The Panthers scored on a 48-yard field goal on their first possession and on a 3-yard Cam Newton run on their second possession. 10-0 Panthers after 10 minutes. It didn't look promising for the Vikings.
The Vikings offense didn't do much in the first half. 34 yards of production. Very sad. Quarterback Sam Bradford was harassed often and off target on his throws often. A bad combination. Fortunately for the Vikings, the defense was excellent after allowing those 10 early points. The defense scored the first Vikings points on a safety. Defensive end Danielle Hunter brought down Newton in the end zone. The Vikings second score of the first half came on a 54-yard punt return touchdown by Marcus Sherels.
It's nice to have a defense and a special teams that can put points on the board. Especially when the offense isn't doing much at all. Good teams often have defenses and special teams that score. The Vikings might have a pretty good team.
There were a few reasons for the Vikings first half offensive struggles. One that might not get much attention was the terrific punting of Panthers punter Andy Lee. Twice he pinned the Vikings offense inside the five-yard line with his fine punting. That sort of field position can put some restrictions on an offensive game plan. The Panthers defense forced a three-and-out on each occasions.
Speaking of punting, this game had a nice little punting duel. Lee was great. Vikings punter Jeff Locke was pretty good too.
Lee: 4 punts for an average of 47.2. Long of 58. Two downed inside the 5.
Locke: 7 punts for an average of 48.4. Long of 62. Three were downed inside the 10.
-one of those downed inside the 10 set the defense up for the safety.
A punting duel. Nice.
Locke had five punts in the first half and only two in the second half. The Vikings offense finally got things moving in the second half. Bradford had more time to throw and his throws were accurate. A much better combination than that of the first half.
A big part of the Vikings offensive resurgence in the second half was the Panthers inability to cover tight end Kyle Rudolph. He scored on a 15-yard catch to cap a nice drive that opened the second half. Rudolph repeatedly found open holes in the Panthers defense. 7 catches for 70 yards and the lone offensive touchdown.
Compared to the first half, the Vikings offense really came alive in the second half. 34 yards in the first. 177 in the second. The 211 total isn't earth-moving but the offense did enough to score 14 pints. Defense and special teams added the other eight. The 22 points were enough with the defense doing what it did.
The Vikings defense won this game. They shut out the NFL's highest-scoring offense (since the start of last season) after those 10 quick points.
Some numbers:
8 sacks
3 interceptions
1 safety
0 points over the last 50 minutes.
Defensive end Everson Griffen led the way with three of the eight sacks.
Others registering sacks:
Harrison Smith
Anthony Barr
Linval Joseph
Brian Robison
Danielle Hunter-safety
Newton was harassed the entire game. The pass rush harassed him. The secondary legally harassed his receivers. More precisely, the secondary covered the receivers. About half of the eight sacks looked like coverage sacks. That coverage also resulted in three interceptions
Vikings corner Xavier Rhodes returned after missing the first two games. He was responsible for coverage on Panthers top receiver Kelvin Benjamin for much of the game. The first time that Benjamin had a pass go his way was late in the game when Marcus Sherels was covering him. It was incomplete. Rhodes completely took one of Newton's top weapons away from him.
The Vikings aren't going to win a lot of games with this sort of offensive production but they are going to win a lot of games as long as the defense plays like it's been playing. If the offense can play an entire game like they have during some stretches of games, the Vikings could be playing late in January. Maybe early February as well.
Left guard Alex Boone had to be carted to the locker room in the second quarter. That left backups manning the left side of the offensive line in the second half. T.J. Clemmings started the game at left tackle after hip surgery sidelined Matt Kalil for the season. Jeremiah Sirles replaced Boone at left guard. The backups did a fine job. Bradford had more time to throw in the second half.
The Vikings offense has yet to commit a turnover through three games. That's good.
3-0 is a nice start to the season.
***
There were some other games yesterday.
With the way that the Washington Redskins played in their first two games, their 29-27 win over the New York Giants might be considered a shock. Two things. One, it's still too early in the season to truly tell anything for sure about any team. Two, it's the NFC East. Anything can happen when teams that truly hate each other play each other and the teams in this division aren't fond of each other. The Giants were 2-0 and the Redskins 0-2 entering the game. Now, a single game separates the two. The Giants travel to Minnesota for a Monday night battle next week.
Redskins cornerback Josh Norman is a funny man. His post game interview was a kick.
It appears that the Oakland Raiders defense finally showed up for the 2016 NFL season. The New Orleans Saints and Atlanta Falcons moved the ball and scored (69 points!) at will on the Raiders in the first two weeks. They were fortunate to manage one win in those two games. The Titans scored 10 points against them yesterday. The Raiders offense scored 17 for the win. The Raiders defense got away with pass interference in the end zone at the end of the game. The game might have ended with a different outcome if that had been called properly.
