The 1998 Season

Note: 1998 was the second season that I wrote down thoughts the entire year. Therefore, the 1998 season summary will come in multiple additions to my blog. Today's 1998 entry will be Week 2, at St. Louis thoughts.

Week Two: at St. Louis; Vikes 38 Rams 31

Randall Cunningham replaced an injured Brad Johnson and hit Cris Carter with a 19-yard touchdown with 2:09 left and then the Minnesota Vikings stopped St. Louis quarterback Tony Banks just shy of the end zone on the game's final play and held on for a 38-31 victory over the Rams.

Cunningham, who replaced Johnson early in the fourth quarter, hooked up with Carter to cap a 6-play, 45-yard drive that began when cornerback Jimmy Hitchcock intercepted a pass by Banks.

The winning drive almost came to a halt with 2:55 remaining, but on a 3rd-and-8 from the Rams' 33-yard line, Cunningham scrambled, and just before crossing the line of scrimmage, completed a 21-yard strike to Carter.
But the Rams mounted a late drive and had a 4th-and-6 from the Minnesota 9-yard line with six seconds remaining. Banks dropped back to pass, and after failing to find an open receiver, took off for the end zone. It appeared he had a good chance of scoring, but four Minnesota defenders converged quickly to bring him down and preserve the victory.

"On a play like that, you know we only have one play to run and I had a shot," said Banks. "And if maybe I get in the air I get in, but it is all hindsight. I just looked up and I saw zeros on the clock."

"Well, needless to say we are disappointed we weren't able to come back and tie the ballgame up," said Rams coach Dick Vermeil. "We did enough things to win the game. We did enough things to lose the game. I didn't anticipate Minnesota being able to run as good as they did."

Robert Smith carried 23 times for a career-high 179 yards and 2 touchdowns for the Vikings, who are 2-0 for the third straight season. Carter hauled in 4 catches for 61 yards and tied James Lofton for seventh-place on the all-time receptions list with 765.

"Well, it clearly was a barnburner," said Vikings coach Dennis Green. "We've been in games like that, but not with as many points on the board."

Johnson left the game with 13:40 remaining with a strained leftankle. He completed 18-of-31 passes for 208 yards, a touchdown and 2 interceptions before yielding to the veteran Cunningham, who was 3-of-6 for 41 yards and the 1 TD.

"We're concerned about Brad's ankle," Green added. "He's got a sprain. We're not sure if its a high one or if it's kind of low. Randall came in and was solid. He did what he could do. Sometimes the protection wasn't there."

The Vikings jumped out to a quick 14-0 lead after one quarter, getting a 24-yard scoring run from Smith and a 3-yard TD strike from Johnson to tight end Andrew Glover.

Greg Hill's 1-yard run on the first play of the second quarter got the Rams on the scoreboard before the teams traded field goals, Gary Anderson connecting from 24 yards for Minnesota and Jeff Wilkins hitting on a 53-yarder for St. Louis. But Smith's 74-yard scoring run gave the Vikings a 24-10 halftime lead.

St. Louis immediately got back in the game in the third quarter. First, Greg Hill's 5-yard run following a Mike Jones 38-yard punt return brought the Rams within a touchdown. Eddie Kennison then tied it in electric fashion with a 71-yard punt return.

But Minnesota responded by mounting a 7-play, 60-yard drive that was capped by Leroy Hoard's 1-yard plunge with 46 seconds to play in the third quarter. In a game of big plays, the Rams answered with the longest of the day, an 80-yard scoring strike from Banks to Isaac Bruce to tie the game at 31-31.

It was the longest-scoring pass and reception in the respective careers of Banks and Bruce. Banks completed 25-of-45 for 283 yards but was intercepted a career-high four times.

The Vikings were unable to handle Bruce all afternoon. He hauled in 11 passes for 192 yards while gaining 30 yards on an end-around run.

"We played like we normally do," said Vikings safety Robert Griffith. "We know that Isaac is the guy they are going to go to. We did not change our philosophy or anything. We were able to give our offense good field position and that is important."

"It is tough to win on the road in an adverse situation like this when we lost our quarterback," said Smith. "But Randall came in and did a great job. We gave up some big plays like the punt return. We just have to step up and make adjustments."

Randy Moss caught 6 passes for 89 yards for Minnesota. In his first two games as a professional, the often-troubled star has aught 10 passes for 184 yards.

"You have to find a way to win one or two and get some things going your way," Vermeil added. "You have to execute a higher percentage of plays. There is an accumulation of a lot of little things when you play a real good football team and they beat you."

Earlier in the week, some of the Rams' players complained that Vermeil's practices were too grueling. St. Louis, which lost by a touchdown to New Orleans in its season opener, is 0-2 after finishing 5-11 in Vermeil's first year.

Posted by maasx003 at November 15, 2004 08:19 AM