Click here to see all recaps on a single page
| Other Week 6 Game Recaps | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ARI at SEA | BAL at MIN | BUF at NYJ | CAR at TB | CHI at ATL | CLE at PIT | DEN at SD | DET at GB |
| HOU at CIN | KC at WAS | NYG at NO | PHI at OAK | STL at JAX | TEN at NE | ||
Week 6 Game Recap: Baltimore Ravens 31, Minnesota Vikings 33
Baltimore Ravens
| QB Joe Flacco, Pass: 28 - 43 - 385 - 2 TD / 0 INT |
Joe Flacco played an awesome game for the Ravens, and despite being under intense pressure for the entire game, and constantly being knocked around, he led his team back with 21 fourth quarter points and put them in a position to win the game with two second remaining. Unfortunately it was not meant to be, and Flacco simply had great stats in a losing effort. Throughout the game he made smart decisions, working the middle and the sidelines, checking down to Ray Rice when the defense had the wide outs covered, and taking shots down the field whenever possible, hoping for the big play. He narrowly missed Derrick Mason on a deep route down the sidelines that would have been an easy TD. Mason appeared to hesitate and the ball glanced off of his fingertips. Had he come down with the ball, the Ravens would have only been down by seven in the first quarter and the total tempo of the game would have changed. Flacco finished the game with nearly 400 yards passing and 2 TDS. His receivers did everything that they could to get open for him as well. Look for big things from Flacco in weeks to come. He's definitely one of the better NFL QBS.
| RB Ray Rice, Rush: 10 - 77 - 2, Rec: 10 - 117 - 0 (11 targets) |
Willis McGahee may still be on the team, but Ray Rice is the leading runner. Rice was the spark plug that kept the Baltimore engine running, despite being down by as many as 17 points with ten minutes to go. Rice ran hard against a tough Minnesota defense, and was a big part of the Baltimore comeback late in the game. When the Vikings were blitzing, and the wideouts were covered, Flacco calmly dumped the ball to Rice underneath for short and medium gains. On the final drive of the first half, Flacco hit Rice on four of his first five passes, taking what the defense would give and putting his team in a position to get some points on the board. After a quiet first half, Rice exploded in the second half. When the Ravens were making a comeback, he took a short screen pass, broke four tackles and raced 62 yards to set up the 12 yard pass to Mason. On the next possession, he took an off tackle run 33 yards untouched into the end zone and give the Ravens their first lead of the game. On the final possession, Rice had three touches, including a short run to set up the game winning FG. He finished the game with 20 touches for almost 200 yards from scrimmage and 2 TDS.
| RB Willis McGahee, Rush: 7 - 3 - 0 |
McGahee was stuffed every time he touched the ball. He was totally ineffective in this game, and could not seem to get things going. The Ravens gave him the first two carries of the second half and he was stuffed for losses both times. He gave way to Rice after that.
| RB LeRon McClain, Rush: 1 - 1 - 0, Rec: 1 - -2 - 0 (1 targets) |
McClain has two touches late in the first quarter for minus one yard. He was a complete non factor in this game.
| WR Derrick Mason, Rec: 7 - 97 - 1 (12 targets) |
Almost every time that Joe Flacco was looking deep for the Ravens, Derrick Mason was the guy that he was looking for. On the team's second possession, Mason was open on a deep pass down the left side of the field. Flacco aired it out, but Mason appeared to hesitate and the ball narrowly bounced off of his finger tips. It would have been an easy six points and would have changed the tone of the entire game. Flacco wasn't deterred however, and continued to call Mason's number again and again on the deep ball. On his 12 yard TD, the defense was reeling from a big run from Ray Rice, and Mason took a quick 3 yards strike and danced his way between the defenders for a 12 yard TD reception. Mason is the clear 'go to' guy when it comes to WR for the Ravens, and had Flacco not been under so much pressure for most of the game, Mason's numbers would probably have been even better.
| WR Mark Clayton, Rec: 3 - 57 - 1 (8 targets) |
Mark Clayton only had three receptions in this game, but he made them count. On his TD reception, Flacco rolled out under a ton of pressure and threw a rainbow to Clayton's side of the field that was a bit short. Clayton adjusted and caught the ball, dodged the defender and scored on a 32 yard play to start the Ravens' fourth quarter comeback. Clayton had two additional receptions for first downs, and was targeted a few other times on medium and longer passes, but was well defended for most of the night.
| WR Kelley Washington, Rec: 3 - 48 - 0 (5 targets) |
Flacco loves to look for Kelley Washington on passing downs because of his size and physical playing ability. Unfortunately, in this game Flacco didn't have enough time to set himself properly for most of the game, and Washington finished with minimal stats. He caught a deep pass over the middle with 10 minutes remaining that went for a 28 yard gain. He took a hard, clean shot and came out of the game for several plays. However, he returned and had a 13 yard reception on the final series to help set up the game winning field goal trial. Given the fact that he is the third WR option for the team, Washington had serviceable stats.
| TE Todd Heap, Rec: 3 - 51 - 0 (3 targets) |
Heap was three for three on his receptions, and made great plays on each of them. On his first reception late in the second quarter, he took a short pass over the middle and ran hard up the middle for 22 yard gain. In the third he made a great reception over the middle for another 23 yard gain and it set up Ray Rice's first TD run. He finished with 51 yards receiving but did not reach the end zone.
