My quick take on the Vikings victory over the Hated Dallas Cowboys yesterday.
Play Of The Game had to go to the Vikings kick return team for Percy Harvin‘s 95 yard return for a touchdown to start the second half.
The play energized the crowd and seemed to provide a spark to the Vikings offense after yet another listless first half.
Ball Hawks. Shortly after complaining that the Vikings D does not create enough turnovers, we get two critical interceptions in one game. Hey, I do what I can.
E.J. Henderson absolutely rocked yesterday. The first interception was a team effort with Jared Allen pressuring Tony Romo to release the ball early, allowing Ray Edwards to make a savvy veteran move by letting the ball hit him on the helmet, which popped the rock high into the air for Chad Greenway to try and wrestle the ball away from E.J. Henderson.
That pick lead to Greg Camarillo‘s touchdown catch.
The second interception was all E.J. Henderson and it was a sight to behold.
Halfway into the fourth quarter facing a third and one at their own 23 yard line, Romo went back to pass and looked for Jason Witten for a pass down the seam only to find E.J. in his throwing lane plucking the ball out of the air. E.J. showed blitz at the line of scrimmage but then dropped back into coverage but he used the front lineman to hide from Romo until it was too late.
That interception lead to what turned out to be the game-winning field goal by Ryan Longwell.
You can add four tackles and five assists to E.J.’s performance.
Snap. That would be the sound of Chad Greenway‘s ankles breaking on the move Tony Romo put on Greenway on his way to a 14-yard run up the middle that converted a third down.
Toast. That would be Lito Sheppard, who gave up three touchdowns. Frank Walker, anyone?
Forgiveness is overrated. This week was the first time I’ve ever heard Randy Moss say that he forgave the Dallas Cowboys for their draft-day snub. If five catches for 55 yards and one dropped touchdown is the result of forgiveness, give me my grudge-holding Moss back right now.
A perfect throw. Speaking of dropped touchdowns, that pass Brett Favre tossed into double-coverage to Randy Moss late in the game could not have been more perfectly thrown. Moss just plain dropped it.
The Moss Effect. Even though Randy didn’t blow the Cowboys up as I expected he would (and, in my defense, as history would dictate), his mere presence again opened things up. You saw how far back the Cowboys’ safeties were playing.
Jimmy Kleinsasser. Kleinsasser got a handful of snaps at fullback and you saw something you never see from Nafahu Tahi, drive blocking. Kleinsasser excels at just locking on a guy and driving him the hell out of the play or just knocking him to the ground. Either way, his man doesn’t stand a chance.
Return Of Fumbleman? Though it will be added to Favre’s totals, the botched exchange that lead to a turnover, stopping the Vikings first drive from scrimmage, should properly be credited to Adrian Peterson. AP did not have his hands positioned properly to take the ball from his quarterback and the result was a lost fumble that lead to a Cowboys touchdown.
While it was not the type of fumble we usually see from Adrian–getting stripped as he’s fighting for yards or having the ball knocked out as he’s going down–it was still a fumble and it was still his fault.
4 OF 5
That would be the number of punts Chris Kluwe deposited inside the Cowboys’ 20-yard line, including a 49-yarder that put Dallas on their own four yard-line, downed by newcomer Frank Walker, with 29 seconds left in the game.
Tweet Of The Day. Chris Kluwe (a.k.a. @ChrisWarcraft) tweeted: “Did anyone get the license plate number of that @Dez_88 that ran me over? #guessigetcreditforatackle, #feellikeaspeedbump”