Lions vs. Vikings: Grades, Notes and Quotes
The Minnesota Vikings looked like a completely different team in Week 2 against the Detroit Lions. After suffering a demoralizing loss on Monday Night Football against the San Francisco 49ers, the Vikings bounced back to top the Lions 26-16 in their home opener on Sunday.
Minnesota looked strong from the get-go, unleashing Adrian Peterson on Detroit on its way to an 11-play, 75-yard scoring drive capped off by a Kyle Rudolph touchdown.
Immediately following the Rudolph score, the Vikings set the tone defensively. During its first two offensive possessions, Detroit tallied just 29 total yards on a total of 11 plays, which resulted in a pair of early game punts.
Following the second Lions punt, Teddy Bridgewater engineered Minnesota's second scoring drive. After Peterson was stuffed at the goal line, the second-year Vikings quarterback rushed the ball into the end zone himself on fourth down.
Minnesota and Detroit then traded field goals before the Lions put together arguably their best drive of the night. Quarterback Matthew Stafford led a well-executed two-minute drill, finishing off the first half with a touchdown pass to wide receiver Calvin Johnson. The play was reviewed but ultimately stood as called on the field, drawing the Lions to within a touchdown going into halftime.
Coming out of the break, Vikings cornerback Captain Munnerlyn forced wide receiver Lance Moore to fumble, and strong safety Andrew Sendejo recovered the ball for Detroit's first turnover of the night. However, the Vikings gave the ball right back, as Peterson fumbled away a red-zone opportunity, putting the Lions back in position to knot the game up at 17.
The Vikings defense held strong, forcing a punt, which Marcus Sherels returned 31 yards, deep into Lions territory. Bridgewater and Peterson guided the Vikings back into the red zone, but when Peterson fumbled again—the turnover was negated by an offside call—fullback Zach Line recorded the first touchdown of his career on a one-yard carry.
Kicker Blair Walsh missed the ensuing extra point, which set Minnesota ahead of Detroit 23-10 with a little more than a quarter to go.
Free safety Harrison Smith forced a Theo Riddick fumble during Detroit's next offensive possession, but Minnesota failed to turn good field position into points once again.
Following a series of drives ending in punts, Minnesota forced its third turnover of the afternoon on defensive end Justin Trattou's first career interception. The Trattou pick immediately followed a Smith interception that was called back due to a questionable Xavier Rhodes illegal contact penalty.
Minnesota put itself in the driver's seat with Walsh's second easy field goal of the day, putting Detroit at a 16-point deficit with under half a quarter remaining.
The Lions turned in a scoring drive, which was capped off by an Eric Ebron receiving touchdown, but running back Joique Bell failed to get into the end zone on a two-point conversion attempt. Smith burst through Detroit's offensive line to drill Bell in the backfield, essentially ending any chance for the Lions to come back with little time remaining on the clock.
Tight end Rhett Ellison recovered Detroit's onside kick following the score, and Peterson ran out the clock to ensure Minnesota's victory. The divisional win moved the Vikings to 1-1 on the season.
Bridgewater finished the game 14-of-18 with 153 passing yards and his first scoring toss of the season. He also added 21 rushing yards and a second score, helping him reach a 98.5 total quarterback rating—the third highest of any quarterback in Week 2 behind only Ben Roethlisberger (99.4) and Carson Palmer (99.1).
Peterson carried the ball 29 times for 134 yards and also caught two passes for 58 yards, accounting for a grand total of 192 yards on the day.
Defensively, the Vikings held Detroit to just 38 rushing yards—Stafford led the Lions with 20—and Rhodes "limited" Megatron to 10 catches and 83 yards despite 17 targets on the day.
Additionally, Everson Griffen recorded his first sack of the year; Brian Robison totaled six tackles, a quarterback hit and two pass defenses; and Munnerlyn finished the day as the team leader with seven tackles to go along with his forced fumble.