Minnesota Vikings
| QB Brett Favre, Pass: 21 - 29 - 278 - 3 TD / 0 INT |
Favre had another excellent game for the Vikings. He commanded the field against his toughest opponent to date and never faltered, even when his defense surrendered 21 points in the fourth quarter. Favre worked the slant like he always does, and Sidney Rice ate up the Baltimore secondary time and time again. He rolled out to create space between him and the pocket, and threw the ball away or slid for a sack when the defense had taken away his options. Once again Favre stayed mistake free and has only 2 interceptions for the season. In the red zone when Peterson was stuffed at the line, he executed a perfect play fake and hit a wide open Shiancoe in the end zone for a TD.
| RB Adrian Peterson, Rush: 22 - 143 - 0, Rec: 4 - 23 - 0 (6 targets) |
Despite not reaching the end zone against one of the toughest defenses in the league, Adrian Peterson had a great game. His first carry from scrimmage resulted in a 26 yard run of tackle. Later in the fourth quarter with the game on the line, Peterson came up big again, cutting outside on a delay and outrunning almost the entire defense for a big 58 yard gain that eventually set up Longwell's FG to extend Minnesota's lead to 13 again. He was also more involved in the passing game this time, catching screens and dump offs out in the flat and turning them into medium sized gains. He finished the game with more than 160 yards from scrimmage. He took a bad fall late in the fourth quarter and sat out for a couple plays, but eventually came back in the game and appeared to be fine. He should be 100% for next week.
| RB Chester Taylor, Rush: 8 - 22 - 0 (1 targets) |
Taylor came in to give Peterson a breather at various points throughout the game and on 2nd and long and 3rd and long passing downs. Unfortunately for him, he finished the game without a catch. He was not effective in his rushing efforts, and finished with less than 3 Yards per carry average.
| WR Sidney Rice, Rec: 6 - 176 - 0 (7 targets) |
Sidney Rice had a huge game for the Vikings, coming up big again and again. He worked the middle of the field, executing perfect crossing routes and turned several short passes from Favre into long gains, including a beautiful catch and run on a short slant early in the 3rd quarter that resulted in a 63 yard gain late in the third quarter that eventually led to another FG. On the Vikings' final possession, when they were down for the first time all game, Favre rolled out and chucked a beautiful 58 yard bomb down the sidelines. Despite an obvious pass interference attempt by the DB, Rice was still able to make the catch and set up the Vikings to regain the lead. He finished as the game's leading receiver.
| WR Bernard Berrian, Rec: 3 - 18 - 1 (5 targets) |
Bernard Berrian had another quiet game for the Vikings. He only had three targets but came down with every reception. On his TD reception early in the 1st quarter, he took advantage of Percy Harvin's pick to break to the middle of the end zone. He was wide open and Favre hit him in the numbers for their second TD in as many possessions.
| WR Percy Harvin, Rush: 1 - 2 - 0, Rec: 2 - 10 - 0 (4 targets) |
Harvin began the game with a long kickoff run and was as aggressive as ever, showing that the rumors of his injured shoulder may have been overblown. He ran hard early, and threw a key block that allowed Bernard Berrian to break open for his TD early in the first quarter. Just before the half, on 3rd and 10, he caught the ball well below the line of scrimmage and it took five defenders to bring him down. He fought hard, taking hard shots and even lost his helmet. It took everything the defense had to stop him. Late in the fourth quarter however, Harvin took a short pass over the middle and again fought and spun hard to make it 14 yards. However, when he was gang tackled, his injured shoulder was driven into the ground and he did not get up from the field. He left the game and did not return. Reports on the injury are not known, but he was wearing a sling after the game. It remains to be seen how long he will be out.
| TE Visanthe Shiancoe, Rec: 4 - 48 - 2 (4 targets) |
Shiancoe came up big in the Red Zone for the Vikings. On their initial drive, he split the middle of the defense and made a beautiful catch from Favre for a 19 yard score. Later in the fourth quarter, after Peterson was stuffed from inside the two yard line on consecutive plays, Favre executed a perfect play fake and found Shiancoe wide open in the middle of the end zone for another score. He had two other nice receptions in the game, including a beautiful fake run to Peterson to one side, where Favre rolled out and hit Shiancoe going to other way. He play didn't go for massive yards, but it's easy to see that as defenses key on Peterson, Shiancoe may become an option going to the opposite direction. He is already a key red zone target for the Vikings, and has five TD receptions on the year.