The Ravens and Vikings faced off this week for the first time in four years. In 2017, the Vikings walked away with a narrow victory, winning 24-16 at home. Yet it was the first time the two teams had played in Baltimore since 2013, the fabled “snow game,” that closely resembled this Week 9 matchup. Just like in 2013, the Ravens stormed back late to win the game, except this time it was a heated back and forth in overtime.
Baltimore struggled early in the first quarter, but still managed to score first, kicking a 37-yard field goal on the opening drive. The Vikings seemed to take that personally, however, and their quarterback Kirk Cousins found young star Justin Jefferson for a 50-yard touchdown just a few minutes later. The Ravens looked to answer, but they were stopped a few yards out of field goal range.
Then, Minnesota’s explosive running back, Dalvin Cook, found an opening for 60+ yards on their next drive. That play led to Cousins diving for a 1-yard touchdown, putting the Vikings up 14-3. Lamar Jackson struggled most of the first half and it showed as he threw an interception with 1:43 left in the second quarter. The Vikings capitalized on that and made a 36-yard field goal, increasing their lead to 14.
However, the Ravens then ran their two-minute offense, and it worked well, granted they received a favorable call on the defense for pass interference after a 50-yard bomb to the rookie Rashod Bateman. That left them at the five-yard line and Lamar threw to a wide-open Devonta Freeman for the touchdown.
Coming out of the half, the Ravens were only down by 7 points…or so they thought. The opening kickoff was returned for a 98-yard touchdown by Minnesota’s rookie, Kene Nwangwu. Soon, the Ravens looked to return the favor, with Jackson making a few throws and Freeman getting a key first down on fourth-and-two. This led to another throw by Jackson to the nimble 300 hundred-pounder Patrick Ricard who propelled the team into the red zone. Jackson connected with Ricard again, but this time for a 1-yard touchdown on fourth-and-goal.
The Raven’s defense got another stop though, giving the ball back to the offense. This was be the drive where Jackson found his stride, running for big chunks of yards and finding open receivers. Until they got to the 5-yard line where he lobbed the ball into the back of the endzone, Devin Duvernay made a spectacular grab while keeping his feet in bounds.
Six minutes passed and neither team found any type of momentum until the Ravens drive started around the eight-minute mark and ended with 3:29 to go in the fourth quarter. It was capped off by a Le’Veon Bell 1-yard touchdown run to put the Ravens in front for the first time since the first quarter. Needing a score, Cousins found CJ Ham and a few other receivers as they started their drive along with handing the ball off to Cook for a few big gains.
It was a fourth and nine from the Ravens 16-yard line that Kirk Cousins connected with Justin Jefferson who got to the 2-yard line. After that, Adam Thielen snagged a 1-yard touchdown grab in one-on-one coverage to tie the game. The Ravens got the ball back but were not be able to score, sending the game into overtime. Of the ten minutes in overtime, nine minutes and forty seconds were spent going back and forth as neither team could seal the game.
It was the Ravens that ultimately got into field goal range for Justin Tucker, who kicked a 36-yard field goal for the win. As much as the game can be blamed on the Vikings poor defense down the stretch, Baltimore has a habit of going down big in the first half of games and slowly clawing their way back to victory. Let’s hope that isn’t a common theme moving forward and that they learn from these games later down the road when they will have to play higher competition to succeed.
Feature Image courtesy via Wallpaper-Mania
