I nearly gave up on this game early after Detroit ran up 17 points on the Vikings, but that turned out to be the Lions’ high-water mark except for a safety given up by the Vikings late in the fourth quarter. Lions QB Matthew Stafford absorbed a career-high seven sacks, while Teddy Bridgewater was dropped for five, including a strip-sack that was recovered by the Vikings. A sixth sack was eliminated by a penalty on the Lions.
The offensive star of the game was who else but last week’s “Rookie of the Week” award winner, Stefon Diggs who scored his first NFL touchdown and went over 100 yards receiving. Adrian Peterson went over 100 yards rushing, then lost a few to end up with only 98 yards for the game. Most of those yards came on one 75-yard run, where he bounced outside the right tackle and took off down the sideline. Peterson had been added to the final injury report with “an illness”, but before the game it turned out that on a rough flight from Minneapolis to Detroit, Peterson had accidentally swallowed his chew, which lead to some amusement on Twitter:
Per FOX broadcast, Adrian Peterson swallowed his chew on a bumpy team flight Saturday. Vomited upon arrival. Hence, injury report downgrade.
— Kevin Seifert (@SeifertESPN) October 25, 2015
Skoal Vikings
— Arif Hasan (@ArifHasanNFL) October 25, 2015
Amusement aside, ESPN‘s Ben Goessling says the running back says that wasn’t the case:
Fox play-by-play caller Chris Myers said early in Sunday’s broadcast that Peterson accidentally swallowed his chewing tobacco when the Vikings’ plane hit turbulence and dropped “900 to 1000 feet” on its way into Detroit. Peterson vomited after the flight, Myers said.
Peterson denied the report, saying he got sick after eating shrimp Saturday for lunch. He found out he was allergic to shellfish in 2012 and took medicine after eating the meal.
The running back said he loves shrimp so much that he won’t swear it off entirely but added that he won’t eat it the day before a game again.
Peterson said the Fox report was “blown out of proportion.”
“I’ve been dipping for the last 10 years. For me to swallow a dip, my body’s immune to it. That doesn’t affect me at all,” he said.
Two team sources weren’t sure how Peterson became ill going into the game, but he was on the field during warm-ups and rushed 19 times for 98 yards in the win.
Bridgewater, after a shaky first quarter, passed for two touchdowns and over 300 yards and no picks (but two fumbles: one lost on a botched exchange with Peterson and another on a strip sack which was recovered by the Vikings).
The Vikings have had a terrible record on the road — only 2-8 so far under head coach Mike Zimmer (1-14-1 since 2009 against the NFC North, and outscored by 181 points in those games) — so getting a road win in the division is huge for the Vikes’ post-season hopes. At 4-2 they trail the Green Bay Packers (6-0) for the division lead. More from Ben Goessling:
Oh, so this is what the Minnesota Vikings’ offense is supposed to look like.
With as balanced an attack as they’ve had all season, the Vikings racked up 425 yards — their most since Teddy Bridgewater’s first start in Week 4 last year — on their way to a 28-19 win over the Detroit Lions at Ford Field. The Vikings didn’t have Adrian Peterson at his very best but complemented Peterson’s 97 yards with 36 from Jerick McKinnon. Teddy Bridgewater also took advantage of favorable matchups as the Lions keyed on Peterson. Bridgewater finished with 316 yards, one shy of his career high, and found big plays when the Lions were keying on Peterson.
For the day, the Vikings threw 35 times and ran it 34; Bridgewater hit 11 receivers and was one of five Vikings to carry the ball on a run. The Vikings have carefully rebuilt their skill position personnel in the past two years, and those efforts were obvious Sunday — especially when rookie receiver Stefon Diggs hauled in a 37-yard touchdown pass with a catch you’re likely to see on SportsCenter several times.
What it means: The Vikings are 4-2, and they have their first road win in the NFC North since they beat the Lions here in 2012. The game wasn’t without its warts — the Vikings gave up 14 points in the first 12 minutes — but taking care of business on the road is a key step toward where the Vikings want to be. If they can win next week at Soldier Field for the first time since 2007, they’ll be 5-2.
