{"id":16854,"date":"2012-09-10T08:57:18","date_gmt":"2012-09-10T13:57:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/?p=16854"},"modified":"2014-05-09T14:26:14","modified_gmt":"2014-05-09T19:26:14","slug":"vikings-beat-jaguars-26-23-in-overtime","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/2012\/09\/10\/vikings-beat-jaguars-26-23-in-overtime\/","title":{"rendered":"Vikings beat Jaguars 26-23 in overtime"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"The first half of yesterday’s home opener had all the hallmarks of 2011: miscommunication, bad tackling, poor judgement, and an air of general ineptitude. The game matched up two remarkably similar teams: both led by second-year quarterbacks, both with franchise running backs returning to the game (one from injury, one from a contract dispute), and both desperate to improve on a very disappointing 2011 NFL season.<\/p>\n

In spite of the miscues and mistakes, the Vikings kept the game close while the offense tried to get it together. Just before the end of the first half, things started to look positive for the purple, getting on the board with an Adrian Peterson TD (highlights here<\/a>).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Early in the game, it was looking like penalties were going to be the deciding factor, with a bad offside penalty against Jared Allen wiping out a lightning-fast speed sack, and another offside penalty against Kevin Williams keeping a Jacksonville drive alive. A third penalty was assessed against Letroy Guion for unnecessary roughness after he landed on Blaine Gabbert for what he thought was a sack. After that, though, the referees kept the hankies off the turf for the most part.<\/p>\n

Instead of a token start, Adrian Peterson had a moderately active day, rushing 17 times for 84 yards and scoring two short touchdowns in limited action. He also passed former Viking Robert Smith to take the franchise record<\/a> in rushing yards (6,841 yards).<\/p>\n

Christian Ponder, after a rough first half, ended up 20 of 27 for 270 yards, no touchdowns or interceptions and a 105.5 passer rating.<\/p>\n

Dan Zinski<\/a> at The Viking Age<\/em>:<\/p>\n

Caught your breath yet? Good. Let\u2019s go over what a crazy, exciting game that was. It didn\u2019t exactly start very excitingly for the Vikings … well outside of Adrian Peterson making his long-anticipated return. But once the euphoria of Adrian\u2019s return subsided, fans settled in to a sad reality. The Vikings offense looked terrible. The line wasn\u2019t blocking that well, Christian Ponder looked out of sync, Bill Musgrave was making some of his usual puzzling playcalls. And, worst of all, Percy Harvin was MIA.<\/p>\n

Thankfully, the Vikes\u2019 defense held up okay during the offensive malaise. Jacksonville only managed nine points when they easily could\u2019ve run out to a two-TD lead. The Jags were held in check long enough for the Vikings to figure it out on offense. And once they figured it out, it stayed figured out.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The heroes of the game: Percy Harvin for sparking the offense when they most needed a spark. Chad Greenway for defensive heroics that had his name mentioned many times in the second half. But most of all: rookie kicker Blair Walsh for a great first NFL game, tying the game in the last seconds and kicking the overtime winner.<\/p>\n

Tom Pelissero and Judd Zulgad of 1500ESPN<\/em>:<\/p>\n