Getty ImagesThe Minnesota Vikings rallied from a 13-point second half deficit – despite the loss of starting quarterback Christian Ponder to injury – and held off the Washington Redskins on a last second goal line stand to earn their first victory on American soil this season.
Robert Griffin III’s fourth down pass to Santana Moss from the Minnesota 4-yard line was incomplete as Moss couldn’t gain possession in the corner of the endzone before falling out-of-bounds to give the Vikings a 34-27 victory on Thursday night.
The Redskins scored 17 straight points to take a 27-14 lead in the third quarter. Griffin hit Jordan Reed for an 11-yard touchdown and Logan Paulson for a 1-yard score in the final six minutes of the second quarter. Kai Forbath added a 40-yard field goal just six minutes into the second half to extend the lead but Washington wouldn’t score again.
Ponder connected with John Carlson for a 28-yard touchdown to pull within a score and led the Vikings back to the Washington 1-yard line before getting injured diving for the endzone. Adrian Peterson capped the drive with a 1-yard touchdown to give the Vikings a 28-27 lead. Matt Cassel replaced Ponder at quarterback and led two field goal drives for the Vikings to give Minnesota a seven-point lead with 3:36 left to play.
But the Redskins would get one more shot. Griffin kept the ball on a read-option on 4th and 1 near midfield to keep their drive alive. The Vikings curiously took a pair of timeouts on defense to stop the clock for the Redskins after Griffin hit Roy Helu across the middle for a 6-yard gain and again after a handoff to Helu moved Washington to the Vikings’ 4-yard line. Washington had no timeouts remaining of their own.
Minnesota managed to make it work anyway. Griffin’s second down pass to Jordan Reed slipped from his grasp in the endzone and ensuing incompletions to Pierre Garcon and Moss dashed the Redskins’ hopes for overtime.
The Vikings only victory prior to Thursday night had come in London against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 4.
Down go the Redskins
#changethename
The Vikings are going to the Superbowl.
The Washington Professional Football Team is not very good. The Rams are going to love the pick they get from them!
RG III&VI
Ponder played a pretty good game. In fact I think if he played for a innovative coaching staff he could excel. Case in point, when a team has 8 guys in the box to stop the run on every first down throw the dam ball. When both saftety’s are positioned down low in the box even on first down throw the dam ball. Ponder has to deal with to many 2nd and 3rd and long which plays into the opponents hands.
See ya next year Redskins…
Signed,
Dallas Cowboys fans everywhere
It seems Logical that the Vikings would defeat Washinton. Glad I’m not a Redskin fan.
RGIII sucks. You know who would’ve tied that game up at the end? Andrew Luck that’s who. He’s ten times the quarterback and was only picked one spot ahead of this clown.
Nice win for the Vikes.. Ponder looked pretty good.
Rg oh no stuck at 3………
RGChoke
Hail to the Redtails
Cowboys apparently called the Vikings after the game and said thank you for the favor.
It’s nice to win but but their current record wins only hurt the draft order.
Congrats Vikings, you just moved from 4th to 7th in next years draft!
Did the greatest team just lose to the worst team in the NFC? Nice drop Garcon.
Welcome back RG3 (games under .500)!
Vikings got a lot of love from the refs.
And Miley Hamhock sounded disoriented in his commentary while the REDSKINS were leading during the first half?
REDSKIN defender flagged for roughing the ponder; give me a break. Just make sure it;s not the break that ends Robert’s career, draws a fine from NY BUT doesn’t draw penalty.
Forget about it.
REDSKINS
I’ll save you all some time…
Goodell made them lose
They have 3 irrelevant trophies from 22 years ago
God has plans for them
They will show us next week
It apparently has nothing to do with poor coaching, a lack of talent, and off field distractions.
I will say this, too many teams passed on Jordan Reed. S T U D.
Once you lose to the Vikings it’s pretty safe to say your season is over. First the Steelers, now the Redskins, next the Packers. The Skins had a lucky year last season but it’s back to being the bottom feeders of the NFC East for the next 20 years.
