In week 2 , the Browns came into Minnesota looking to get their first win of the season. The Vikings were looking to keep going in the right direction. This game started seemingly ok for the Vikings who drove down on their first possesion and scored a td on a pass to WR Riley to go up 0-7 . That is when things changed around , the Browns QB Miles finds WR Josh Gordon on a long pass to tie it at 7. Then on the next possesion, Teddy started Teddying as the Vikings call it . Throwing an int on their 30 yardline.The Browns capitalize on the turnover with a 5 yard run to the outside by HB Isaiah Crowell, who refused to go down, to go up 14-7 . The Vikings then go down and score a fg to make it 14-10. They stop the Browns offense on a sack by LE Barr , who was moved from LOLB to LE in the offseason a move Coach Tizel is happy with. However, they get the ball back and it was Teddying time again, throwing another int on their 35 .The Browns once again capitalize on it , and score another td to go up 21-7 with 2 minutes left before the half ,and they were to get the ball after halftime. Things were looking bad for the Vikings as the Browns had momentum.
They knew they had to act fast to turn things around and did, scoring a 40 yard td on a pass to WR Jefferys just before halftime making it 21-14. After the half, the Browns score another td on a run by Crowell , but shank the extra point to make it 27-14. The Vikings cant generate any offense, and are forced to punt. This time the Browns drive down, just before the end of the third quarter, to score a fg making it 30-17 . At this point things look bad for the Vikings feeling like they were falling back into last years issues and habits. This time they didnt give in though. On the play of the game if you ask the Vikings, a 3rd n 8 , Vikings QB Teddy Bridgewater was forced to throw a short underneath pass to HB Griffin only 1 yard passed the line of scrimmage.With two defenders closing in on him hard, he lowers his shoulders, embraces both players as they hit him, pushing one off and shrugging off the other, and breaks free to run for 30 yards down field. This play saved the day for the Vikings, for if they had not gotten this first down, they would have been forced to punt, and down 16 with 6 minutes left felt like such a task to try to overcome. They regained momentum after this play, scored a quick td right after that play to make it 30-21.Their defense then stepped up and got a much needed int on the Browns side of the field. Scoring quickly again on a pass to WR Riley, making it 30-28 as things were turnning around quickly for the Vikings. On the next possesion the Browns QB Miles was under pressure by DT Sherif Floyd and throws an ill advised pass , that is picked off by CB Olsen on the Browns 45. The Vikings score on a pass to Riley once again to regain the lead they hadn't had since the first possesion of the game , 30-35. Thier defense held up after that , and got the win in another tight battle for the Vikings.
After the game , in the press conference Coach Tizel seemed happy with his team . " You know, this is two times already this season, we have overcome being down in the 4th quarter to come back and win the games, instead of blowing them like we have been doing pretty normally over the past few seasons. Im proud of my guys for sticking with it , even when the chips were stacked against us both weeks 1 and 2. Of course we would prefer it not even be this close of a game, for our nerves sake, we are glad to go thru the fire and come out on the other side victorious . This is good expeirence for our team, especially the rookies.That was a tough team we faced, no matter their record , those guys play smart and hard each week. They gave us all we could handle tonight and at home at that."
When asked about the move of LOLB Barr to LE in the offseason after once being on the trade block, here was Tizel's response. " Well we all know this is a business. We were just shopping him to see what kind of offers we could get , but didnt want to see him go. We didnt get offered what we thought he was worth to us, so we started looking at other options. In some of our defensive formations , it has our LOLB in the place of the LE, and in the past he got good pressure on the QB like that, so we talked about it with some advisors, and made the move as he is getting alittle older, maybe to give him some extra longevity for us and for him. So far this year hisp production there has been great.Right now he leads the league in sacks. That doesnt not even include the number of times he has forced throws due to his pressure and QB knockdowns. We knew we had been missing some good pass rushing and that was hurting us. So glad we made this move for us and him."
The Vikings squeak out another close one this week, how long will their luck continue? Who knows but for now this team is enjoying it .The Vikings face the Bears next week and the Browns face the Ravens.