1. Did Freg Pagac lose faith in his secondary?

Contrary to my initial impression, the Vikings did actually blitz a fair amount in the second half. But the blitzing came to an abrupt end after one specific play: Preston Parker’s 51-yard reception to set up the Buccaneers’ third quarter field goal (which could’ve been a third quarter touchdown, except that the Bucs were called for an illegal shift). Pagac brought the heat on that play, but Josh Freeman stood in and delivered to Parker who ran through an Antoine Winfield tackle, then another attempted tackle by an out-of-position Husain Abdullah, finally being stopped by Asher Allen at the Vikings’ 21. The fact that Pagac almost completely abandoned the blitz for the two Bucs series after that, instead dropping his linebackers into coverage, indicates to me that Pagac lost all trust in his defensive backs’ ability to make tackles, and felt he needed to keep his linebackers back to prevent anymore short catches being broken for big gains. Unfortunately, this approach meant no pressure whatsoever on Freeman who proceeded to pick apart the Vikings.

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