Redskins Recap: Redskins Give Up 20 Unanswered in 2nd Half, Redskins 27, Vikings 34

1^st Quarter:

-Vikings won the toss and elected to receive.  Kai Forbath kicks the ball short on purpose to keep it out of Cordarrelle Patterson's hands.  Vikings start at their own 28 after a short return by Joe Webb.  Brian Orakpo has a big sack on second down on the Vikings first drive.  Right after, Brandon Meriweather picks off a deep pass by Christian Ponder and returns it to midfield with 13:09 to go in the 1^st.

-Alfred Morris powers his way for an impressive 13 yards to the Vikings 13 on a 2^nd and 1 after breaking several tackles.  Pierre Garcon then draws a pass interference call on a third down to give the Redskins a 1^st and goal on the 1 yard line.  The Redskins are unable to get it in after a Morris run and two pass attempts.  They settle for the field goal with 8:16 to go.  Redskins 3, Vikings 0.

-Forbath pooches the kickoff again and A.J. Jefferson returns to the Vikings 35.  After a couple of long completions by Ponder, Chris Baker gets called for a helmet-to-helmet hit to put the Vikings in the red zone at about the 19.  Adrian Peterson finally springs free for a 18 yard touchdown run.  Redskins 3, Vikings 7. 5:10 remaining.

-Niles Paul returns the kick to the 22.  The Redskins are forced to use an early timeout on a 3^rd and 6 with 3:46 remaining on their own 26.  Fortunately, it leads to a Jordan Reed first down catch to keep the drive going.  Griffin then hits Hankerson for a beautiful 29 yard pass play.  Morris follows that up a couple plays later for along run inside the 10.  Griffin finishes the drive with a screen pass to Garcon for his 10^th touchdown pass of the year.  Redskins 10, Vikings 7.  1:17 remaining.

-Toby Gerhart is the recipient of the next short kickoff and returns it to the 27.  After a few plays, Peterson gets another 16 yard run into Redskins territory as the quarter ends.

2^nd Quarter:

-Ponder has a couple quick 1^st down completions to get to the Redskins 11 yard line.  Perry Riley gets hit with an unsportsmanlike conduct and then Ponder hits Patterson for a Vikings touchdown.  Redskins 10, Vikings 14.  12:59 in the 2^nd.

-The following drive, Griffin hits Reed for two more completions to get the ball to the 37.  After a couple of Morris runs, Griffin then hits Garcon on a bubble screen for a long gain to the Vikings 20.  Morris has a 9 yard run to get to the 9.  Griffin completes the drive with a touchdown pass to Reed.  Griffin did a great job pump faking the defender on that play to get Reed open.  Redskins 17, Vikings 14.  5:02 to go in the half.

-Forbath actually kicks to Patterson this time and he only takes the ball out to the 24.  Ponder had nine straight completions after his interception until his 11^th pass was incomplete with 4:21 to go.  Vikings forced to punt following a second straight Ponder incompletion.  Josh Morgan fumbled the punt and lost four yards on his return once he recovered the ball on the Redskins 23.

-Thanks to another nice completion to Garcon and a few more runs by Morris, Washington is at the Minnesota 48 yard line as we go into the 2:00 warning.  Griffin then hits passes to Garcon, Reed and Moss to get the ball to the 8 with 0:24 to go.  After a delay of game penalty, Griffin keeps the ball on the next play and runs to the 1 with 0:15.  Griffin took a big hit on that.  Griffin then hits a wide open Logan Paulson off of play-action for the touchdown.  Redskins 24, Vikings 14.  0:10 in the half.

-Forbath squibs another kick that ends up in Patterson's hands anyway.  It is taken to the 25.  Vikings take a knee on the next play to end the half.

3^rd Quarter:

-Washington will get the ball first and start at the 20.  Morris gets another big carry that puts him over 100 yards rushing already.  Griffin then hits Garcon on a 3^rd and 15 for a 30 yard catch to get the Redskins to the Vikings 24 yard line.  After the drive stalls, Forbath nails a 40 yard field goal.  Redskins 27, Vikings 14.  9:22 in the 3^rd.

