Today's game against the Minnesota Vikings began with a moment of silence for the victims of the terrorist attacks that happened in Paris, France yesterday. It was a heartfelt moment where you could see the emotions on everybody's faces. May all the victims of yesterday across the entire world rest in peace.
The opening kickoff after that was a touchback kick from Sebastian Janikowski so the Vikings started at their own 20 yard line. The proceeded to gash right through the Raiders defense to score on their opening possession to make the score 7-0 Vikings. The touchdown went to TE Rhett Ellison who shrugged off two tackle attempts to get into the endzone, The drive itself was helped by a ridiculously bad pass interference penalty on D.J. Hayden when he ran right through the Vikings star rookie receiver Stefon Diggs for a 32 yard penalty.
Oakland's offense came out at their own 15 yard line after a holding penalty on their kick return. Unfortunately, their drive was an ugly three and out. Marquette King's punt went 41 yards with no return so the Vikings started at their own 40. They were able to drive to the Raiders 34 but the rookie defensive end Mario Edwards came up with a big sack on 3rd down to force them into a punt which went through the endzone for a touchback.
The Raiders at least got a first down on their next drive, but that didn't matter much after Terrance Newman jumped a pass intended for Amari Cooper for an interception. The Vikings then took over at the Raiders 42 yard line, and immediately got a 22 yard catch and run from Mike Wallace, followed by a 17 yard run down to the goal line from Adrian Peterson which set up 1st and goal at the 2. Thanks to an absurd drop from a wide open Kyle Rudolph in the endzone however the Vikings had to settle for a field goal which made the score 10-0 Vikings.
That was a break for the Oakland Raiders, so you'd think it could have motivated them to better play. It didn't. they failed to get a first down again and had to punt. This one went a measly 28 yards so the Vikings started at their own 32. They once again diced right through the Oakland defense deep into Raiders territory before stalling and settling for another field goal. This one was good too from 38 yards and made the score 13-0 lead, and really they should be leading by even more than that.
Taiwan Jones got a nice return on the ensuing kick off so the Raiders started at their own 32 yard line. The first play of the drive was a completion of 15 yards to Amari Cooper who was then lit up by Harrison Smith, though luckily he was ok afterwards. So was the Oakland offense for the first time all day. They had a very good drive that was capped off with a very nice toe tapping touchdown catch from rookie TE Clive Walford. That made the score 13-7, despite being absolutely dominated up until that point.
The kickoff was very short and got a 12 yard return for the Vikings so they started at their own 33. It ended up not hurting them though because the only first down Minnesota got was from a defensive holding penalty. After that they had a sack on first down from Curtis Lofton, a run for negative yards from Adrian Peterson, followed by a sack on third down from Khalil Mack.
Their punt went 50 yards and there was no gain on the return from T.J, Carrie so the Raiders started at their own 26. They went deep on the first play of the drive, a staple of the Raiders, and it was completed thanks to a great catch from Amari Cooper for a 38 yard gain. They had two nothing plays after which lead to the 2 minute warning, then went deep again on third down for the touchdown to Andre Holmes. The jumping 34 yard touchdown catch gave the Raiders the lead 14-13.
The lead for the Raiders lasted approximately 13 seconds, which is how long it took for Cordarrelle Patterson to muff the kickoff, pick the ball up, and then return it for a touchdown. The kick return touchdown gave the Vikings the lead back 20-14. The return spanned 93 yards, and was brutal.
Oakland's offense then had 1:35 on the clock to try and respond to the kick return touchdown. However, their response was not good. They had a false start, a 1 yard loss, a dropped pass that was a short gain anyway, and then a checkdown pass to Mychal Rivera who fumbled but the Raiders managed to recover it. They then had to punt the ball into the wind with 58 seconds in the half, it went 47 yards to the Minnesota 33 but Taiwan Jones interfered with the catch for a 15 yard penalty so the Vikings got the ball at the 48 instead.
Minnesota managed to get the one first down they needed to get into field goal range, but their kicker Blair Walsh missed the 53 yard field goal to the left of the upright. The score at halftime had the Vikings leading 20-14, but the Raiders will start the 2nd half with the ball,
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