Seattle Seahawks at Minnesota Vikings: Second Quarter Open Thread

To start what is now, officially, the third-coldest game in NFL history, the Seattle Seahawks won the coin toss and chose to defer to the second half, giving the Minnesota Vikings the football first. A pass from Teddy Bridgewater to Mike Wallace and an offsides penalty on Seattle gave the Vikings their initial first down of the game, and Bridgewater then found Stefon Diggs for another first down to the 37-yard line. On the next third down, Bridgewater found Jarius Wright to set up a 4th-and-1 from the Minnesota 47-yard line, and Mike Zimmer elected to roll the dice and go for it. Bridgewater burrowed for a first down on a quarterback sneak, and the drive continued for Minnesota.

Bridgewater then found Jerick McKinnon for a 9-yard pass into Seattle territory, but Adrian Peterson got stuffed on 3rd-and-1 to stall the drive and Jeff Locke had to come on for a punt. Locke's punt was a short one, as it only traveled 23 yards, giving the Seahawks the ball on their own 22-yard line to start their first drive.

Minnesota's defense stepped up in a big way on the first possession, as they forced a three-and-out, allowing the Seahawks to gain just three yards. The Seahawks then made a pretty huge error, as the snap to punter Jon Ryan forced him to go down to a knee, and with a Minnesota defender coming free, Ryan took off with it and was tackled at the Seattle 29-yard line, giving the Vikings amazing field position to start their second drive.

The Vikings picked up a first down to move the ball into the Seattle red zone with a fresh set of downs. A couple of completions to Jerick McKinnon and Stefon Diggs gave the Vikings another first down, setting up first-and-goal for the home team at the Seattle 7-yard line. After that, the drive stalled out, and the Vikings had to call on Blair Walsh for a 22-yard field goal try. Walsh split the uprights, and the Vikings got themselves out to an early 3-0 lead.

The ensuing kickoff from Blair Walsh was returned by Tyler Lockett for only 12 yards, thanks to a great special teams tackle by Edmond Robinson and Trae Waynes. As we move to the second quarter of play, the Seahawks are looking at 2nd-and-5 from their own 33-yard line after a pair of runs by Christine Michael picked up 16 yards.

After one quarter of play at TCF Bank Stadium, the Minnesota Vikings lead the Seattle Seahawks by a score of 3-0. Come join us for the second quarter of play!