MNF in Review

The Monday night football matchup featuring the Seattle Seahawks and the Minnesota Vikings super-ceded many of our expectations. As a matter of fact, Vegas anticipated a lower scoring game setting there total points line at 48.5 and as the seconds ticked away in the second quarter the score sat at 17-10 in favor of the visiting Northmen and it appeared that the American Football audience would be privy to another knock down drag out low scoring affair. Seattle punted on the opening possession of the game and Minnesota got the scoring started with a 6 play 80 yard drive capped off with a 2 yard td run by Dalvin Cook. Seattle quickly responded with a td of their own finishing off a 14 play 75 yard drive that all but ended the 1st quarter. 7-7 going into quarter number 2 and the first of many fireworks exploded and sent its sparks across the gridiron and throughout social media. The teams traded punts to begin the second quarter and after Minnesota floundered on their 2nd possession in the quarter, Seattle took the ball ready to do damage. Russel Wilson Dropped back to pass to Jacob Hollister sitting in the middle of the field for a first down. As Wilson lets the ball fly, #96 of Minnesota Armon Watts bats the ball back in the direction of Wilson who reactively bats the ball again. It then floats in the air like a stray bit of cotton from a cottonwood tree and eventually falls gently into the waiting arms of newly returned from injury Anthony Harris who in turn takes it into the end zone for a 20 yd Interception return for a td his 4th INT on the season puts Minnesota up 14-7 and momentum seems to have swung back to the Vikings, SKol. However, Russel Wilson, not one to be phased by flukey circumstances engineers a 6 play drive resulting in a field goal cutting the lead to only 4 points. Kirk Cousins replies with his own scoring drive capped off by a Dan Bailey 47 yd field goal. 17-10 Vikings at the end of 1 Half of play.  But of course, the 2nd half featured some of the most enjoyable football seen on Monday Night this season. The 3rd quarter began with a Vikings punt followed by a Seahawks drive that took 9 plays, covered 71 yds in 4 mins 20 seconds. 17-17 and it is a whole new ball game. Minnesota suffers a brutal loss on their next possession. A first down run by Dalvin Cook ends in a fumble and in his exiting the game, never to return due to an aggravation of an SC joint injury. SC stands for Stern O Clavicular joint. The joint between the sternum and clavicle bone basically speaking. Follow @ProfootballDoc on Twitter for the best in game analysis on injuries, Dr. David Choa is fantastic. Now, in-spite of excellent field position, the Vikings Defense held strong forcing Seattle to settle for a field goal taking the lead for the first time in the contest 20-17, with 5:46 left in the 3rd.

Minnesota struggled on the ensuing drive to move the ball, a false start and dropped passes led to yet another Viking Punt, their 4th of the game. Now of course Russel Wilson wasn’t going to pass up on this opportunity and his streak of big play tds thrown against the coverage of Xavier Rhodes continued hitting David Moore on a 60 yd bomb, it looked as if Rhodes expected safety help and let Moore get by him more than he normally would have and the scoreboard read 27-17 Seahawks, scoring 17 un-answered points in the 3rd quarter. Kirk Cousins began the next drive with little time left to wrap up the 3rd quarter and after only having 3 INTs on the season, a quick pass to the sideline on an out route to Diggs goes through the normally sure handed receivers hands and bouncing into the arms of the Seattle defender Tre Flowers and it appeared that all was lost for Minnesota. It didn’t get any better, 3 touches of the ball for Rashaad Penny was all it took to get Seattle into the end zone once again and the score showed 34-17 early in the 4th quarter.

Not to be outdone Kirk Cousins came out looking to get his team back in the game and whether it be the fates or just plain dumb luck, Seattle did essentially the only thing you can’t do when up 17 in the 4th quarter, have busted coverage allowing a receiver to get behind you. Well Seattle did just that and Lequan Treadwell burned rubber and took the ball 58 yds to the house. 34-24 in the blink of an eye. The game is back on. The most incredible up and down drives I’ve seen in football this year then occurred. The Vikings force Seattle into a 3 and out and on 4th and 3 they appear ready to punt the ball away. Up 10 with 11 minutes and change, the ball is on your own 32 yd line, of course you punt it. But hold on, this is Pet Carrol we are talking about, that ramblin’ Gamblin’ son of a gun did the opposite. He calls a fake punt, you can see the video on my twitter @willblacktalk. Direct Snap to #25 Travis Homer who takes it not 3, not 5, not 10 yds but 29 yds. Not only getting the first down but flips the field position, even if Seattle would be forced into another punt situation, no they have a great chance at pinning Minnesota deep in their own territory. Everything was working towards a Seattle victory and then another turn of events. A short pass from Wilson to Metcalf on 3rd down would have been a first down, but the initial ruling on the field was an incomplete pass. In truth, it was a clear and obvious fumble that Minnesota recovers. New life for the Northmen once again. How do they respond? They go 8 plays 72 yds in 2:20 seconds. It was the Kyle Rudolph Show with two excellent catches, one early In the drive for 17 yds, the second a one handed snag for 3 yds and a touchdown. It should be noted that this drive was assisted by a 30 yd defensive pass interference flag thrown on the Tre Flowers covering Stefon Diggs. Dan Bailey missed his 3rd PAT of the season and with 7:12 left in the game Minnesota had climbed to within 4 points. 34-30. Seattle was rolling early on their next drive mixing runs and passes but then Wilson took a 13 yard loss on a sack which eventually led to a Seattle Punt. This time, toe actually met leather and Minnesota took over with 3 and a half minutes to play. Cousins began with a nice 19 yd catch and run play too Kyle Rudolph, however 3 of his next 4 attempts fell incomplete, including a couple drops and Seattle took over on downs. With only 2:27 left on the game clock Minnesota would be forced to spend their timeouts and hope for a quick stop on defense. Two timeouts used following a 6 and 3 yd run respectively. 3rd and 1 for Seattle 2:17 remaining. Chris Carson takes the ball up the middle for 11 angry yds and now Minnesota only had 2 clock stoppages left at their disposal. They take their 3rd and final timeout on the other side of the 2 minute warning and 3 consecutive runs by Seattle drained the clock to 21 seconds. Jason Meyers stepped into a 36 yd field goal which he made and the lead was 7. Seattle wisely employs the pooch kick strategy which normally puts the ball in the hands of less speedy return men and they got what they wanted, C.J. Ham takes the ball and subsequently fumbles after being contacted. Travis Homer of the aforementioned Fake Punt recovers the fumble and the game ends with no chance at a last second miracle pass from Cousins to Diggs. This game had everything one could ask for. Points scored but defense played. Exciting trickery, flukey interceptions, it was all there. My only complaint would be this. Why do you have pylon cam, First Down cam and yet still need to send the referee to stare into a moniter screen? Certain plays like spotting the ball correctly should not rest on a coaches challenge. Plenty of eyes watching these games, no reason a booth official can’t simply buzz down and give the guys on the field a hand while keeping the game flow going.

Aside from that it was a fantastic game of football, really enjoyed watching. DK Showdown lineups didn’t quite get there, $10 entered $6 returned so -$4 unfortunately. To much Josh Gordon and Diggs. Everyone else did great but in showdown you gotta be near perfect. Another week of NFL action has come to a close and it has been my pleasure participating with analysis, predictions, previews and recaps. Football at its Finest is off and running and content will be consistently at your finger tips all the way through the end of the Super Bowl. Thankyou for Listening, I am Will Black give me a follow on twitter @willblacktalk, if you enjoyed this episode tell your friends and family about what you have heard here today until next time for Football at its Finest, I am Will Black reminding you to Think Ask Listen and Know.