Game 24: Vikings 23, Ravens 15

This may be the game that killed the 2008 Preseason Challenge. Whenever I tried to watch it, I kept falling asleep. It's not necessarily the fault of the game itself, but I Just. Kept. Falling. Asleep. Maybe it was all the purple and white. In any event, it ended up taking me three days to watch one stupid preseason game. So here we go.

Darius Reynaud returns the opening kickoff to the 30 for Minnesota, with Tarvaris Jackson at QB. Chester Taylor up the middle for 4. No AP again? Quick slant incomplete for Sidney Rice. Ravens put good pressure on even though the play was just a three-step drop. False start makes it 3rd-11, not where you want to be against Baltimore's D. Baltimore blitzes two LBs, which helps leave the middle of the field open for Tarvaris to sprint for a 13-yard gain. Taylor gets nothing on a swing pass and gets stuffed for a loss by Ray Lewis. 3rd-12: here comes the screen pass. No! The Vikings actually throw downfield and Jackson hits Visanthe Shiancoe for 19. Great call by the refs and great catch by Rice on the sideline for 13, just barely getting his toes in. Vikes are at the Baltimore 23. 2nd-6, Jackson way overthrows Shiancoe. 3rd-6 from the 23. Jackson finds Martin Nance all alone in the back of the end zone for the game's first TD. Also, Nance DID NOT CATCH THAT BALL. He got one foot down, and the next thing that came down was a hand that landed out of bounds. Then again, who am I to question the brilliant Jeff Triplette crew. 7-0, Minnesota.

Yamon Figurs returns the kickoff to the 27. Hey, Troy Smith is the Ravens' starter. Is that a promotion or a rotation gimmick? Play action to Adam Bergen on a quick out for 6. Starter Ray Rice cuts back into a big hole on the right side and gains 32. Vikes d-line really got pushed around there. 3rd-2 from the 16, bootleg run right for Smith gains 10. 1st-goal, Ben Leber stuffs Rice. 2nd-goal, Rice cuts a middle run back to the left and charges in for the TD. 7-7, Ravens.

Reynaud only makes it to the 23, flattened by Haruki Nakamura. His second tackle. Please don't call him a kamikaze player, OK? Just please don't. AP is in this series, but Jackson throws to Rice for 8. Great open field tackle of AP by Corey Ivy, who makes sure to let everybody know. AP gained 3 around left end but had the potential for a huge play. Peterson forces his way up the middle for 5. Jackson hits Bobby Wade at the 48 for another first down. Jackson's bomb is five yards beyond Martin Nance. Ivy slowed up the receiver. Jackson rolls right on 2nd down for 9. Jackson appears to be limping. Peterson gets 2 on 3rd-and-1. Vikings are driving the ball quite well. 12 or 13 to Wade on the sideline. Jackson's down on the ground now. They're checking out his right knee. That brings in Gus Frerotte, who hits Peterson on an underneath route for a gain all the way down to the 7. 1st-goal, Dawan Landry blitzed in and stuffs AP for a 1-yard loss. Frerotte tries a timing route to Rice, who makes a sweet acrobatic catch, similar to his earlier catch, getting the toes of both his feet in, and the brilliant official of the brilliant Jeff Triplette crew calls it no catch. Now, I don't think he was juggling the ball. Unless the ref saw something like that, it was their second TERRIBLE sideline call in a quarter. They tried to run Peterson on 3rd-and-goal but he only got down to the 4. I'll forgive Brad Childress for that call - you can try that when you have Adrian Peterson in your backfield. First quarter ends there, game tied at 7.

And the second quarter opens with Steven Hauschka chipping in a 21-yarder to put Minnesota ahead 10-7.

Figurs gets up to speed very quickly, finds the seam and is thisclose to popping this return all the way. He gets tripped up at the 35, though. Screen to Ray Rice gets 8. Rice bounces outside left for 11 more. LaRon McClain gains 3. Smith rolls left and has to eat it for a 1-yard loss. Ravens announcers tell us Smith missed a shot at Derrick Mason wide open down the sidelines for a likely TD. Jared Allen, classy guy, flirts with unnecessary roughness by dragging Smith down pretty far out of bounds, then trash talks him. 3rd-8. False start, CROTCHLICK. Hey, that's what his name sounds like. 3rd-13. Smith rolls right, throws too high up the sideline for Figurs, who gets WHACKED by Darren Sharper while reaching for a 1-handed grab. I have a feeling Figurs saw Sharper coming, or he would have tried with both hands. A case of alligator arm? The punt takes a wicked bounce backward, but Nakamura pounces on it in midair before it can do more damage. The Japanese kid is going to make the team. He is everywhere on special teams.

