Ravens @ Vikings - Week 6

Sorry it's taken me so long to get a summary from this game, had a really hectic week last week starting the new job and all. I'm off every Wednesday for now, so I'll start updating the site then. Guess we need to knock out two games today though, so we'll jump back to last week first.

The first two offensive drives of the game for the Vikings? Dominant. The first half defensive effort? Very impressive. The defensive line? Quite good.

The defense's performance in the fourth quarter? An absolute embarrassment. An absolute joke.

On the offensive side of the ball, Brett Favre and Adrian Peterson came out with all guns blazing. Favre was targeting Visanthe Shiancoe and Sidney Rice, and things were looking way too easy for the Vikes. Two drives resulted in two touchdowns, with still half of the first quarter left.

And then...complacency set in. Three of the next four Viking drives resulted in three and outs. They started playing not to lose, rather than playing to win. The Vikings went into the locker room with a 17-3 lead, but after Ray Rice scored to start the 3rd quarter for the Ravens we suddenly had a ballgame.

A 63 yard connection to Sidney Rice put the ball inside the 10 yard line for Minnesota the next drive, but they settled for a field goal to at least give them some breathing room. The Vikings then extended the lead to 17 on the next drive, a commanding lead at this point.

Or was it commanding? Well, theoretically, a 17 point fourth quarter lead is a commanding one. But once the defense proceeded to humiliate themselves in front of the home crowd, such a lead was hardly commanding.

In one of the most stunning defensive collapses I have ever seen (Vikings game or otherwise), the Ravens scored three touchdowns in the fourth quarter. Unreal. The pass coverage was absolutely pathetic. The absence of Winfield had a lot to do with it, but still...three touchdowns...that hardly can be blamed on just one player.

But Brett Favre, like he's done his whole career, came up big again in the fourth quarter and hit Rice with another long pass to set up shop inside the 20 yard line. Longwell kicked a FG and despite the defense's best efforts to lay down and die on Baltimore's last possession of the game, Steven Hauschka missed the potential game winning field goal.

Game. 6-0. Whew

That's the kind of day it was. But after a heart stopping game, the Vikings remained perfect heading to Pittsburgh...