I still don’t understand the move to acquire Josh Freeman.
I still don’t understand how Minnesota couldn’t see that Matt Cassel is better than Josh Freeman.
All we do is win.
Cassel. Peterson. Carlson. Jennings.
Let’s GO!!
Superbowl homeboy
This was such a fun game… I hope for both sides. The only ones who might not appreciate it so much are the #HTTR fans (you know who I’m talking about). It was a game I thought we lost at half time. Our defense couldn’t get off the field as usual and the Redskins offense seemed unstoppable, but, for the first time this season, we seemed to go into half time and righted the sinking defensive ship… Man they got pressure the second half of that game! It was an incredible win all around and a great game for all those involved.
I’m not bragging about the Vikings, god knows we don’t have much to brag about, but this was a very fun game to watch. Admit it, we were all expecting a blow out and we got something much more. If I can say anything this will be the game from a terrible season I can look forward to remembering.
Terrible call on the timeout with 30 odd seconds left. They got away with it but come on, what are you thinking in the situation
Got em right where we want em. Same record as last season at this time. Now we can go on that 7 game win streak.
The Steelers and the Redakins must be god’s teams.
Vikings rule!
Not a big skins of vikes fan, but damn if the refs didn’t call everything in favor of Minnesota. It was hard to watch. NFL needs to start releasing report cards of every ref after each season. There’s too few games to let the mishaps of refs alter a game.
HTTR!!! Damn, skins look weak, and this is coming from a Bucs fan!
What will it take to get rid of the awful coaches situation in Washington?
That’s coaching situation
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
RGMe – No Playoff Wins Ever
Time for RG3 and the rest of the R-words to start planning their January vacations.
‘cept the last pointless time out, the Vikes made great strides for the win. This should catapult a week 12 win.
Whats it going to take for this coaching staff to be fired. Anyone that understands football knows that the defense is horrible (Haslett). The offense cant make any adjustments after the defense figures out whats going on(Kyle) and the special teams are afraid to kick to the opposing players in fear of giving up a TD. Snyder needs to just pull the trigger already and get rid of these bums.
Nice win for the Vikes. So close, but yet so far away concerning the Bravehearts; Good effort though.
HAHAHAHA mannn what a snooze fest
the story was similar to previous games except the viking defense came alive in the second half to actually stop the opponent allowing the points we could muster to be enough. Ponder played his best game of the season.
If someone would’ve told me that AD would be held to just 75 yds…. I would’ve said we lost then. Peterson with no holes to run through some how gets 8 or more yds… John Carlson played well. Still need the offensive line to pick it up several notches. They are still nothing like they were last year. and the new Webb actually did ok at times.
My only misgiving is this puts us farther away from Teddy Bridgewater. Somehow I hope he is drafted by the vikings in 2014.
Luckily they won despite the time out.
“despite the loss of starting quarterback Christian Ponder to injury”? You say that like Christian Ponder has a significant positive impact on the outcome of the game and it could be insurmountable to lose him. What a joke. He is only the starter by default right now. More rushing tds than passing tds. No one wants to see that stat out of any qb.
If John Carlson makes you look bad…you’ve really got problems.
I love how they didn’t lay down in the second half. Showed they are still going to put in the effort even if the season is lost. So much for the easy 28-35 point win by the Washington franchise predicted by logical voice.
I’ve said this a million times…shanahan is stunting griffins growth with that offense. Sooner or later, usually when you’re down, a qb needs to be able to throw to someone other than his first read. Rg simply can’t do it and shanahan refuses to coach him up to do it. Result….8-8 seasons at best.
The Washington Bravehearts suck. Can’t even win the worst division in football. Hide the laces from the Washington homers
STOP SAYING THE “R-WORD”!!!!!!
This win was pure luck for the Vikes. Offense was OK but there was horrendous defensive play calling on that last Washington drive, including the incomprehensible timeouts.
Leslie Frazier tried to lose it, what’s up with the T.O. At the end of the game?? Crazy
The two games the Vikings won involved a stop by the defense to hold onto a win with the lead. One has Cassel at starting QB and the other tonight with Ponder starting. Three of the five loses with Ponder starting involved the defense giving up a last second score to surrender a fourth quarter lead.
