Peephole perspective: A long interception return for a touchdown by Seahawks rookie Earl Thomas. A long kickoff return by the Vikings’ Darius Reynaud to set up a TD run. A field goal for each team. That’s how they things got tied at 10.
Player of the quarter: Earl Thomas. The Seahawks used the 14th pick in April’s NFL draft to select the playmaking free safety from Texas. Thomas showed why by returning an interception 86 yards for a TD, and the first score of the game. Thomas also had two solo tackles.
Play of the quarter: Welcome to the NFL, Earl. He not only had the long interception return, Thomas flaunted his speed while doing it.
Stat of the quarter: 6 of 8 for 70 yards. Those were Matt Hasselbeck’s passing numbers.
The bigger picture: The teams made up for lost opportunities in the opening quarter, and quickly. On the Vikings’ third play of the quarter, Thomas picked off a Brett Favre pass and returned 86 yards for a touchdown.
Reynaud then returned to the ensuing kickoff to the Seahawks’ 23 and Adrian Peterson scored on a 24-yard run two plays later to tie the score.
The Seahawks gave Hasselbeck some time on their next possession and he passed them to the Vikings’ 15, before a false start on Mansfield Wrotto and a holding penalty on Sean Locklear forced the Seahawks to settle for a 38-yard field goal by Olindo Mare. Hasselbeck hit his first three passes to Cameron Morrah (5 yards), T.J. Houshmandzadeh (10) and Deion Branch (42).
Seahawks rookie tight end Anthony McCoy was taken to the locker room with an ankle injury and ruled out for the remainder of the game. The Seahawks already were without veteran Chris Baker, who has a hamstring injury.
The Vikings took the ensuing kickoff and used the power running of rookie Toby Gerhart and some precision passing by Favre in moving the Seahawks’ 10. Gerhart got things rolling with runs of 7 and 9 yards. Favre then passed 20 yards to Greg Lewis to the Seahawks’ 40 and 15 yards to Naufahu Tahi to the Seahawks’ 31 on third-and-16. Gerhart picked up the first down on fourth down with a 4-yard run to the Seahawks’ 27, and Favre passed for 15 yards to Visanthe Shiancoe. But the drive stalled and Ryan Longwell kicked a 28-yard field goal to tie it at 10 with 1:12 to play.
Peephole perspective: A missed field goal by the Seahawks. Brandon Mebane’s stop on Adrian Peterson on a fourth-down carry from the 2. It made for a scoreless quarter.
Player of the quarter: Brett Favre was 7 of 10 for 82 yards.
Play of the quarter: On the Vikings’ third play of the quarter, Chris Clemons got to Favre for a fumble-forcing sack and Colin Cole recovered the loose ball.
Stat of the quarter: The Vikings converted four of five third-down situations.
The bigger picture: In a nice touch for Minnesota-born John Carlson, he was one of the co-captains – along with Matt Hasselbeck and Lawyer Milloy.
The Seahawks open in a two-tight end set, with Carlson and Anthony McCoy on the left side to help tackle Mansfield Wrotto with the Vikings Jared Allen, who led the NFC with 14½ sacks last season. Hasselbeck passed to T.J. Houshmandzadeh – to the right side – for a 13-yard gain on the first play of the game. But the drive stalled.
The Vikings opened with a big play – Favre’s 34-yard pass to a wide-out Percy Harvin. But the Seahawks’ followed with an even bigger play – Clemons’ fumble-forcing sack that Cole recovered.
The Seahawks got three points out of the turnover, as Olindo Mare kicked a 38-yard field goal. But Max Unger was penalized for an illegal formation and Mare then slapped a 43-yard attempt wide right.
Favre also made the Seahawks pay, driving the Vikings to the Seahawks’ 2-yard line. The Vikings converted four third-down situations as Favre passed to Visanthe Shiancoe for 7 yards on third-and-5, threaded a 22-yard pass to Greg Camarillo on third-and-9, Adrian Peterson ran for 3 yards on third-and-1 and Favre went to Camarillo for 12 yards on third-and-7. But Peterson then on third-and-goal and Brandon Mebane hit Peterson on fourth-and-2.
Ten injured or on-the-mend Seahawks will not play tonight:
CB Josh Pinkard
OG Ben Hamilton
LB Leroy Hill
LB David Hawthorne
OL Chester Pitts
OT Ray Willis
OT Russell Okung
TE Chris Baker
DT Kentwan Balmer
DE Nick Reed
Leon Washington gets the start at running back, while Mansfield Wrotto and Mike Gibson will start at left tackle and guard.
For the Vikings, DT Jimmy Kennedy will not play.
Greetings from Mall of America Field at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, where the Seahawks are preparing to play their third preseason game against the Minnesota Vikings.
The schedule might say it’s the preseason, but Seahawks coach Pete Carroll and his Vikings counterpart, Brad Childress, are treating this as the final tune-up for their team’s regular-season openers. The starters for both teams are scheduled to play into the third quarter.
For the Seahawks, that means the reworked left side of the offensive line – tackle Mansfield Wrotto and guard Mike Gibson – will have to find a way to give Matt Hasselbeck time to go through his progressions while working against Vikings defensive end Jared Allen and tackle Kevin Williams.
For the defense, that means dealing with Brett Favre and Adrian Peterson, and doing a better job of getting off the field than the Seahawks did against the Green Bay Packers and the Tennessee Titans the past two weeks.
Pardon the lateness, and shortness, of this, but we’re experiencing the usual techical difficulties at the Metrodome.
