Jacksonville Jaguars vs. Minnesota Vikings: Live Score, Analysis for NFL Week 1
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Minnesota Vikings rookie kicker Blair Walsh kicked four field goals, including a 55-yarder as regulation expired to send the game into overtime.
After winning the coin toss, quarterback Christian Ponder led the Vikings to the Jaguars 20-yard line.
After failing to convert on third down, Walsh kicks the game-winning field goal.
The Vikings win 26-23 over the Jaguars.
The story of the game was the play of running backs Maurice Jones-Drew and Adrian Peterson.
After holding out for all of training camp and missing the preseason, Jones-Drew rushed for 77 yards on 19 carries.
He was outdone by Peterson.
Not only did Peterson come back from a major knee injury, he started the game.
Peterson finished with 84 yards on 17 carries, and scored two touchdowns. His backup, Toby Gerhart only had six carries for 18 yards.
With his performance, Peterson becomes the all-time leading rusher for Minnesota. He passes Robert Smith who had 6,818 yards in eight seasons with the Vikings.
Peterson has done it in one game more than five seasons. If not for the knee injury suffered in Week 16, he would have done it last year.
The story of the game however has to be the clutch kicking of Walsh.
Walsh made all four of his field goals, and finished with 14 points in the game. A 73.8 percent kicker at Georgia, the rookie showed no angst in leading the Vikings to victory in his first NFL game.
The 55-yard field goal ties the Vikings franchise long, held by Ryan Longwell, the kicker he replaced.
In the game Christian Ponder finished 20-of-27 for 270 yards, a 105 passer rating.
Ponder's counterpart, fellow second-year quarterback Blaine Gabbert, was 23-of-39 for 260 yards and two touchdowns, a 96.1 passer rating.
Percy Harvin, who did not see the ball that often in the first half, finished with five rushes for 20 yards, and six receptions for 84 yards. Along with 87 yards on three kickoff returns, he finished the game with a total of 191 yards.
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10:12 left in overtime: Play of the game by rookie Harrison Smith as he knocks down a pass.
13:38 left in overtime: Adrian Peterson just surpasses Robert Smith as the Vikings career rushing leader.
Coming into the game he needed only 66 yards to set the mark. In the game he has 88 yards on 16 carries.
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This was not even on anyone's radar after Christmas Eve last year when Peterson tore both the ACL and MCL in his left knee.
What an accomplishment for Peterson.
Are you kidding me!
Rookie Blair Walsh, with only 0:04 seconds left in the game, and the ball sitting on the Jacksonville 37-yard line, nails a 55-yard field goal to send the game into overtime.
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Walsh is 3-for-3 on the day.
And there it is, the touchdown Jacksonville needed.
With 0:20 seconds left, Blaine Gabbert throws a 39-yard touchdown to Cecil Shorts.
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They complete the two-point conversion and take the lead.
Jaguars 23, Vikings 20—another collapse at the end of the game for the Vikings.
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1:31 left in the game: The Vikings take the safe way out, and on 3rd-and-6 decide to run the ball.
Leaving it up to the Vikings defense to prevent the Jaguars from scoring a touchdown.
I hate it when teams play prevent.
The Vikings needed a first down, and didn't get.
Even though Jacksonville doesn't have any timeouts there is plenty of time to win this game.
2:00 minute warning: The Vikings defense may have come up with a big stop.
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A sack from blitzing cornerback, Chris Cook has the Jaguars facing a 3rd-and-18 from their 22-yard line.
Anything but a punt will a huge mistake by head coach Mike Mularkey
It's a scary time for fans of both teams.
Last season the Jaguars only won one game on the road, and that was at Indianapolis.
For the Vikings, they gave up halftime leads to open the first three games of the season to the Chargers, Buccaneers and Lions.
12:50 left in the 4th quarter: The Jaguars get a break when Letroy Guion thinking he has an easy sack, after Blaine Gabbert slips on a play.
Jaguar quarterback, Blaine Gabbert has seen some pressure, but has not been sacked.
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Instead of just touching Gabbert with a hand, Guion had to jump on him. The result was a 15-yard personal foul penalty and a first down.
The Jaguars are driving and closing in on the red zone yet once again.
End of the 3rd Quarter: The Vikings are a different team so far in the second half.
The defense has stopped the Jaguar offense on two of three drives, and the offense is rolling behind Adrian Peterson, Percy Harvin and Kyle Rudolph.
Tight end Kyle Rudolph has the longest catch in the game at 29 yards.
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Peterson has both touchdowns, Harvin has five catches for 64 yards and Rudolph has four for 61 yards.
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6:05 left in the 3rd quarter: The Vikings return the turnover. Christian Ponder fumbles as he is sacked on first down by Jeremy Mincey.
C.J. Mosley recovers the fumble and the Jaguars take over at the Minnesota 16-yard line.
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11:41 left in the 3rd quarter: The first turnover of the game comes as Jacksonville was driving to open the third quarter.
Turnovers are always a great equalizer. As Jacksonville has dominated, the fumbled snap between center Brad Meester and quarterback Blaine Gabbert gives the momentum to the Vikings.
Start of the 3rd quarter: If the Vikings are to win this game they will need to come up with a play on defense.
The opening drive of the second half would be a good time for one.
