Minnesota Vikings at Atlanta Falcons: Third Quarter Open Thread

To start the second quarter, the Minnesota Vikings found themselves with 1st-and-10 from the Atlanta Falcons' 24-yard line. On second down, Teddy Bridgewater. . .who had an impressive first quarter. . .was looking for Kyle Rudolph in the end zone down the seam, but the pass was intercepted by rookie Ricardo Allen. Allen stayed down in the end zone for a touchback, and the Falcons took over at their own 20-yard line.

Atlanta put together their first real drive of the afternoon, with Matt Ryan converting a couple of big third downs. . .one to Jacob Tamme and another to Julio Jones to get the Falcons into Minnesota territory. The Falcons kept their drive going after a couple of Minnesota penalties, and got into the Minnesota red zone after a pass from Ryan to Justin Hardy down to the Vikings' 14-yard line. The Vikings got a break when Atlanta running back Terron Ward was flagged 15 yards for kicking Eric Kendricks after a play, pushing the Falcons back. That was enough to keep Atlanta out of the end zone, as the Vikings had to call on substitute kicker Shayne Graham for a field goal attempt. Graham was good from 31 yards out, and the Falcons cut the Minnesota lead to 7-3.

The Vikings started their next drive from their own 20-yard line after a touchback from Matt Bosher. They picked up a quick first down on a defensive holding penalty on Robert Alford, and Adrian Peterson followed that up with a 10-yard run. Minnesota didn't advance much further, though, and they were forced to punt it away. Jeff Locke got a very nice punt away, with Eric Weems returning it to the Atlanta 15-yard line to set up the Falcons' next possession.

Atlanta got the ball across midfield just after the two-minute warning, but Matt Ryan attempted to thread one through to someone named Nick Williams, and he was intercepted by Captain Munnerlyn at the Minnesota 25-yard line. The Vikings started their last drive of the half with all three of their timeouts remaining and 1:24 on the clock. Minnesota pushed the ball into Atlanta territory, and got the ball down to the Falcons' 33-yard line. The Vikings called on Blair Walsh for a 51-yard field goal attempt. . .that Walsh pushed wide to the left, no good. So, the teams went into the locker room at halftime with the Vikings leading 7-3.

Both teams have put up plenty of yards in the first half, but it hasn't resulted in very much scoring. Teddy Bridgewater has completed 14-of-21 passes for 130 yards and an interception. Adrian Peterson, who looked very good in the first quarter, has cooled off considerably, carrying the ball 12 times for 48 yards and a score. Kyle Rudolph is leading the Vikings in receiving with five catches for 41 yards.

On the Atlanta side, Matt Ryan has completed 10-of-15 passes for just 89 yards and an interception. Tevin Coleman has carried the ball 10 times for 76 yards, but 46 of those yards came on the first quarter carry that resulted in a lost fumble. Roddy White is leading the Falcons in receiving, bringing in three catches for 20 yards. Minnesota's defense has limited Julio Jones to just two catches for 18 yards thus far.

At halftime, the Minnesota Vikings lead the Atlanta Falcons by a score of 7-3. The home team will get the ball first coming out of the locker room at halftime. Can the Vikings get the offense back on track in the second half?