Position Grades for Vikings
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| Position | Grades |
| QB | A- |
| RB | B |
| WR | B |
| TE | A- |
| OL | B |
| DL | A |
| LB | B |
| DB | B+ |
| Special Teams | B- |
| Coaching | A |
The box score doesn't do justice to how well quarterback Teddy Bridgewater played on Sunday. He wasn't asked to do very much, but he delivered when called upon. Following a subpar Week 1 performance, the young signal-caller responded with an 8.5 per-attempt average, his first passing touchdown of the young season and showcased many of the tools that caused analysts to peg him as a breakout candidate during the offseason.
His highlights included a touchdown pass to Kyle Rudolph, a rushing touchdown and a flip to Adrian Peterson while being pulled down for a sack, which resulted in a 49-yard reception. It wasn't the prettiest play, and Bridgewater's biggest critics may call it a fluke, but the nothing-to-something play had a Brett Favre-like feel to it.
There is no doubt that Peterson looked like himself again on Sunday, as he carved up the Lions defense all afternoon while showing great vision and decisiveness. The only reason he didn't receive a higher grade is because he looked more like the 2008 version of himself—a major liability in terms of fumbling the football.
His statistical record will only remember two (one lost), but the Minnesota running back lost control of the ball on three separate occasions—all of which came in the red zone. Had it not been for an offside call and a quick recovery, this game may have turned out differently. Simply put, this issue needs to be fixed quickly, and if he is able to do so, the Vikings definitely appear to have an unstoppable force in their backfield once again.
Rudolph, Mike Wallace, Charles Johnson, Jarius Wright and the rest of Minnesota's receiving options weren't given a whole lot of opportunities on Sunday, but they certainly made the most of them. The "four-headed monster" accounted for 12 catches, 95 receiving yards, 29 rushing yards and a touchdown, which was more than enough to lift the Vikings to a win.
The tight end position, led by Rudolph, earns a higher grade than Minnesota's wide receiver corps simply due to being responsible for the group's lone score of the afternoon.
On the offensive line, rookie T.J. Clemmings did give up a sack, but this two-yard loss was more due to strong coverage by the Lions' defensive secondary. As a whole, the offensive line was much stronger this week, as Brandon Fusco and Joe Berger both responded with strong outings. Mike Harris continues to be a surprise at right guard, and Matt Kalil appears to be, at the very least, an average left tackle coming off his second solid performance of the year.
With exception to Everson Griffen giving up a first down due to another untimely false start penalty, Minnesota's defensive line was outstanding on Sunday. Brian Robison put together an elite performance, giving Matthew Stafford fits all afternoon, and both Sharrif Floyd and Linval Joseph were stalwarts against the run.
Shamar Stephen mixed in a fumble recovery, Tom Johnson recorded multiple pressures and Justin Trattou outperformed expectations with a key interception in his first game of the year. This unit was responsible for a sack, multiple quarterback hits, plenty of pressure and a few game-changing turnovers, earning it a flat-out "A" for the week.
The linebackers, on the other hand, were a bit up-and-down. By my count, rookie Eric Kendricks missed four tackles and Anthony Barr earned himself a bonehead 15-yard personal foul penalty for hitting Stafford late. Gerald Hodges rebounded with a strong performance in limited action—the Vikings were in nickel defense for the vast majority of the matchup—and Chad Greenway (in even fewer snaps) wasn't bad either.
Given that Stafford threw the ball 53 times on Sunday, the defensive backs played very well. Xavier Rhodes put together a solid performance shadowing Calvin Johnson, Captain Munnerlyn looked like the Carolina Panthers version of himself and Harrison Smith was his usual, steady self.
Facing a receiving group led by Calvin Johnson, Golden Tate and Eric Ebron, a 5.4 per-pass average is very solid—and this may actually be undervaluing the performance as a whole.
Minnesota's special teams didn't really do anything "special," but the unit was solid overall. Cordarrelle Patterson and Marcus Sherels affected the game as return men, and punter Jeff Locke pinned Detroit deep on multiple occasions. But Blair Walsh missed an extra point, and there is no way this inexcusable error isn't going unpunished on the grading sheet.
