• With 9:38 left in the second quarter, the Bucs had a first-and-goal at the Minnesota 6. Wide receiver Antonio Bryant came open on a crossing route in the end zone, but Garcia hesitated, scrambled around and then threw late to Bryant and the pass was incomplete. For some reason, he didn’t want to pull the trigger and he ended up getting whacked by defensive end Ray Edwards, who was flagged for a roughing the passer penalty. Without the hesitation, Garcia has an easy touchdown pass and the Bucs tie the game, 10-10.• Two plays later on second-and-goal from the Minnesota 7, tight end Jerramy Stevens had a late release off the line of scrimmage because he thought there was going to be a false start penalty called. He was supposed to get a fade pass on that play, but Stevens’ late release caused Garcia to look elsewhere. Garcia looked in the middle of the field and saw Michael Clayton wide open on a slant, but hesitated, scrambled around for a second and then threw late to Clayton. The pass was incomplete, but that was second opportunity for Garcia to throw a touchdown pass and tie the game at 10-10.• With 11:07 left in the third quarter on first-and-10 from the Minnesota 17, Stevens and fellow tight end John Gilmore ran double posts into the end zone against Minnesota’s Cover 2 defense. Garcia read the defense and threw the ball down the middle of the field to Gilmore, who was the inside receiver, based on the Vikings’ coverage on the play – not how they were playing. During the pre-snap read, that was the right read for Garcia, dropping the ball over the head of linebacker Ben Leber and in between safeties Darren Sharper and Madieu Williams. But the Vikings read Garcia’s eyes from the start and the safeties keyed on Gilmore quickly and closed in on him and knocked the ball away. Stevens, who was outside and to the left of Gilmore, should have received the ball as he had more separation and only had to deal with one safety on the outside – not both safeties across the middle. Had Garcia thrown the ball up for Stevens instead, the Bucs likely would have scored a touchdown, which could have been the second for Tampa Bay’s starting quarterback.• With 3:47 remaining in the fourth quarter on second-and-goal from the Minnesota 8, Garcia had Bryant open on a slant across the middle, but hesitated and didn’t throw the ball. He then scrambled around a little bit and then overthrew a wide-open Warrick Dunn in the left flat. If he hit either Bryant or Dunn for a touchdown on this play, Garcia could have had his third scoring strike of the game and the Bucs would have led 23-13 instead of 19-13. With a 10-point lead, the game is essentially over. However, with only a six-point lead, the Vikings were still within a touchdown of winning the game with 3:23 left in regulation.