The Cincinnati Bengals offense might have thrown a little scare into the fierce Denver Broncos defense in the first half of their game. 14 points. The Broncos defense was all over the Bengals in the second half. 3 points. 29-17 win for the Broncos. Game-managing quarterback Trevor Siemian threw four touchdowns for the Broncos. Including a 41-yarder to Emmanuel Sanders and a 55-yarder to Demaryius Thomas. Nice managing.
From the "I just don't know" category:
Arizona Cardinals 18
Buffalo Bills 33
The Bills have had just about everything possible go wrong for them since they opened training camp. They played more like a team that was on the verge of getting their head coach fired than a team with anything resembling hope. The Cardinals are a Super Bowl contender.
I just don't know.
At the half, the Green Bay Packers were up 31-10 over the Detroit Lions. They held on for a 34-27 win. Aaron Rodgers and the Packers offense have to score more than the three points that they scored in the second half. Rodgers was on the wrong end of media heat last week. He really responded in the first half but that three-point second half won't silence the media from honking some more.
The Jacksonville Jaguars came into the 2016 season with a lot of hope and a bunch of bandwagon fans. They are now 0-3 after their 19-17 loss to the Baltimore Ravens. The Jaguars played poorly last week against the San Diego Chargers but they threw a scare into the Packers in Week 1 and were close against the Ravens. Scares and close don't change a team's a record.
Poor Browns. The Cleveland Browns were thumped by the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 1. They lost starting quarterback Robert Griffin III in the process. They lost a big lead and eventually the game to the Baltimore Ravens in Week 2. They lost backup quarterback Josh McCown in the process. Rookie Cody Kessler was the next quarterback up against the Miami Dolphins yesterday. He did well. 22/33 for 244 yards. The Browns had a shot to win the game at the end of regulation but Cody Parkey missed the 46-yard field goal that would have won the game. The Dolphins won it overtime on Jay Ajayi's 11-yard touchdown. Poor Browns. They may be 0-3 but there's a feeling here that they are moving in the right direction. Finally.
The Seattle Seahawks got little resistance from the San Francisco 49ers. 37-18 Seahawks.
Another "I just don't know."
Pittsburgh Steelers 3
Philadelphia Eagles 34
Some had a Steelers-Cardinals Super Bowl. Do they think that now? It's only one week and a couple of surprising games. The Eagles look like they could be for real. They had strong wins against shaky teams the first two weeks (Cleveland Browns and Chicago Bears). The Steelers are a strong team and this was an impressive win. The Eagles are 3-0.
At least the Steelers get running back Le'Veon Bell back this week. That should help them score more than a field goal.
The Kansas City Chiefs rode a strong defensive performance to take care of the New York Jets. 24-3. The Jets turned the ball over eight times. 8! Jets quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick threw six interceptions. It's hard to win games that way. At any level.
The San Diego Chargers and Indianapolis Colts played an entertaining, sometimes sloppy, game. Andrew Luck's 63-yard touchdown pass to T.Y. Hilton with just over a minute to go was the difference in the 26-22 Colts win. Their first win of the season.
The funny thing about this Colts-Chargers game was that it felt like a defensive game. Maybe that's why it was often sloppy. For two teams that are built around their quarterbacks that felt a little strange.
The Los Angeles Rams and Tampa Bay Buccaneers played a scorcher. The Rams held on for a 37-32 win. This game was delayed for a while at the two-minute warning due to weather concerns. When the teams finally returned to the field, Buccaneers quarterback Jameis Winston led his team on a fine final drive with 1:42 to play. He was five yards short of his goal when time expired. The Buccaneers started the drive with two timeouts. When Winston was tackled and the final seconds came off the clock the Buccaneers still had two timeouts. They probably would have had time for another play or two if they had used one or both of those timeouts. They don't carry over to the next game.
The Dallas Cowboys hosted the Chicago Bears in the Sunday Night game. The Cowboys controlled the game in the 31-17 win. The plucky Bears actually made the game interesting after it looked like the Cowboys were going to roll over them early. Rookie quarterback Dak Prescott looked great for the Cowboys. 19/24 for 248 yards and a touchdown. As did rookie running back Ezekiel Elliott. 140 yards on 30 carries. Both give the Cowboys a hopeful future. If they continue this level of play they give the Cowboys a hopeful present too.
This might have been a more competitive game if the officials hadn't blown the call on a Bears onside kick in the first half. The Bears had finally scored to make it 17-3 and pulled out the surprise gamble. They had to steal possession at some point and the Cowboys weren't doing them any favors. The Bears recovered the onside kick but the officials ruled that a Bears player crossed the 35-yard line before the ball was kicked. Everything looked fine live. It didn't look like any Bears player was offside on replay either. The player that the officials said was offside certainly wasn't. There's no way to know if the Bears would have taken advantage of the onside kick recovery but the officials took away their chance to try. The Cowboys did take advantage of the officials apparent gift when they scored a touchdown to make it 24-3.
The New Orleans Saints host the Atlanta Falcons tonight. This NFC South rivalry game is routinely entertaining.
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