So what turned things around for Tampa Bay’s offense Sunday in Minnesota?
After the game, Mayfield attributed the decision to use the tempo in the latter part of the first part. On Tuesday night, running back Rachaad White added a wrinkle.
White said Mayfield figured out the Vikings’ defensive signals.
“I just remember Bake coming into the locker room, literally at halftime, he said, ‘I got it. We got all these signals,'” White said of Mayfield in an appearance on the Buccaneers Radio Network, via JoeBucsFan.com. “We were there talking as an offense and he was like, ‘Know I have all these signals. If they do this, they go to Cover 2. If they do this, they go to Cover 3. Every time I announce it and they do this signal, they go back to it.’ And I was like, ‘Wow, that’s amazing.’ . . . I just listened to him and we listened to him and we understood.”
That’s good for the Buccaneers, and bad for the Vikings.
Minnesota’s defense, under new coordinator Brian Flores, better buckle up in the remaining hours before Thursday night’s game against the Eagles, or Philly will do the same thing it did of the Buccaneers, whose offense improved as the game went on and last year. The NFC North champions will likely fall to 0-2.