Maybe we need to reconsider the general theory that Minnesota needs to draft a QB AT&T he top of the draft. Maybe QB isn’t the most pressing need. Maybe we need to fix the defense that keeps giving up the lead. I’m not saying Ponder is the second coming of Joe Cool. I am saying we need to look carefully to identify the biggest issue and address that.
btw….why is it when Ponder makes an average play that a 3rd year QB is SUPPOSED to make regularly…it”s a sign of his “greatness”? It’s like when an abusive parent hugs a child….that child hangs on to that hug like it’s something special when actually it’s very normal…..it’s tiring.
The Minnesota Vikings rallied from a 13 point second half deficit – because of the loss of starting quarterback Christian Ponder to injury – ………
RG_III_WINS_AND_OUT at it again.
All I want for Xmas is an offensive coordinator!!!
How do you not make the necessary 2nd half adjustments after scoring on 5 consecutive drives. The Vikings certainly did.
Didn’t they take play calling away from Zorn?
3-6 where’s the momentum from last year?
What’s wrong with winning?!
Skins O is good but the D sucks. Ref missed holding all day on the Vikings and a big illegal contact/PI on Jordan Reed at the end. Shouldn’t of came to that, the Skins are a better team than Minn but they won so congrats to them. HTTR! We won the nfc east last year at 3-6, ain’t over yet… have to win out or done.
Good win for the vikes.Not that big of a upset as some people think. But the vikings need to score at the end of the game not kick a FG. So the defense doesn’t have to win these games.
How come a two time Super Bowl coach can’t make 2nd half adjustments and finish a 1-7 team after being up 27-14.
Time for the shanahans to move on, 3-6 again
skol
Now that the Redskins have gone back to being the Redskins we can drop the whining about their name.
logicalvoicesays says:
Nov 7, 2013 11:25 AM
Why even watch the rest on Sunday when you have the BEST tonight on Primetime vs the Vikings? T-Minus 85 days until the Burgundy and Gold hoist Lombardi number four. #HTTR
__________________________________
I guess I’ll go ahead and watch the REST then…
Hard to respond to that last time out. Worked out for Frazer but……. Great D the second half though. Loved all the licks they put on RG. A lot of REDSKINS looked like they are gonna need a lot of ice tomorrow. That made me feel really good.
Stupid timeouts, i kept on scratching my head when they called the first one, the second one i said to myself bad teams always try and find a way to loose. It worked out well in the end, but wow talk about inept.
I thought the time outs was the best of Frazier. He was in touch with his D that has been routinely burned on last minute 4q drives. They were tired, sloppy, inexperienced, etc. he let them catch their breath and focus. Also, if the fo score, the vikes had been driving on the d the entire second half. All they need is fg with a strong 50+ kicker. Good job vikes, good bye top 3.
GoGo Vikings!
Skol!
Move up in the draft!
When Matt Cassel plays the vikings win.
When Matt Cassel is on the bench the vikings lose.
He is the best QB on the team, certainly the most durable, and is a real man who refuses to embrace the suck.
These Thursday night games are so poorly played consistently all year. Time to give it up. I’m glad there was Oregon Stanford and Baylor Oklahoma to give us something entertaining.
Of course no mention of the pass interference/holding call that wasn’t called on that final drive that would have resulted in first and goal from the 1…. Two of the Vikings td drives were aided by a phantom “helmet to helmet” penalty that was TOTALLy bogus. If this is how the nfl is going to allow refs to affect a game in such a way I will stop watching nfl all together and stop buying merchandise… It doesn’t matter who you play anymore, it’s about what refs you get.. And ed hochuli is a complete Joke
HAIL TO THE POTOMAC INDIGENOUS WARRIORS!!!!
You have just been – - ” SHANAHAN’ed ” . . . . . . Again !
this Public-Service Announcement , brought to you by, Mike Shanahan . . .
Dedicated to making the “St. Louis Rams” a Mega-Dynasty.
