Baltimore Ravens at Minnesota Vikings: Second Quarter Open Thread

To start their Week 7 NFL contest against the Baltimore Ravens, the Minnesota Vikings won the coin toss and elected to defer to the second half, giving Joe Flacco and company the football first. The kickoff from Kai Forbath was fielded by Bobby Rainey in the end zone for a touchback, giving the Ravens a start at their own 25-yard line. The Ravens didn’t do much with their drive, and Danielle Hunter dumped Flacco for a sack to force a three-and-out. Sam Koch came in to punt the ball away to Marcus Sherels, and Sherels did his thing, bringing the ball into Ravens territory at the 36-yard line, a 46 yard return.

However, the celebration for the Vikings was short lived, as Case Keenum went for a long pass to Laquon Treadwell near the goal line. The pass went off of Treadwell’s hands and into the hands of Ravens’ cornerback Brandon Carr for an interception. Carr returned the pick to the Baltimore 35-yard line.

After that, on the second play of the Ravens’ next possession, Flacco found former Vikings receiver Mike Wallace on a slant, and after catching the ball he got leveled by Andrew Sendejo, who got flagged for unnecessary roughness on the play. The penalty on Sendejo negated Wallace’s fumble on the play that was recovered by Minnesota. After another first down, the Ravens found themselves all the way down to the Minnesota 26-yard line. The drive wound up stalling back at the 30, and the Ravens called on Justin Tucker for a 48-yard field goal attempt. Tucker split the uprights, and the Ravens took a 3-0 lead.

Tucker’s kickoff was fielded by Marcus Sherels in the end zone for a touchback, giving the Vikings a start at their own 25. Latavius Murray lost yardage on first down, but a screen pass to C.J. Ham and a quick slant to Adam Thielen moved the chains for the Vikings. Keenum then found Jarius Wright to convert another first down, and the Vikings were into Baltimore territory. Another first down was gained via a defensive hold, but that was where the drive stalled out. Minnesota called on Forbath for a long field goal attempt, and he connected from 52 yards out to tie the score at 3-3 with just under four minutes left in the quarter.

Forbath’s kickoff again went for a touchback, giving the Ravens another start at their own 25-yard line. It appeared the Vikings had forced another three and out, but a (very questionable) penalty on Tom Johnson for roughing the passer gave the Ravens a fresh set of downs. Johnson got a sack on third down, however, and Sam Koch came in to punt once again. Koch’s punt went out of bounds at the Minnesota 29-yard line.

After a nice run by Latavius Murray and a pass from Keenum to Thielen, the Vikings are looking at 1st-and-10 from their own 49-yard line as we move to the second quarter.

We are tied, 3-3, after fifteen minutes of action at U.S. Bank Stadium. Come and join us for the second quarter of play!