The second preseason game is in the books for the Minnesota Vikings, and of all the preseason games in Minnesota Vikings history, that certainly was one of them.
New England got a pair of first-half touchdowns and, to be honest, there wasn’t really a whole lot else to get excited until the very last play for Vikings fans as the Patriots got themselves a 20-12 victory over the Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
The Patriots got on the board first after both teams punted it away on their first possession. New England returned Ryan Wright’s punt to near midfield, and they took advantage of the good field position by marching down the field and getting into the end zone on an 8-yard touchdown run from rookie TreVeyon Henderson, giving the Patriots a 7-0 lead late in the first quarter.
New England got the ball back quickly after a terrible throw by Sam Howell was intercepted by the Patriots at the Minnesota 35-yard line, and former Viking Josh Dobbs moved the Patriots into position for another score. However, facing a 4th-and-goal from the Minnesota 5-yard line, Dobbs’ pass into the end zone fell incomplete and the Vikings’ defense forced a turnover on downs.
The action sort of hit a lull after that, but the Vikings got a break when the Patriots missed badly on a 47-yard field goal attempt to give the Vikings good field position. Brett Rypien came in at quarterback and pushed the Vikings’ offense to a 4th-and-1 from the New England 12-yard line, but his pass for Thayer Thomas in the end zone fell incomplete for a turnover on downs, keeping the score at 7-0.
Dobbs then got the Patriots into the end zone again late in the second quarter, as he connected with rookie Efton Chism on a 12-yard catch-and-run that featured about five missed tackles by the Minnesota defense to make it 14-0. Rypien then got the Vikings into position for a 34-yard Will Reichard field goal to make it 14-3 going into the locker room at halftime.
Max Brosmer took over at quarterback to start the second half, and got off to a fast start as he connected on his first five passes. The drive eventually stalled, however, and the Vikings brought on Will Reichard for another field goal attempt. He split the uprights from 54 yards out to make it 14-6 early in the third quarter.
Early in the fourth quarter, the Patriots added points on a 28-yard field goal from former Vikings’ kicker (John) Parker Romo to extend the New England lead to 17-6. The Vikings then answered back with another field goal from Reichard, a 47-yarder that made it 17-9.
New England then drained about five minutes off the clock and extended their lead on a 51-yard field goal from Borreagales to make it 20-9 with just over six minutes remaining. Then, the Vikings got their first real highlight of the day, courtesy of Myles Price on the ensuing kick return. Price took the kick and ripped off an 81-yard return, giving the Vikings the ball with a first-and-goal at the New England 8-yard line.
Unfortunately, the Vikings couldn’t find their way into the end zone, and Reichard came in once again to connect from 27 yards out to make it 20-12 with five minutes left in the contest.
The Vikings got the ball back just after the two-minute warning with one timeout left, trailing by eight points, from their own 31-yard line. Brosmer completed back-to-back long passes to Jeshuan Jones and Tim Jones to put the Vikings into New England territory. The Vikings then got down to the 8-yard line and burned their last timeout with six seconds remaining. A false start moved the ball back to the 13, and then something sort of weird happened.
Brosmer’s pass to the end zone was intercepted by Kyle Dugger, and rather than going down. . .or so it appeared. . .he stayed up and had the ball stripped away by Bryson Nesbitt, who recovered the ball in the end zone. However, after a replay, the officials ruled that Dugger had, in fact, gone down, and the game was over.
The Vikings will wrap up their preseason slate on Friday in Nashville against the Tennessee Titans, a game that will be aired nationally on CBS.
Vikings fall in their second preseason game to the New England Patriots by a score of 20-12. Thank you to everyone who got their coverage of this week’s game right here at The Daily Norseman!
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