My name is Daniel Snyder . . and I approve this message.
Dexys Midnight Runners + RG3 + Washington Bravehearts = ONE HIT WONDERS
Good game and good win by the Vikings. However, Leslie Frasier messed up with those timeouts.
You have a young opposing quarterback who is dealing with an unfriendly road crowd, and the clock is winding down with under 50 seconds in the game. The last two plays in the drive, the Redskins were having trouble getting lined up correctly (likely because of the crowd doing their job by being loud), which is why so much time drained off the clock…so you call a time out?
I have a general rule regarding time outs – if your opponent would benefit more from a time out than you would, you should not call a time out.
I don’t care what Frazier or Michael Irvin say…those timeouts were stupid.
The Minnesota Vikings rallied from a 13-point second half deficit – despite the loss of starting quarterback Christian Ponder to injury
?????, despite? how about “because”
The Christian Ponder experiment is officially dead. You can debate whether Cassel or Freeman are the long term answer but Ponder should be place on IR and just move on.
Bye ,Washington.
That was a terrible 4th down play call. 1 yard needed, and you go with a fade to 53 year old Santana Moss?
You don’t give up that many picks to lose games like this. These are the ones you’re supposed to win.
Man, RGIII took a beating last night. He’s not a big dude like Cam. His career will be short if they don’t get him a better o-line and get him to protect himself a little better.
deadskins stink
That’s illogical.
Awesome!! Go Bravehearts!!
Wow! Went to bed at halftime and woke up to a mess!!! Unacceptable and time to replace the DC!
Cue the disgruntled Viking fans who will be upset because Ponder actually played well, and threw the ball well, and because the Vikings are hurting their status for next year’s draft by winning.
Good job by a back up QB and yet another FAIL by the so-called savior in DC. This franchise is back to it’s old self after a one decent season.
The R-words aren’t even as good as their lousy record. A lot of luck went into those few wins. Maybe now they’ll stop bragging.
HTTRLOL
Good for the Vikings!
Here’s to piling on wins to a lost season to knock yourselves out of contention for any real franchise QBs!
They are seriously bad. I don’t think they are capable of winning another game.
FAIL!
RGIII – Severely over rated.
The good news for the Skins is that they play in such a terrible division they might still win the divison and get into the playoffs by going 4-3 from here on.
The bad news for the Skins is that they will still be a terrible team and have a despicable owner, not to mention team name.
The good news for other teams in the League is that the Skins will probably return the same organization next year.
NatelanXX, you angry Chargers fan, take note. This is how it’s done:
Congratulations to the Minnesota Vikings and their fan base. You won the game, fair and square. The Redskins couldn’t get out of their own way after halftime, and your team made the necessary adjustments. A game well played, a game fairly officiated, a game you won, more than the Redskins lost. Well done!
If the Redskins were known by any other name, their defeat by the underdog Vikings would be just as sweet.
Which Maryland team will have the worst record in the end? Redskins or Ravens
I’m wondering if Shanny is that stupid to do nothing but throw in the second half, until the final drive…..
Or is it that he is trying to please RGIII who wants to be like Luck….
Everyone in the D.C. area is beside themselves on how stupid a coach can be with the second half play calling.
Stupid is as stupid does…..
As I stated before…the redskins win a game and he is all over the message boards…they lose and he is know where to be found…he will be back in a few days and blame it on the refs or anybody or anything…when will he come to the realization that it is in fact his teams fault because they blow
The #BurgundyAndGoldStandard. LOL!
Felt very odd as a Vikings fan praying to God that the Redskins would win. We won a meaningless game to miss out on RG3 & Luck. I feel like this is happening all over again.
Am I the only one who thought the Vikings were stupid to use their time-outs when Washington had none left? They were very lucky to win this game, in my opinion. I think they need to work on clock management,to say the least.
And now Vikings fans can point to this one stop as “proof” of their vastly superior defense.
Nice win, purple pansies!
So where’s the R*dsk*ns chorus telling how great the team is?
