The 1997 Season

Note: 1997 was the first season that I wrote down thoughts the entire year. Therefore, the 1997 season summary will come in multiple additions to my blog. Today's 1997 entry will be Week 3, Tampa Bay thoughts.

Week Three: Tampa Bay

J. H. Payne once said, “Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home.” On Week Three of the NFL season, we invited a guest into our home who ended up acting like everyone’s least favorite relative, the one who overstays his welcome and always mentions our weaknesses.

When the guest finally leaves, we breathe a sigh of relief from the agony of spending time with a person who would be otherwise despised, had he not been somehow related. By 3:00 p.m., over 60,000 sighs of relief were audible when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers finally left the Metrodome field.

The question to explore is whether the Bucs are really that good or did the Minnesota Vikings just have an off-day? It was an argument that could be made either way.

After all, Tampa quarterback Trent Dilfer fumbled twice, but each time Lady Luck ruled in his favor when the ball bounced immediately back to him. Another Bucs fumble on what proved to be their first scoring drive was saved by Viking Robert Griffith, as television replays showed, and incorrectly ruled as out-of-bounds by the referee.

Viking quarterback Brad Johnson seemed to be out of his groove yesterday, not finding a comfortable niche all day long. Normally sure-handed Cris Carter, perhaps trying a bit too hard, fumbled on a possible scoring drive in the second half. In short, the offense just wasn’t clicking.

But truth be told, the Buccaneers were a solid football team in 1997. They had an incredibly fast running back in Warrick Dunn, and in Mike Alstott, they had a full back whose heart and determination to never quit was seen in his second-effort touchdown run in the first half. The Bucs defense had three sacks on Johnson who seemed to have trouble reading the varying coverage patterns played out by their defensive backfield.

Earlier in the morning, at the Viking Underground Tailgate Party, I spoke to the group present on what I saw as the keys to a game win. I told them that we needed to pressure Dilfer into passing situations and make him throw more than 25 times. I believed the Vikings could establish a complete running game either up the middle or outside, utilizing Leroy Hoard or Robert Smith, knowing that the Bucs could not defend both. Instead it was the Vikings quarterback being harassed and throwing more than 25 times and the Tampa running combination, Alstott inside-Dunn outside, that burned up the running yardage.

The Viking players were obviously frustrated. At one point in the game, Hoard, after running into a pile of players for no gain, picked up the ball and threw it directly at Viking offensive coordinator Brian Billick. Hoard, nursing a sore hamstring, was seen little after that.

It was my opinion that Billick was perhaps over-coaching the offense too much, trying hard to draw attention away from NFC leading rusher Robert Smith by utilizing Charles Evans and throwing too much on first down. We had the tools to be a high-scoring offensive team, and with a relatively young and inexperienced quarterback, perhaps a simpler approach would have been the answer.

The thing to keep in mind is that the Vikings were still 2-1 going into Green Bay. A win at Lambeau Field, ending the Packer home winning streak at 24, would renew the Viking confidence we saw in the closing minutes of the Chicago Bears game earlier this month. The Packers would not be at full strength and would not have nose tackle Gilbert Brown or strong safety LeRoy Butler available for the game. After losing to the Philadelphia Eagles the previous week, the Packers did not look good in their win over a mediocre Miami Dolphins in Green Bay.

It would be a real gut-check for the Vikings after such a loss at our home opener. We were all interested see if they wanted to come back to the Metrodome as a 3-1 team or a 2-2 team.

The Viking Underground Social at the Atlas restaurant on the Saturday night before the home opener was mildly successful with about 15 people turning out over three and one-half hours. The food received many compliments, especially the steamed mussels. The Viking Underground Game Day Tour consisting of pregame access to the field was hugely successful with nearly 40 people joined by another group of 40 from Kentucky. The Viking Underground Tailgate Party was also highly successful with fans from California, Georgia, Indiana, Wisconsin, South Dakota, and Iowa attending. Ragnar told me afterwards that he had heard about the tailgate party and planned to make an appearance at the Philadelphia game party in two weeks.