QB Shaun King repeatedly found open targets on Sunday against the Vikings
If taken alone, Shaun King's numbers from Sunday's 41-13 win, plugged into the NFL's passer rating system, spit out this ridiculously high number: 148.0.
That rating harkens back to King's college days at Tulane which, it should be noted, really weren't that long ago. King left Tulane after the 1998 season with an NCAA-record career passer efficiency of 183.3 (the NCAA computes its rating somewhat differently). King's remarkable efficiency in leading Tulane to an 11-0 mark as a senior garnered him a list of NCAA honors and awards.
Less than two years later and just 13 starts into his pro career, King has earned an award from the NFL, taking Week Nine NFC Offensive Player of the Week honors. It is the first such award of King's young career and the fourth Player of the Week selection to fall on a Buccaneer this season. The other three were all in the defensive category.
King was named the conference's top offensive player this week after guiding the Bucs to victory over the league's last undefeated team, the Minnesota Vikings. He completed 16 of 23 passes (69.6%) for 267 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions. Those four touchdowns doubled his previous career high and were tossed in the direction of four different receivers.
King is the first Buccaneer to earn an Offensive Player of the Week award since 1997, when RB Warrick Dunn won it in Week Two and QB Trent Dilfer took it in Week Four. The Bucs' three previous Players of the Week in 2000 were LB Derrick Brooks in Week One, CB Ronde Barber in Week Two and DT Warren Sapp in Week Three.
Since Head Coach Tony Dungy took over the team's reins in 1996, Buccaneer standouts have been named Player of the Week 20 times. Before Dungy's arrival, the team had won just 17 such awards since the program was instituted in 1984.
