Health & Fitness
Vikings Showcase Strong Offense, Despite Loss to Cowboys
In the most important game of the preseason, the Vikings showed areas of greatness, but also that they still need to improve, in their 23-17 loss to the Cowboys.
In this week's edition of "Let's Talk Vikings", I blog about how the Vikings played well Saturday, despite losing 23-17 to the Dallas Cowboys.
On the first drive of the game, Donovan McNabb threw a 49 yard touchdown pass to Bernard Berrian. Later, Vikings leading 7-3, the Cowboys blocked a field goal attempt and ran it back for a touchdown. At halftime, the score was 17-10 Cowboys. Towards the end of the third quarter, Vikings quarterback Joe Webb ran in for a 10 yard touchdown, making the score 20-17, instilling hope back into fans at the Metrodome. With a few minutes left in the fourth quarter, Vikings rookie quarterback Christian Ponder came in to try and win the game, but the Vikings ran out of time and lost 23-17.
Donovan McNabb looked solid, playing with great accuracy. He was 12 for 18 on pass attempts for 164 yards, and threw one touchdown and one interception. McNabb also ran once for 7 yards. He played until halftime.
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Joe Webb looked great as well, showing off his arm and his amazing ability to run. He went 4 for 7 on pass attempts, for a total of 81 yards, and ran twice for 46 yards. One of Joe Webb's runs was a touchdown, the other an amazing 35 yard run to avoid the Cowboys pass rush. Webb played until the middle of the 4th quarter.
Rookie quarterback Christian Ponder didn't play very well in his debut in front of the home crowd, going 3 for 8 on pass attempts, for a total of 60 yards, and also ran once for 5 yards. However, he did play very well on the last drive, quickly moving the Vikings downfield, in an attempt to come back and score a touchdown. Ponder played the last 1/2 of the 4th quarter.
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Adrian Peterson played the best he has in years, bouncing off tackles and plowing over defenders. He ran 14 carries for 81 yards.
Right now, it looks like Joe Webb has an obvious edge over Christian Ponder. Both young quarterbacks are vying to be Donovan McNabb's backup.
Ryan Longwell went 1 for 3 on field goals (including the blocked one).
The Vikings defense looked good, registering 2 sacks and 3 hits on Cowboys' quarterbacks.
The turning point in the game was the Vikings field goal attempt that was blocked, and then run back for a Cowboys touchdown. If the Vikings can cut down on mistakes, they will probably have a successful season.
The Metrodome roof and turf both looked great.
Really, what it comes down to is that we are a better team than the Cowboys, with our starters playing. The Cowboys have better backups than the Vikings, so I strongly believe that the Vikings would have won this game, had it been a normal game, and not a preseason game.
