Vikings coach Mike Zimmer wasn’t pleased with the way his defense played early because it allowed Cincinnati to completely control the tempo and flow of the game – which goes against everything Zimmer’s defense is predicated on. Zimmer had said during the spring that defensive tackle Sharrif Floyd – who had surgery to remove cartilage in his knee past year – was still dealing with lingering injury woes, and the Vikings’ broadcast said Floyd stayed home with a knee issue. “Soft in the running game, poor in third-and-1 situations, soft with the linebackers”. They have their first meeting with the Vikings in Minnesota in Week 9, just before the Lions’ Week 10 bye.
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Sixth-round rookie wide receiver Cody Core caught three passes for 33 yards, while Giovani Bernard led the rushing attack with 21 yards on seven carries.
After the two teams exchange punts, the Bengals tied the game on a three-yard pass from quarterback A.J.
Dalton found receiver A.J. Cincinnati finished the first half with 193 yards of offense.
So now that the team is down to a handful of willing-and-able lineman, who will be protecting our quarterback when the regular season kicks off?
A slew of Bengals offensive lines helped quarterback AJ McCarron ring up a 112.8 passer rating.
Regardless, Vikings football was played last night and we can gradually start to trade in our speculative statements for on-field facts.
What made the situation tortuous for the Vikings defense is that the Bengals were willing to pick up yardage in very small chunks. The Vikings gave the ball to running back Jerick McKinnon, and after a great push by the Bengals’ defensive line, McKinnon was pinned behind his own linemen five yards deep in the end zone.
Marvin Lewis noted in his postgame comments that the failed 4th down conversion was one of the critical moments of the game, saying “we’ve got to convert that fourth-and-one”. The Vikings relied on the contributions of four rookies to win the game. None of the plays gained more than 3 yards, but all of them gained more than the needed yard. For the first half, the Bengals converted 7 of 10 third downs and held the ball for more than 18 minutes. Prior to that play, the defense had been getting to Bridgewater. Third-and-5 or more is a different story.
JETS 17, JAGUARS 13: Blake Bortles led Jacksonville on two scoring drives, the second capped by Chris Ivory’s 1-yard run against his former team, in a loss to NY.
Facing the second-team defense on the next series, Bridgewater threw a 49-yard touchdown pass to Charles Johnson that completed a 96-yard drive. From that point on, the Vikings would never trail.
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Other than the offensive line, Hill was one of two starters who went back out for the second series, and it was on the first play of that drive when he hurt his hand at the end of a 3-yard run.
