The Minnesota Vikings opened the Leslie Frazier Era with a win against the Washington Redskins, 17-13, on Sunday at FedEx Field.
It wasn't an awe-inspiring win by any stretch of the imagination. It was to be kind "a defensive struggle" (a snoozer in laymen's terms), and a 7-7 tie at halftime. Both teams scored on their opening drives and that was it until the third quarter.
Adrian Peterson left the game at the half with an ankle injury. He also went over the 1,000 yard mark in rushing for the fourth consecutive year, getting 36 yards on the ground and a TD on the day. I didn't have a good feeling about it, but Toby Gerhart did a nice job filling in for him, rushing for 76 yards on 22 carries and the last TD the Vikings scored, early in the third.
The Vikings defense rebounded nicely from last week's disaster, holding Washington to just 25 yards rushing and they had three sacks and an interception.
Brett Favre wasn't anything special, going 15 for 23 and 172 yards. He threw no TDs or interceptions, but one of the day's highlights was late in the game involving him. Vikes had the ball on the Redskin 24 yard line with 2 1/2 minutes to play, with a third down and eight yards to go for the first. Washington had just used their last time out, and the world was anticipating Favre giving the ball to Gerhart. But he faked the handoff and the Redskin defense was anticipating a pass. But Favre crossed up everyone and found a seam in the middle of the field and ran for 10 yards and a first down, icing the game, as the two minute warning had just happened. The Vikes ran out the clock and got Frazier his first win.
It wasn't anything special, but the Vikings will take it. It was nice to see the defense looking a lot better. I wouldn't say I saw a spark in the Vikings, but I'm sure more than one person will ask after this game, "Why wasn't Brad Childress fired sooner?"
It was just nice to see them get some dignity back after seeing this turn into a completely lost season.
The Vikings are now 4-7 and take on Buffalo at the Metrodome next Sunday.
No comments:
Post a Comment