Coming off a game in which Minnesota was completely dominated from start to finish, Mike Zimmer and company had their work cut out for them, and they delivered. Both the offense and defense were dramatically improved, and the team looked completely revitalized. The players deserve plenty of credit for being more prepared and executing better, but a tip of the cap goes to Zimmer and Norv Turner for keeping their ship from sinking in a borderline early season panic situation.
Run Defense Improves
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It's very difficult not to compare Minnesota's matchup with San Francisco to its most recent performance against Detroit due to how markedly different the contests were.
Arguably the greatest difference between the two contests was the run defense. In Week 1, the Vikings allowed Carlos Hyde and the 49ers backfield to record a ridiculous 230 rushing yards. This past Sunday, Minnesota allowed Ameer Abdullah, Joique Bell, Theo Riddick, Matthew Stafford and Michael Burton to total just 38 yards on 16 attempts.
For those who are counting, that is a 192-yard difference and more importantly, a huge reason why the Vikings lost in Week 1 and won in Week 2.
Moreover, the Vikings run defense did not allow a rush attempt over nine yards and also totaled three tackles for loss.
Stafford led the Lions with 20 rushing yards, as not a single Detroit running back reached the 10-yard plateau on Sunday. While the Lions were forced to air it out throughout the majority of the second half, the roughly 2.4 per-carry average and pedestrian rushing total is a substantial improvement in just one week.
Minnesota will look to carry its resurgent run defense into a Week 3 matchup against standout rookie running back Melvin Gordon and the San Diego Chargers.
Adrian Peterson Struggles with Fumbles
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Adrian Peterson experienced a blast from the past on Sunday—and not in a good way.
The 2012 MVP running back fumbled three times (one not accounted for due to a Detroit penalty), with each potential turnover occurring in the red zone. While this only amounted to one turnover, the Minnesota running back needs to get this issue straightened out immediately—something both Peterson and his coach echoed during their press conferences on Sunday.
"I put the ball on the ground a couple of times. It was just poor ball security. When I looked back and saw the replay, I was trying too hard to get going, and those can cost you. Thank God it didn't come back to bite us. That's something that I'm going to focus on [this week].
"
Peterson expressed sincere disappointment in his ball security, again touching on the issue later.
"One thing I'll definitely be looking at, heading into next week, is ball security," he said in response to a question regarding his overall performance.
Mike Zimmer also touched on the running back's issue holding on to the ball during his press conference.
"Adrian ran the ball well today, you know. He's got to hold onto the ball better, but he ran with a vengeance today," Zimmer said. He continued:
"He told me that he needs to settle down a little bit, and he was probably trying to do too much and got a little high with it. It will be a point of emphasis this week, but you know, they were grabbing at it a lot, at the end especially. But we can't turn the ball over.
"
Peterson, who fumbled 20 times during the first three years of his career, had fumbled just 11 times over the course of the next five seasons. Simply put, his ball security was a major issue early in his career, but it hadn't been a realistic concern in recent seasons.
Both him and Zimmer spoke to the idea of working on this issue specifically throughout the coming week, and this case of "fumblitis" may be easy to diagnose and cure. Given that No. 28 had only carried the ball 10 times in the last year headed into Week 2, some rushing "issues" should have been expected.
Peterson is human, even if his play argues differently from time to time.
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Bouncing Back
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Naturally, Minnesota's redemption from a horrible performance against San Francisco is a common theme here. Plenty of analysts and fans quickly jumped ship following the Vikings' dreadful Week 1 showing, but the team proved that it is capable of living up to preseason expectations with its win over Detroit. During his post-game press conference, Zimmer expressed pride in his team's comeback.
"It was a really, really good win today. I'm really proud of how the team responded. You know, I told somebody after last week's loss, that it felt like we were 0-10, not 0-1. We had to really dig down deep and practice and study. We had a lot of grouchy players last week, and coaches. I thought we answered the bell today.
"
Few Vikings fan would argue with Zimmer's diagnosis here—the Week 1 loss felt like a season-ending gut punch at times. Furthermore, quarterback Teddy Bridgewater's history of issues with Detroit (small sample size) didn't exactly inspire optimism heading into Week 2. Instead, the second-year quarterback shocked his doubters with one of the best performances of his career—even if the passing yardage total doesn't show it. During Bridgewater's post-game press conference, he said:
"That was a great job by the guys today, responding to coach Zimmer's message. We wanted to put San Fran in the past and come out and start fast and we did that today. Guys did a great job, defense did a great job giving us a short field, and we got out to an early lead.
