Pat Yasinskas, ESPN Staff Writer 9y

Vikings game has extra meaning for Leslie Frazier

TAMPA, Fla. -- Leslie Frazier wouldn’t say it, but Lovie Smith did.

Frazier the defensive coordinator for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers tried to pass off Sunday’s game with Minnesota as just another game. Prior to joining the Bucs, Frazier was Minnesota’s head coach for three-plus seasons. Smith, Tampa Bay’s coach, knows there’s extra meaning for Frazier in this game.

“Do you believe that?" Smith said with a laugh. “I think whenever you play a former team -- when I left here and went to St. Louis I was excited to play the Buccaneers and when I was in Chicago and we came back and we played St. Louis and we played Tampa Bay, you’re always excited for that. Leslie knows a lot of people there, he spent a lot of great years there and when you’re competing against your brother or relative or someone close, you always want to win those games."

Frazier is a competitor and there’s no doubt he wants to win against the team that fired him. But Frazier wouldn’t say that when he met with the media Thursday.

“When you’re sitting at 1-5 as a team and with our -- I’m not big into stats -- but more of the 1-5 factor, that overrides everything," Frazier said. “You look at where our division is and you realize that this win could get us started. So that really supersedes everything else. Our being able to get a win on Sunday would be so good for our team and what we’re trying to get accomplished this season.”

Frazier might be the busiest man around One Buccaneer Place this week. Aside from trying to fix a defense that’s ranked last in the league, he also has been playing the role of scout. Since he knows Minnesota’s personnel well, Frazier has been giving scouting reports to Tampa Bay’s coaches and players. But Frazier even tried to downplay that aspect.

“There’s still some guys that I have familiarity with, but they’re doing some different things," Frazier said. "I’ve shared what I could with our coaches and some of our players about some of their personnel. But they’re doing different things than when I was there, so they’re asked to do different things."

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