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| Tuesday, October 10 By John Clayton ESPN.com | |||
| MINNEAPOLIS -- The Vikings and Bucs are like cousins. They are family.
Vikings coach Dennis Green and Bucs coach Tony Dungy are close friends. The Bucs needed leadership on the offensive line, so they grabbed two Vikings -- center Jeff Christy and guard Randall McDaniel. Where Green and Dungy differ is on their offensive philosophy.
Dungy believes the best offense is a solid defense. Green is like his name -- he gives his offense the green light and goes for it. On Monday night, Green gave the green light to quarterback Daunte Culpepper and it might be enough to steal the NFC Central from Dungy's pre-season favorite.
Culpepper threw a 42-yard touchdown strike to Randy Moss against a Buccaneer three-deep zone with 8:42 left in Monday's exciting 30-23 victory over the Bucs. Moss got behind safety John Lynch and positioned his body perfectly so that cornerback Donnie Abraham couldn't stop him.
"We said we were going to get one good long toss at some point in the game," Vikings receiver Cris Carter said. "That was it."
The touchdown put the Vikings ahead, 27-23, but more importantly, it made a statement that the Bucs might learn to regret the remainder of the season. Culpepper, though the least experienced of the young guns in the NFC Central, can fight through adversity and burn one of the league's stingiest defenses.
"Daunte made some big plays, but he really had to fight tonight," said Moss, who caught five passes for 118 yards and one game-winning touchdown.
After jumping out of a 17-7 first-half lead, the Vikings offense went into cruise control. Green tried to keep things active in the third quarter by keeping Culpepper in shotgun formation, but this gun backfired.
Center Matt Birk misfired a few shotgun snaps. Protection broke down consistently. In 10 third-quarter plays, Culpepper could only release three passes and was sacked twice. The offense was limited to 37 third-quarter yards and the Bucs trimmed the lead to 20-16.
"Protection wasn't that good, the throws weren't that good, we weren't able to run the ball and receivers weren't getting any separation," Carter said.
Green then made the strange decision to have 41-year-old kicker Gary Anderson try a 51-yard field goal with 12:13 left in the fourth quarter. Defensive tackle Warren Sapp reached up and swatted the ball backward. Abraham recovered it at the Vikings 47 and raced the distance for a touchdown that gave the Bucs a 23-20 lead.
"When they blocked that field goal, I wasn't really down, but I was cautious about what was going to happen," Moss said.
Culpepper was anything but cautious. Bucs cornerback Ronde Barber sacked him on the next play. Culpepper shook it off and kept firing from shotgun formation. Offensive coordinator Sherm Lewis called for shorter, quicker routes, utilizing slant passes and turn ins.
The gutsy second-year quarterback fired a 5-yarder to Matthew Hatchette and then a 12-yarder to Moss. Two plays later, it was a 20-yarder to a leaping Carter.
"Randy came over to me and said, `Hey, let's go for it,' " Culpepper said. "That's my job. I knew going into the game that if we got some three deep zone, that Randy could get behind the safety and make a big play."
Did he ever. Perhaps the worst thing that happened is that Sapp got into Moss's face during the third quarter when the Bucs were stuffing the Vikings offense and pounding Culpepper's body with aggressive sacks.
"Remember, we are all from that Florida fraternity so there's no bad words among us," Moss said. "It's all love out there."
Right. Culpepper, groomed in small college at Central Florida, was oblivious to pain or rivalry. After each series, his trot to the sidelines grew slower from the added bruises. Six times, he was sacked in a game he was asked to throw only 19 times. He had seven of the Vikings 30 carries, opening the game with an impressive 27-yard touchdown run.
But the touchdown pass to Moss epitomizes why he will make history for Dennis Green and make him the first coach in NFL history go to the playoffs with seven different quarterbacks. And Culpepper will be the franchise quarterback who will be Green's future ticket to the Super Bowl.
Against that three-deep zone, Culpepper knew that Barber was charging in on a blitz.
"I knew in the game of football you are going to get hit, but sometimes it's worth it," Culpepper said.
Barber's hit was crushing. But seeing later that Moss had scored healed what ailed him.
"If you look at Daunte Culpepper, he was a tough field leader and coordinator," Green said.
Said Carter, "Daunte got walloped by he made a great throw. We're getting progressively better each week, but we still aren't playing the way we are capable of playing yet."
Moss added he thinks the Vikings are beatable even though their record is 5-0 and they lead the Bucs by 2½ games. Their defense surrendered 346 yards to a Bucs offense that had been struggling. But a national television audience saw that they have a quarterback who is special.
"When we come ready to play, we're hard to stop," Moss said.
That's an understatement.
John Clayton is a senior NFL writer for ESPN.com. | ALSO SEE
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