Minnesota Vikings at Pittsburgh Steelers: Second Quarter Open Thread

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!