Washington Redskins 38 - Minnesota Vikings 28
In a game that was dominated by star running backs Clinton Portis and Adrian Peterson, the Washington Redskins opened the DSPFL season with a 38-28 victory over the Minnesota Vikings. Portis led the Skins with 160 yds on 17 carries, averaging 9.4 yds per carry, while for the Vikings, Peterson ran for 121 yds on 16 carries, a 7.5 yd per carry average in a losing effort.
Portis set the tone on his first run of the game, the first play from scrimmage in fact; a 71 yard run to the Vikings' 9 yard line (the replay was only of the end of the run). On the next play, Jason Campbell scrambled out of the pocket and ran it in for the score and the quick 7-0 lead, a lead the Skins would never relinquish.
The rust was showing for the Favre-less Vikings as Tavaris Jackson committed two first-half interceptions that allowed Washington to dominate the half. The first came on the Vikings' first possession of the game and snuffed out what could have been a game-tying scoring drive. After the quick Redskins opening score, the Vikings quickly moved down to the Redskins' 27 in impressive fashion behind big runs from Peterson. But Tavaris Jackson threw a 2nd down pass into a crowded middle and was picked off by U of Miami product Rocky McIntosh.
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Rocky McIntosh with the first of two Redskins interceptions of Tavaris Jackson in the first half.
After the turnover, Jason Campbell then took his offense on a bruising, 15-play, 7:41 drive that was capped by a 1yd TD plunge from the Caveman Mike Sellers, all 279 lbs of him. The Vikings responded again with a confident drive of their own, and this time they scored thanks to Peterson. Peterson took a toss to the right side from the 36 yd line and after juking Carlos Rogers, scampered in for the score ("replays not available for this quarter") to cut the lead to 14-7.
Inside the two minute warning, the Redskins punted and pinned the Vikings at their own 10. Looking to tie the score before halftime, the Vikings came out aggressively, but then things began to unravel as Tavaris Jackson was intercepted for the 2nd time, this time by 2nd year CB Barnes. Campbell and Co. wasted no time converting the turnover into points, as (an un-tackleable) a determined Clinton Portis took a short pass and ran it in for the 34yd TD extending the Skins lead to 21-7.
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Clinton Portis got into the scoring act with this 34 yd TD reception-cum-Houdini act from Jason Campbell
The second half was statistically dominated by the Vikings, who ended the day outgaining the Skins 386-322, but a scoreless 3rd quarter proved to erode too much time away for the Vikings to engineer the comeback. Early in the 4th quarter, Campbell capped another long drive with a 12 yd TD pass Chris Cooley, his only catch of the game.
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Chris Cooley jets ahead to snag this 12 yd TD pass from Jason Campbell and extend the Redskins lead to 28-7.
With the score 28-7, the Skins went into prevent mode, trying to keep the Vikings from scoring quickly. And while Minnesota did score, in fact they put up 21 4th quarter points, it just wasn't enough to overcome the Redskins' lead. With time getting shorter and shorter for the Vikings, Jackson-to-Peterson cut the lead to 14 with this scoring pass:
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Adrian Peterson with his 2nd TD of the game on this pass to the flat from Jackson.
But with the score now 28-14, and belief beginning to rekindle for the visitors, Antwan Randle El dashed all hope for Minnesota as he ran the ensuing kickoff 103 yds for the TD to put the game pretty much out of reach.
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A.R.E. breaks a few tackles and converts this 103 yd kickoff return for the TD to make the score 35-14 with 6:30 to go in the game.
Former Redskins QB Sage Rosenfels came on after Tavaris Jackson was injured on a hit from Brian Orakpo deep in Redskin territory, and he tossed a 3yd TD pass to cut the lead to 14 points again, but an unsuccessful onside kick allowed the Redskins to extend the lead to 17 with a Sean Suisham FG at the two minute warning. A late TD from Rosenfels to Reynaud on the next possession wasn't enough help the Vikings avoid the season-opening loss.
Minnesota now returns home to face the CPU Patriots, while Washington heads to Dallas for their first division game of the season against the 1-0 Cowboys.
Great game, Badger. The turnovers were key, as always, as were the potential INTs that your guys dropped in that first half. After seeing the first half numbers, I could hardly believe you outgained me for the game! But I was just trying to keep everything in front of me to keep you from scoring quickly, so I didn't mind a few first downs. From looking at the other games and now having played one, it does appear that this season this will be a 'defense optional' league, at least early on. Now get that roster sorted out! I have to remember to re-number my new players, too. Good luck the rest of the way.
Danimal, my EA name is CP Zeppo, just like my gamertag.