Let’s be LOGICAL here shall we skins and Vikes fans. If, some posters declared that the Vikings played horribly (but yet still got the win), wouldn’t that make the Washington Brownsox a worse team than them since they came out at the losing end of the game?
I mean, facts are facts, one horrible team and another supposedly team of destiny (by virtue of one playoff appearance in eons) play a game and the horrible team comes out with the W, what does that make the so-called team of destiny? With the savior at the helm?
Hahahaha….. skins, what a joke? I’d put money the Crimson Tides could beat these jokers any given Sunday!
Robert played near perfection in this game. Swiss cheese O-line made up on subpar talent aside from Williams, and inept defense lost this one yet again.
Vikings harassed RG3 all night.
Hits on QB – the Vikings won that category.
The Redskins were not able to get to Ponder much, but when they did, the ref’s made sure to wag their finger and throw the flag.
NFL Investigations – Don’t make me laugh.
Ryan Kerrigan was two fingers away from putting a damper on Ed Hoculli’s Perfect Game.
Vikings got a win.
Vikes got good spots on balls?
Vikes commit no drive-ending penalties?
Vikes got more than a win.
They’ve got the fix.
Not one penalty against the VIKINGS defense, in a game where Ed Hoculli flags Redskins (offense & defense & special Teams).
Enjoy your win Hoculli.
Enjoy your gift, Vikings.
The only thing that wasn’t fixed in last night’s game was the coin toss.
whatjusthapped says:
Nov 8, 2013 6:11 AM
The Minnesota Vikings rallied from a 13-point second half deficit – despite the loss of starting quarterback Christian Ponder to injury
?????, despite? how about “because”
The Christian Ponder experiment is officially dead. You can debate whether Cassel or Freeman are the long term answer but Ponder should be place on IR and just move on.
———————————————–
How about “despite” – Ponder led Vikings to 28 points in drives. Cassel = 6.
Vikings have played hard on offense for Ponder. The Defense has not, and even Kevin Williams admitted that the D was out of place for the first half and wasn’t doing what the coaches told them to do. Once they did (second half) – held the Redskins to 3 points. I just wonder how often this has been happening all year.
If you’re a Vikings fan saying this was a good win, are you looking to repeat what happened a couple years ago and miss out on teddy bridgewater or clowney?
And now we have people saying, hey, ponder looked pretty good!
News flash: Washington has as horrible a defense as the Vikings. The Vikings receivers were unchallenged all night.
Oh, and for you all on the ponder bandwagoners..he had two turnovers. And under two hundred yards passing. This game was an anomaly.
I used to root for the Vikings, but I can’t be a part of the holier-than-thou, mentality being put forth by some of these commenters.
Thats unattractive and makes this game in particular look more and more like a fix.
Way to be ED- HOCULII
RG 3 played very well, yes in the column is an L, but the dude balled, cant blame two dropped passes in the end zone and Santana failing to drag his feet (though he didnt secure the ball-stupidest rule in my opinion) so it wouldn’t have counted had he dragged his second foot.
Whatever the NFC east is so horrible the Skins are still in it.
@Seattle Coug Redskins 3 SBs Seattle SeaHags 0 win one before you talk trash.
@metalman510,
LOL. If the NFL fixed a game for the Vikings, it’s the first time ever. Aside from the touchy roughing call on Ponder which even I bemoaned as a Vikings fan, it just seemed like Wash was a much sloppier team. The PI non call on Reed was close, but I’ve seen a lot worse and in that situation I like it when the refs let players decide the games. He wasn’t mugged, it was close. Maybe call a better play on 4th down than a fade to your shortest receiver. Or, ya know, don’t blow a 10 point half time lead. Fixed. SMH.
Both of our wins have come with teams knocking on the goalline to tie. We really suck.
@doe22us says
RG 3 played very well, yes in the column is an L, but the dude balled, cant blame two dropped passes in the end zone and Santana failing to drag his feet (though he didnt secure the ball-stupidest rule in my opinion) so it wouldn’t have counted had he dragged his second foot.
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Stick with managing your little FF team. You are making no sense on here. Thanks