News · Analysis · Community · Forever SkolJordan Addison went from quiet to decisive in the span of a few minutes Sunday, catching a 30-yard sideline pass and then a 41-yard touchdown within three plays of each other as the Vikings beat the Buccaneers 23-16 in Tampa, according to Vikings.com.
The burst came after Justin Jefferson left the game with a left ankle injury on a catch-and-run on the final play of Minnesota's opening series, per Vikings.com. Addison's 30-yard grab, in which he dragged his toes out of bounds at the Tampa Bay 43, was his longest reception since Week 15 of last season, the team's report said. Three plays later, quarterback Kyler Murray found him again for a 41-yard score that put the Vikings ahead 17-10 — Murray's deepest touchdown throw since Week 14 of the 2024 season, according to the report.
Murray said after the game that he knew Addison had beaten his coverage on the touchdown because Buccaneers safety Antoine Winfield Jr. had rotated into a middle-field "robber" role, leaving Addison isolated on the outside, per Vikings.com. Addison finished with five catches on nine targets for 90 yards and the touchdown, boosting his career reception total to 180 and moving him past Paul Flatley into 10th on the franchise's all-time list, the team's report said.
Addison's production had been limited through the first two games of the season — he had no catches in Week 1 and two catches for 21 yards in Week 2. Vikings.com noted that stretch included Murray briefly leaving the opener in concussion protocol and difficult wind and rain conditions in Chicago, though the report did not draw a direct link between those factors and Addison's targets specifically. Head coach Kevin O'Connell had said before Sunday's game that Addison's statistical breakthrough was coming, according to the report.
Murray finished 15 of 29 for 168 yards with one touchdown and one interception, the latter coming off a batted pass at the line that was picked off by Buccaneers lineman A'Shawn Robinson, per Vikings.com. Minnesota went just 2 for 15 on third downs and did not run a single offensive snap inside the red zone — the first time that has happened in a Vikings win since 2007, according to ESPN Research cited by the team.
The Vikings defense compensated by sacking Baker Mayfield six times and holding Tampa Bay to 2-for-17 on third downs and 0-for-2 on fourth downs, per Vikings.com. Kicker Will Reichard extended his streak of consecutive field goals to 26, and return specialist Myles Price added an 86-yard punt-return touchdown — the first such score for Minnesota since Marcus Sherels in 2016, the report said. Running back Aaron Jones Sr. carried 17 times for 58 yards, part of a workload that has him at 52 rushes through three games this season, his highest total at this point in a season since 2020, according to Vikings.com.
The win pushed Minnesota to 3-0. Murray told reporters afterward that the offense hadn't played its best game but that the team would take the victory and keep working, per Vikings.com.