Gus gets on the bus at the Minnesota 23. Long toss to Wade up the sideline has no hope. Peterson gains 11 with absolutely no resistance. The Vikings pushed the Ravens' front out of the play. Taylor up the middle for 4. Quick out to Wade, who breaks a tackle and gains 11. AP gains 3 off the left side. From midfield, Frerotte has to dump an intended screen pass into the ground. 3rd-7. Pretty 33-yard bomb by Frerotte to Nance running a fly up the sideline. Nance really had his man beaten. Taylor powers down to the 5 with a couple of runs. Frerotte has to throw it away on 1st-goal. 2nd-goal, the intended receiver Shiancoe QUIT RUNNING HIS ROUTE. They're lucky that was just a second straight incomplete. 3rd-goal, pretty pass by Frerotte to Robert Ferguson on a corner route for a TD. Where was all this good play by Frerotte against Baltimore last year? Vikings lead 17-7.

Figurs barely makes the 23 with the ensuing kick return. Smith can't find a receiver and scrambles for 8. Pat Williams was injured on the play. Uh-oh. Took a shot to the knee from his own teammate. Appears to walk off ok, though. Offsides on Jared Allen gives Baltimore a first down, though Triplette announced it was still second down. One of the best referees out there, says the NFL. On second-and-6, Allen blows a sack badly and lets Smith free for a Michael Vick-like 18-yard scramble. Allen is totally getting karmic retribution for his earlier taunting. He goes right through the LT two plays later to sack Smith for a 12-yard loss, though. 3rd-and-21. Quick slant to Figurs gets about half the yards back, and Baltimore punts. Into the end zone.

With 2:32 left in the half, the new Viking backfield is Brooks Bollinger and Maurice Hicks, and their very first play, they immediately blow a handoff running into one another. And a holding penalty sends them back 10 anyway. Viva preseason! A long incompletion, a TE Jeff Dugan and a draw play that surprises no one send the Viking punt team in at the 2:00 warning.

Baltimore has the ball at their 40 with 1:35 to go in the half. Wow. Quick slant is well behind Mark Clayton and tipped to Darren Sharper for an INT. A positively terrible throw by Troy Smith. Smith also committed a low block on Sharper's return, which'll set the Vikings up at the Ravens 11. 1:26 left.

Hicks gets splattered by Jarrett Johnson, and all for nothing, because the Vikings held again. And Hicks loses ground on the next rush, with Bart Scott breaking in untouched. Vikings let the clock run, get down to the 15 and send the FG team in with 0:04 left. Hauschka du, and it's 20-7, Minnesota at halftime.

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First half thumbs up if your last name is Rice, Minnesota's Sidney or Baltimore's Ray. For Minnesota, also a good half for Darren Sharper and Jared Allen, even a decent half for Frerotte, of all people. Nakamura looked like the only other Ravens standout to me. Him and Corey Ivy. Troy Smith had his foot in the door for the starting QB job but stubbed his toe instead, reading the field poorly and throwing inaccurately. Joe Flacco's actually still in this race if he does anything at all in the second half. Of course, we'll probably have to watch Boller, too. Not a wealth of riches at QB in Baltimore, no matter how you slice it.


Ray Rice only makes it to the 20 with the kick return to open the 2nd half. Yes, it's Boller at QB for Baltimore. 7 for Rice off right tackle, but a chop block the next play sends them backwards. Imagine this: a draw play and a short pass fail to get the required yardage. Baltimore punts it away.

Vikings start on the Ravens' 48. Bollinger throws a TERRIBLE screen pass, about a mile over Braden Jones' head, but he hits Nance for 18 yards over the middle the next play. They drive down to the 12 before Nakamura breaks up a 3rd-and-6 pass. Punter/holder Chris Kluwe bobbles away a high snap on the FG attempt and it stays 20-7.

