Five sacks and a shutout in the second half might finally earn the Bucs defense major respect nationally

Before this week, the national media showed the Bucs little love. Get ready for that to change. 

How will the experts deal with the Bucs holding national golden boy Adrian Peterson to only 85 yards and knocking him off the path to 2,000 yards? They will start slobbering all over the Bucs defense, which proved ready for today’s huge test from the Vikings., especially considering Gus Frerotte didn’t throw a pick.  

Joe is sure you’ll hear a lot this week about the Bucs having a Super Bowl-caliber defense, plus Jeff Garcia’s leadership and deadly accuracy. He’s now throwing at a 70 percent clip for the season.

ESPN’s Mark Schlereth and other talking heads picked the Vikings to win this game.

Maybe now Barrett Ruud, Tanard Jackson and the other relatively unknown studs on the Bucs defense will get their due.