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The Jacksonville offense had two long scoring-drives in the first half.
Jared Allen, or Chad Greenway will need to make their presence felt.
Halftime: The Jaguars gave up a late touchdown to Adrian Peterson.
Three things the Jaguars need to do in the second half:
No. 1: Keep handing the ball to Maurice Jones-Drew and Rashad Jennings.
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In the first half on eight carries each, MJD has 36 yards and Jennings 31 yards.
No. 2: Pick on the Vikings secondary.
Blaine Gabbert is 9-of-16 for 103 yards and a touchdown. He has been able to move the Jaguar offense almost at will, hitting six different receivers.
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No. 3: Focus on stopping Percy Harvin.
The Minnesota offense was slow to get Harvin into the offense, but on their scoring drive he caught three passes for 32 yards. Along with Harvin, the Jaguars need to account for tight end Kyle Rudolph, also with three catches for 32 yards.
2:00 minute warning: Back-to-back receptions for Percy Harvin for 21 yards.
The Vikings are in Jacksonville territory for the first time in the game.
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Peterson remains on the sidelines.
Vikings' offensive coordinator, Bill Musgrave must be following this blog.
Has anyone seen Percy Harvin?
The Vikings best weapon on offense seems to have disappeared.
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Hopefully he's not doing an impersonation of Bernard Berrian from last season.
4:22 left in the 2nd quarter: It's obvious with three completions to tight end Kyle Rudolph, the third resulting in only the Vikings second first down, that Christian Ponder to Rudolph will be called a lot this season.
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The Vikings drive stalls again and Chris Kluwe is on for his fourth punt of the game.
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13:04 left in the second quarter: The Vikings go 3-and-out.
The good news, all three plays were carries by Adrian Peterson.
If Peterson has any problems with the knee he is not showing it.
As is usually the case, it takes Peterson some time to get into a groove. While he will be held to short gains, he will break off a huge run.
In order for that to happen, Vikings head coach Leslie Frazier will have to be comfortable to keep giving the ball to him.
Boy, is training camp and the preseason overrated.
Maurice Jones-Drew has 17 yards on three carries with only a week of practice since ending his holdout.
That's probably why most teams don't worry about playing their starters much, if at all, in the preseason.
Vikings quarterback, Christian Ponder comes up short on a 3rd-and-two play.
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The first quarter ends with the Jaguars driving on their second drive and leading 3-0.
So far the best player for the Jaguars has been Jone-Drew, while for the Vikings it has to be punter Chris Kluwe who has two punts for an average of 41 yards.
8:41 first quarter: The first matchup between Blackmon and Robinson goes to Blackmon as he converts on a 3rd-and-9 with a 13-yard catch.
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As stated earlier the key will be for the Vikings to put pressure on Gabbert.
11:20 in the first quarter: Maurice Jone-Drew gets his first carry on first down. A modest three-yard gain.
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So much for MJD playing on only third down.
If you're keeping track—Peterson, four rushing yard, Jone-Drew,three.
At 14:07 in the first quarter, Adrian Peterson gets his first carry of the season on the Vikings second play of the game.
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While it is only a four-yard gain, it's a significant carry—considering what Peterson has been through.
From Vikings.com, here's the inactive list for both teams.
Vikings inactives: QB McLeod Bethel-Thompson, WR Jarius Wright, CB A.J. Jefferson, S Andrew Sendejo, LB Marvin Mitchell, LB Audie Cole, and OL Mark Asper.
Jaguars inactives: WR Brian Robiskie, 21 Derek Cox, LB Daryl Smith, OL Josh Beekman, DE George Selvie, DE Austen Lane, and DT Jeris Pendleton.
A.J. Jefferson was projected to push as a starter on the Vikings defense and he opens the season on the inactive list. Checking the Vikings injury report, Jefferson does not show up.
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Watch for a possible matchup between rookie cornerback Josh Robinson for the Vikings and rookie wide receiver Justin Blackmon for the Jaguars.
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According to a tweet from Jeff Anderson, cornerback A.J. Jefferson is inactive for today's game.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet tw-align-center">
Today's #Vikings Inactives: 4 M. Bethel-Thompson, 17 J. Wright, 24 A. Jefferson, 34 A. Sendejo, 55 M. Mitchell, 57 A. Cole, 79 M. Asper.
— Jeff Anderson (@andersonj) September 9, 2012
I'm looking for more information on this.
Just over 30 minutes until kick-off.
Time to make sure the man cave is fully stocked.
Image from fansedge.com
This is one of the best days of the year.
In the four previous matchups between the Jaguars and Vikings no game was decided by less than 11 points. The average margin of victory has been 24.8 points with the Vikings winning three of four.
The last time the Jaguars played at the Metrodome was November 28, 2004.
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With two young quarterbacks the scoring could be difficult, and the margin of victory no more than a touchdown.
The Vikings defense led the NFL with 50 sacks last season and Jacksonville comes to town with the sixth-best overall defense from 2011.
For the Vikings to be successful they will need to put the pressure on Blaine Gabbert and not allow him the time to find Justin Blackmon.
Jacksonville will need to shutdown the fourth-best rushing offense from last season and force Christian Ponder to win the game.
This one will come down to the play of special teams.
Field goals and return yardage will be crucial for setting up field position.
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