Ravens from their 24 after the botched FG attempt. Umpire Jim Quirk gets in the way of a pass route on first down, and Mike Mayock scouts him like he's a player. Nice job reading the route, steps up, not afraid to mix it up even though he's 74 years old. Hilarious. Ravens three-and-out.

Starting from the Minnesota 36, Bollinger leads the Vikes all the way to Baltimore's 30 before a long drive bogs down. Nothing fancy this drive. In particular, Bollinger hitting well on third down to keep drives alive. Hauschka bombs it in from 48 to extend Minnesota's lead to 23-7.

Baltimore brings a deep Hauschka kickoff out only to the 15. Rufus Alexander roughs Boller and quickly puts the Ravens out on their 40. Short completion to Ernie Wheelwright gives Baltimore a first down at midfield as the 3rd quarter ends.

Boller gets the Ravens another first down and then gets DESTROYED by Letroy Guion on a vicious hit that would have put Marc Bulger out till 2019. 2nd-19. Two incompletions force a punt. Into the end zone. You can bet we'll see Flacco next possession; Boller really got drilled on that hit.

John David Booty is the new QB for Minnesota and takes two plays to get his booty kicked. Derrick Martin jumps a sideline route, picks off Booty (Yar!) and makes the short return for a TD. Baltimore then annoyingly goes for 2 so they have the possibility of TYING A PRESEASON GAME, and they make it. 23-15, Vikings.

Penalty on the return starts Minnesota at their 20 again. Hicks breaks a couple of tackles for 9, but a Reynaud OPI takes them back to 3rd-and-11, and a Raven jailbreak blitz drops Booty for -9 more. Sack officially by Zbikowski, who's gotten after the QB a couple of times this half. Vikings punt.

And not very far, as the Ravens take over just outside the Minnesota 40. Joe Flacco is in, and he's almost immediately victimized by an INT, a very athletic play by Brandon Sumrall, a one-handed catch.

The Ravens blitz again when Minnesota takes over again, and they drop Booty for another sack. 2nd-18. Albert Young gets a big hole on the left side for 13. The Vikings run again on 3rd-and-5, though, perhaps afraid to put Booty to any more tests tonight, and come up short. Sumrall EXPLODES into Zbikowski on the punt return with a highlight reel stop.

About 8:00 left in the game; Flacco assumes control at the Raven 15. Otis Grigsby sacks/strips Flacco on 2nd down, but Joe hits Wheelwright over the middle for a 1st the next play. Then he's getting sacked again, by Martail Burnett. Mayock's not kidding that Flacco's holding the ball too long in the pocket. Ravens wind up punting.

Jaymar Johnson makes a good punt return out to the 35. 4:51 left. Young gets a convoy around left tackle and churns out a 21-yard gain. A defensive hold on Anwar Phillips keeps the drive alive in Baltimore territory. From there, Minnesota pounds away on Baltimore's timeouts and the clock. They'll punt from the Raven 38 with 2:00 left.

Well, they didn't put this one in the end zone, but I can't say I'm real thrilled with Kluwe's 22-yard punt here, either. Flacco will lead the Ravens, or try to, from the 16. He drives them across midfield, then gets lucky when his 2nd INT comes off the board due to a face mask penalty. They make it to the Viking 16 with :05 left, when Flacco WAY overthrows his receiver in the corner of the end zone to end the game in a Vikings 23-15 win.

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Baltimore's got a real mess at QB. Nobody played well tonight, and Smith in particular appeared to blow his chance. Where the Ravens were impressive tonight was their depth at safety, where Nakamura and Zbikowski made plenty of plays. Nakamura is a special teams standout, while Zbikowski did his damage as a blitzer. Good game by Corey Ivy, who should still be a Ram, as well. Ray Rice appears to have a bright future at RB and might even be their Opening Day starter.

Big night on defense for Minnesota, with Sharper and Allen making plays in the first half and guys like Guion, Grigsby and Sumrall making plays in the second half. Erin Henderson also stood out with some plays. They need to tighten up their run defense, and Pat Williams is really an MVP for them there. His health is a situation that merits staying on top of. Sidney Rice appears to be emerging as the #2 to Berrian.

I'm a little surprised, though I probably shouldn't be, that neither team's rookie QB, Flacco or Booty, looks anywhere close to being able to start.

24 down, 41 to go. I'll go with Chicago-Seattle next.