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To get things started at Heinz Field, the Minnesota Vikings won the coin toss and deferred to the second half, giving the Pittsburgh Steelers the football first. Pittsburgh had a first down wiped out by an illegal formation penalty, and they wound up going three-and-out. The punt from Jordan Berry went out of bounds at the Minnesota 25, and that’s where Case Keenum and company took over.
The Vikings converted a first down on their initial possession, and appeared to be on their way to another when a holding penalty on Nick Easton negated a nice run by Dalvin Cook. Ryan Quigley came in to punt it away, and a nice tackle by Jayron Kearse gave the Steelers the ball at their own 23.
The Vikings appeared to have another three-and-out, but the Steelers lined up in an offensive formation on 4th-and-1 deep in their own territory, and Brian Robison inexplicably jumped offsides to give the Steelers a fresh set of downs. Xavier Rhodes was called for pass interference a couple of plays later defending Antonio Brown, and the Steelers were in Minnesota territory. Pittsburgh took advantage of their good fortune when Ben Roethlisberger found Martavis Bryant on a slant, and he ran away from Terence Newman for a 27-yard touchdown. Chris Boswell’s extra point gave the home team a 7-0 lead with just over three minutes left in the quarter.
The Vikings got the ball back at their own 25, and immediately went three-and-out. Quigley came on to punt again, and the punt was fair caught by Eli Rogers at the Pittsburgh 40.
The Steelers are looking at 2nd-and-22 from their own 39 when the second quarter gets underway, thanks to a false start penalty and a sack of Roethlisberger by Everson Griffen.
After fifteen minutes of play, the Vikings trail the Steelers by a score of 7-0. Come join us for the second quarter of action!