Vikings Defeat Raiders In Sloppy Game, 10-6

In the first scheduled outside home game for the Minnesota Vikings in nearly a quarter of a century, the purple and gold had plenty of ups and downs as they held off the Oakland Raiders by a score of 10-6 at TCF Bank Stadium on Friday night.

For the Vikings, Matt Cassel started at quarterback and got just one series, but it was a pretty good one, as he led the Vikings on a 10-play, 70-yard drive that ended on a 1-yard touchdown run by Matt Asiata. Cassel completed five of his six pass attempts on the drive, including passes of 17 yards to Cordarrelle Patterson, 15 to Greg Jennings, and 22 to Kyle Rudolph on the play before Asiata's 1-yard plunge.

That was it for Cassel, as he gave way to Teddy Bridgewater. Bridgewater entered the game with the millions. . .and millions. . .of the Vikings fans chanting his name, and put together what could be described as a mixed performance. With the team set up at their own 46-yard line following a nice punt return by Adam Thielen, Bridgewater's first completion was wiped out by an illegal formation penalty. He eventually pushed the Vikings into the red zone (with plenty of help from fellow rookie Jerick McKinnon), but fumbled during that red zone series after a sack by Raiders' defensive end Shelby Harris. Matt Kalil recovered the fumble for Minnesota, and the Vikings settled for a 30-yard Blair Walsh field goal to extend their lead to 10-0.

That was all the scoring in this one until the Raiders got a 10-yard touchdown run from third-string quarterback Matt McGloin late in the fourth quarter to make the score 10-6.

Minnesota's defense held the Raiders and their new starting quarterback, Matt Schaub, to three three-and-outs and a 3-of-7, 21-yard performance. Rookie linebacker Anthony Barr got credit for half a sack, splitting a takedown of Schaub with defensive tackle Tom Johnson, and safety Kurt Coleman took advantage of his being healthy. . .Robert Blanton, Andrew Sendejo, and Jamarca Sanford all sat this one out. . .by collecting an interception that came from Raiders' rookie quarterback Derek Carr.

We'll have a more extensive breakdown of Friday night's happenings going forward. But, the Vikings still have plenty to work on in their final week in Mankato before breaking camp.