The Vikings’ front seven is as good as it gets and it dominated the Packers along the line. Although the midgame loss of the star running back may yet produce an offensive nightmare for the Vikings.
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Before the rumored Prince tribute at halftime, the very first touchdown at the Vikings’ new U.S. Bank Stadium, (unfortunately for the hometown fans) was a pass from Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers to receiver Jordy Nelson.
Sam Bradford was never on a winning team over his first six years in the league. There’s optimistic news coming out of the team’s camp, which is good, because there’s nearly no way the Vikings would recover from losing him.
However, the Minnesota ground game was troublesome, putting it mildly.
The Packers defense played well, holding Adrian Peterson to 19 years before he left with the game with a knee injury. He did not return.
Coach Mike Zimmer said he wouldn’t know the extent of the injury until after Peterson had the MRI, but he didn’t sound gravely concerned about it after the game. His long run was 5 yards. All of a sudden, Rodgers is missing timing throws that he’s always made easily. “I don’t know if he will or not”, Zimmer told ESPN’s Ben Goessling. “I think we did that tonight”. Just shut up. I can’t say it any simpler than that.
Green Bay hosts another divisional opponent with the Detroit Lions coming to town, this game shall also be shown at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday. They gave up gains of 44 and 46 yards to Diggs, who was clearly in sync with his new passer.
Penalties were the Vikings’ biggest problem all night.
On the play he was hurt, Ware just missed wrapping up Colts quarterback Andrew Luck and appeared to run into a teammate. “He was pretty much unstoppable”. The second came with less than two minutes remaining on the clock.
“They didn’t do nothing new”.
The Packers struck first midway through the opening quarter. In fact, Peterson wasn’t even the only big-name running back to go down.
Adrian, 31, was tackled by Packers linesman during the third quarter. Vikings Hall of Famers Bud Grant, Fran Tarkenton and Cris Carter were all introduced to the crowd during the pregame festivities. Then he hit Kyle Rudolph for an 8-yard touchdown pass three plays later.
MIN-Walsh 46 yard field goal, 0:27.
On the next play, Bradford hit Diggs on the right side for 44 yards.
RUSHING- GB, Lacy 12-50, A.Rodgers 3-29, Starks 7-3, Cobb 1-1.
If Peterson is out, the Vikings likely will turn to a combination of backups Jerick McKinnon and Matt Asiata.
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GUTSY TOSS: On fourth-and-5 with the game on the line, Marcus Mariota threw a ideal 9-yard TD pass to a well-covered Andre Johnson with 1:13 left to lift the Titans to a 16-15 win over Detroit.
