Game #2: Minnesota 9/13/98

Last Game

One Foot Short!!! Going into this game, the Vikings were flying high, coming off a thrashing of a projected playoff team, the Buccaneers, and being lauded throughout the NFL as a potential Super Bowl contending team. The Rams, on the other hand, were expected to put up little fight and various sports publications had them rated last in the NFL in their power ratings. The Rams knew they had to do three things to play with these guys: minimize turnovers, cut down on penalties, and find a way to get over their infamous penchant for slow starts. Tony Banks threw 4 interceptions for the 1st time in his career. The Rams racked up 85 yards in penalties including a couple of back-breakers, a holding call on Wayne Gandy that negated a 47 yard pass to Ike Bruce in the first quarter, and a pass interference penalty on Todd Lyght that set the Vikings up with 1st and goal at the one yard line in the 4th. The Rams started out very cold again... down 14-0 after the first quarter and 24-10 at the half. Before the game, one would say that this was a sure-fire recipe for a Vikings blowout. Not so. The Rams battled back in the second half, overcoming the mistakes on both sides of the ball and the boos from the home crowd to tie the game up twice and come within ONE FOOT of tying it a third time as time expired. Before the game, Vikings rookie phenom Randy Moss was asked if he was going to watch Isaac Bruce run his routes to learn from the talented veteran. No he replied, the only wide receivers who were good enough to teach him anything were Chris Carter, Herman Moore, and Jerry Rice. Ike made 11 receptions for 192 yards and one touchdown that came on a beautiful 80 yard bomb from Tony Banks. He also rushed for 30 yards on a great reverse call by Vermeil in the 2nd quarter, and had the aforementioned 47 yarder called back. Ike showed why he is arguably the best wide receiver in football. After two weeks, he leads the NFL in both receptions (21), and receiving yardage (323). Meanwhile, the Rams secondary led by LCB Todd Lyght, did an exceptional job of covering the Vikings vaunted receiving trio. Lyght blanketed Carter throughout the game, yielding only two receptions... one which he all but intercepted in the 1st quarter only to have it wrestled away by Carter, and the go ahead TD pass late in the game from backup QB Randall Cunningham, which came on a corner blitz from Lyght, barely beating the coverage by Keith Lyle with a near perfect pass. Dexter McCleon also did a very good job in coverage all afternoon, giving the Vikings #2 receiver Jake Reed very little. Ryan McNeil still looked rusty, however, from his long holdout, and Moss victimized him on a number of short to medium range out patterns. Having held the receivers in check, the Rams were unable to hold down Vikings RB Robert Smith. The Defensive line got decent pressure on QB Brad Johnson and even forced a fumble which Mike D. Jones returned 38 yards and knocked Johnson out of the game late. Kevin Carter had great pressure throughout the game and was commended by coach Vermeil for his stellar effort along with DT D'Marco Farr. They also managed to shut down the run in short yardage situations despite the Vikings powerful offensive line. Unfortunately, Smith still managed to burn the Rams on two long TD runs when they found themselves in the wrong defense, with their nickel package on the field and only 6 men in the box. The second of these TDs was a 74 yard scamper that gave the Vikings a commanding 24-10 lead at the half. But the Rams did not roll over. They came out fighting in the second half and RB Greg Hill made the most of his chance to start with his second of two rushing touchdowns following Mike D. Jones' long fumble return. Hill rushed 21 times for 82 yards, and only missed his first 100 yard rushing game as a Ram by stepping out of bounds unintentionally on a long carry in the 1st half. Hill demonstrated his great speed to the corner on both touchdowns which he bounced to the outside and outran the pursuit to the endzone. The Rams continued to claw back, and as the defense began to dominate the big Vikings offensive line as the half wore on, Bruce struck with his 80 yard reception from Banks, and Kennison sent the dome into extasy with a 74 yard punt return for a touchdown, his first in two years. It was anyone's game with just three minutes remaining, but Tony's 4th interception of the game was followed by Cunningham's TD pass to Carter on the corner blitz. Banks was unshaken, however, and with just 2:09 remaining, he took the Rams on a long drive that would culminate at the Vikings 9 yard line... 4th down, 6 seconds remaining, Vikings by 7. Tony dropped back and then scrambled straight up the middle on a mad dash for the endzone... ...and was stopped by 4 Vikings defenders... one foot short of paydirt... as time expired. Well that's about as close as you can come without winning. The Rams are angry. Expect Buffalo to pay the consequences this week. Final Score: Vikings 38, Rams 31 Up Next: at Buffalo Peace, FastEddie HOME