"
Bridgewater also stated that he believed his team did a great job putting Week 1 in the past during its preparation for Detroit after touching on his coach's "tough love" mentality:
"I love it that coach Zimmer is tough on me; he's tough on all the guys. It just shows that he cares about us. He wants us to give our all and play at our best every week. Last week, we kind of didn't execute the way we were supposed to. Like I said, we did a great job of putting last week in the past and starting fast today.
"
Free safety Harrison Smith also touched on the mentality Minnesota had after failing to meet expectations against the 49ers.
"If you don't have a personal attitude in this game, you're not going to be good," Smith told reporters. "A lot of people say it's a business, and it is a business, but it's also a very personal business; that's how we take it."
This theme of redemption has a common sub-theme: amnesia. The Vikings showed an ability to forget a tough performance, move on and play to their ability the following week. Simply put, there was zero carry-over from whatever happened in San Francisco.
Behind leaders like Zimmer, Bridgewater and Smith, the Vikings showed that they are capable of taking a knockout-caliber punch and getting back up. More importantly, Minnesota proved that Week 1 is more likely an outlier than what to expect from this team in 2015.
Mike Zimmer Reviews Calvin Johnson Touchdown
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At the end of the first half, Detroit quarterback Matthew Stafford completed a touchdown pass to wide receiver Calvin Johnson, which cut the Vikings' lead to just seven points at the time.
The play was reviewed due to the nature of the catch—Johnson caught the ball falling out of bounds. For what it's worth, head referee Bill Vinovich stated that the ruling on the field "stands" as opposed to being "confirmed," meaning there wasn't a definitive ruling on the play.
When asked about the catch after the game, however, Mike Zimmer was more interested in a different "questionable" element of the play:
"[Vinovich] said he saw [Johnson's] toes touch," Zimmer said when asked about the play. "It was, I don't know, I'm watching our right defensive end getting held at that point."
The quote itself is great, but the full experience requires Zimmer's facial expression, which Austin Belisle of Vikings Territory was happy to share:
"#Vikings fans, enjoy today’s win. Here’s a #ZimmerWink gif for your viewing pleasure. pic.twitter.com/141fgeOvze
— Austin Belisle (@austincbelisle) September 20, 2015"
We likely will never know if Johnson made the catch or if a holding penalty should have been called, but we certainly know that Zimmer has a sense of humor—and is a lot more entertaining during post-game press conferences following a victory.
Teddy Bridgewater on Touchdown Run
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Mike Zimmer isn't the only Viking who is considerably more fun to listen to following a win, as quarterback Teddy Bridgewater was far more entertaining during his post-game press conference as well.
Bridgewater, who scored on a one-yard touchdown run early in the first half, was asked about the play following the game.
"Touchdown? I scored a touchdown today? I don't remember a touchdown today. No, but it was just one of those plays where it was open, it was an open lane for me to just run. I took advantage of it. It was like a walk in the park.
"
Glowing with confidence after his strong performance on Sunday, Bridgewater showed Vikings nation his fun side, something that has been rare during his transition to the NFL. The second-year quarterback handles the media like a veteran but has tended to be soft-spoken and serious during his post-game sessions. Zimmer was impressed by his quarterback's play:
"The kid is such a competitor and a great winner. I don't think he was as accurate as he could have been today—he threw the ball high a few times—but I see him every day in practice, and he might miss three throws a day. So, we'll continue to work with that, but I love everything about him, everything about this kid.
"
Minnesota fans have become accustomed to a rather blunt head coach and a painfully serious quarterback, but the pairing showed some fun-loving emotions following Sunday's victory.
Winning is fun. It's a good look for Bridgewater, Zimmer and the Vikings.
Statistics courtesy of Pro-Football-Reference.com unless otherwise noted.
For more Vikings football news, notes and analysis, find me on Twitter @RobertReidellBT.
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