Vikings start season off right in a tight battle

by poohty_t | 8 years ago | 0 Comments

Week 1 started the season off with the Vikings still riding the high of making the playoffs under coach Tizel for the first time last year and their best ever record of 11-5.At the end of last season the Lions fired their coach and brought in Coach Montana to try to right the ship that had gone off the tracks.With both coaches not being used to one anothers playcalling , it made for a very interesting game.

 

The first quarter was just a defensive slug fest, as the quarter ended 0-0 . Both teams offenses could  not even get 60 yards total offense on either side.The second quarter the Lions strike first , as their HB Gregory Beckett who got hit in the backfield by not 1 but 2 defenders , broke out of their tackles and was off to the races , to score on a 89 yard run to give the Lions a 7 - 0 lead. The Vikings defense was stunned as they thought they had him for a loss in the backfield ,only to watch him push defenders off of him and break out for the long run. The Vikings then answer back with a long drive , finished off on a pass to hb Raheem for a 22 yard score to tie the game at 7 a piece.Then the Vikings defends forced a punt , drove down to the 1 yard line with 1 second left and opted to go for a td instead of FG.That idea turned out to be a bad idea, as qb Heath got sacked to end the half.

 

The second half went about like the first as neither teams offense could really do alot , alot of punts involved with the score still tied 7-7 at the start of the 4th. Both teams had drives stopped and resulted in more punts, as the punters on both teams had good workouts in this game. Then the Lions managed to get a drive going , but it got shut down about the 15 yardline and were forced to kick a FG with about 5 minutes left in the quarter to go up 10-7. The Vikings had their backs to the wall at this point and knew they had to at least get a fg knowing they had only managed 7 points in 3 quarters. They got a good drive out of their hbs and qb heath , that they finished off with a pass to TE Jeter for a td to go up 10-14. Jeter was a rookie last season and missed 8 games getting hurt in week 1 of last season.Then the Vikings defense stepped up and forced the only int thrown by QB Goodson, but then the offense went 3 and out on 3 runs .Not leaving alot of time left for the Lions, who did manage to get to about the 50 yard line but was shut down on 4 downs and then the Vikings just kneeled it out to end the game 10-14.

 

After the game, coach Tizel had this to say "Hey look, this was jsut a dog fight defensive battle from the start .That is what we love, because we feel like it gives us a great chance to at least be in the game at the end and hope to make a play or two like we did tonight to give us the edge and the win.That is a tough team , and look to be well coached. I was impressed with how our team remained patient tonight , and didnt panic, even when we got down mid way thru the 4th.These are the types of games that can make the difference in a 11-5 season like last year and a 4-12 season like we have had before. Its about those close games, and just a couple plays not made or made that really makes the differnce. Often a team will look at something the other team did to win, and fail to see what they didnt do to make a play to win. That is one thing i love about this game.The adreniline pumping when the game is tight and time is winding down, how can you preform in those moments.Im proud of our guys tonight, and tip our hat to a very good opponent. We got lucky tonight. There is a very long season ahead of us and we just have to take this 1 game at a time.Hopefully after 15 more games, we find outselves back in the playoffs, that is our only goal at this point."

The Vikings have the Panthers next week and the Lions face off against the Chargers.