goal and Eric Lorig’s first career touchdown catch.  Lorig scoring from one yard out, and the Bucs jumped out 13-0 on the upstart 5-2 Minnesota Vikings.

The Vikings answered back with a Percy Harvin 18 yard touchdown to pull within 6, but that is as close as the Vikings would get for the remainder of the game. 

Following a fumble from Adrian Peterson, the Buccaneers marched down the field and scored on a Mike Williams 3 yard touchdown catch.  The Bucs led 20-7.  Following a Blair Walsh 51 yard field goal to pull the Vikings within ten points, Freeman and the Buccaneers took the ball and ran with it in opening moments of the second half.  Freeman finding Doug Martin on a short screen pass which turned into a 64 yard touchdown catch and run.  The Bucs were off and running in the second half leading 27-10.

Connor Barth added to the lead with a 38 yard field goal to extend the lead to 20 at 30-10, but it didn’t take long for Adrian Peterson and the Vikings to answer back and get the sellout crowd in Minnesota back into the game.  Peterson scored on a 64 yard touchdown run to pull the Vikings to a 30-17 score, but the running game of the Buccaneers ran down the clock enough in the fourth quarter where the Vikings didn’t find the end zone again.

Doug Martin added the cherry on the top for the Buccaneers offense with a one yard touchdown run late in the fourth quarter putting the Bucs up 36-17.  Martin becoming the first Buccaneer running back to score both with a rushing and receiving touchdown in the same game since Warrick Dunn did it in 2001.  Martin’s 32 touches is the most by a Buccaneer since Earnest Graham’s 36 in 2007.

The Buccaneers offense gained over 400 total yards for the third straight game, which sets a new Buccaneers record.  Josh Freeman finished the game 19-36 for 262 yards and three touchdowns.  The Buccaneers defense sacked Christian Ponder three times, and forced three turnovers including Ronde Barber’s fifth forced fumble of his career.

The Buccaneers will enjoy the weekend off before getting to work on the Oakland Raiders which they will fly out and play a week from Sunday.