Carolina Panthers At Minnesota Vikings: Third Quarter Open Thread

The Minnesota Vikings stopped the Carolina Panthers to start the second quarter of play, and the Vikings started their third possession of the afternoon at their own 10-yard line. After Adrian Peterson managed to get one first down, the Minnesota offense fizzled again, but a monstrous punt by Jeff Locke. . .60 yards. . .pushed the Panthers back inside their own 20.

The Panthers once again put together a long, methodical drive that saw a couple of Vikings get injured. Rookie cornerback Xavier Rhodes came up limping after covering a deep pass to Ted Ginn, and then Desmond Bishop went down with what appeared to be a knee injury. (He's out for the rest of this one.) Rhodes made his way back into the lineup, but it didn't matter as Mike Tolbert went into the end zone on a 10-yard pass from Cam Newton to extend the Carolina lead to 14-0.

Oh, and Letroy Guion decided to throw in a taunting penalty or something of that nature after the touchdown. Because, hey, why not?

The Vikings actually showed a little bit of life on the ensuing drive, pushing into the red zone for the first time on the afternoon. After picking up a first down on a swing pass, Adrian Peterson put the ball on the ground on a first-down run, but the Vikings fell on top of it. After failing to get one yard on the next two plays, the Vikings had to settle for a 23-yard field goal from Blair Walsh to cut the score to 14-3.

It appears that Jeff Locke is handling kickoff duties for the Vikings, for what that's worth.

I'd go over the offensive leaders for the Vikings, but there's no point. The whole team has been flat and lifeless for the entire first half, it appears they've lost a starting linebacker after (finally) inserting him into the lineup, and