-The NFL Network broadcast team noted that the Redskins just had their 4^th drive of 11 or more plays and have also scored points on all five of their possessions.  Forbath kicks another short kickoff that Gerhart returns to the 26.  The Vikings finally put together a solid drive with some good runs by Peterson and some accurate strikes by Ponder.  Ponder finishes the drive with a good play action play in which he hits John Carlson for a 28 yard touchdown.  Redskins 27, Vikings 21.  4:32 in the 3^rd.

-Paul returns the kickoff to the 27.  Washington finally goes three and out.  After a weird attempt at a fake punt that was voided by a pre-snap penalty, Rocca punts to Marcus Sherels who returned it to the Minnesota 44.  An additional 15 yards was tacked on after the play due to another unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after the play.  The ball is now spotted on the Redskins 41.

-On a second down play, Ryan Kerrigan almost intercepted another screen pass.  Unfortunately it bounces off his hands.  Then on 3^rd down, Ponder hits Wright for 28 yards and a first down.  On the next play, Ponder scrambles for 15 yards and gets crushed by DeAngelo Hall.   The ball is spotted on the one foot line and Ponder is on his way to the sidelines holding his right arm.  Matt Cassel comes in and hands the ball to Peterson for the easy touchdown.  It's his second of the night.  Redskins 27, Vikings 28.  0:57 remaining.

-Redskins start at the 20.  Griffin runs for a nice 9 yard run around the left end, but it is nullified by another holding penalty.  Griffin makes up most of it by hitting Garcon for 18 yards on 1^st and 20.  End of the third quarter.

4^th Quarter:

-It was just announced that Ponder is out for the game.  Griffin takes back to back sacks and the Redskins are not able to put together a drive.  Rocca shanks the punt and it goes out around the 50.

-Cassel hits Jerome Simpson for a big 3^rd down conversion to the Redskins 24.  The drive stalls shortly after that, however, and the Vikings kick a 39 yard field goal.  Redskins 27, Vikings 31.  9:57 remaining in the game.

-Niles Paul to the 24 on the return.  The Vikings have scored 17 unanswered points.  Griffin gets sacked again by Kevin Williams on a third down and the Redskins will have to punt again.

-On the next drive, Peterson has another strong 14 yard run where he bounces off several Redskins to get the Vikings to about the 50.  Later in the drive, Cassel hits John Carlson for 17 yards to the Washington 24.  Their drive stalls out and they are forced to kick a 40 yard field goal.  Redskins 27, Vikings 34.  3:36 remaining.

-The Viking have scored 20 unanswered points.  The Redskins will start at the 20 again.  Griffin hits Hankerson for a first down.  Then Morris rushes for another to put the Redskins at the 40.  After three more plays, the Redskins have a 4^th and 1 and need to get beyond the 50.  Griffin ran a keeper and picked up 12 yards to keep the game alive.  Minnesota takes a timeout with 1:18 left to play and the Redskins on their 25.  With the Redskins at the 4 and the clock ticking down, the Vikings inexplicably took a timeout with 38 seconds remaining.  On 4^th down, Griffin hit Santana Moss in the back in the endzone but he was ruled out of bounds.

Important Game Notes:

1^st Half:

-Griffin wore an army fatigue-style arm sleeve and shoes in honor of Military Appreciation Week and Veterans Day.

-The Redskins clearly decided to kick away from Cordarrelle Patterson on early kickoffs.  He was only able to handle two of them in the first half.

-Outside of two long runs (18 for a TD and 16 yards), Washington mostly held Peterson in check (7 atts, 44 yards and 1 TD)

-The Vikings did a good job of staying within Ponder's comfort zone.  At the half he is 10 of 13 for 85 yards, one touchdown and one interception.

-Penalties(unsportsmanlike, delay of game) again made the job harder for the Redskins in the first half.

-The Redskins' offense played a fantastic first half.  Griffin:16-21 for 179 and 3 TD's.  Morris: 17 rushes for 88 yards.  Garcon: 4 catches, 69 yards, 1 TD.  Reed: 5 catches, 45 yards, 1 TD.

2^nd Half:

-With 0:57 to go in the 3^rd, the Redskins had seemingly dominated the game but were down by 1 point.

-The Vikings put better heat on Griffin as the game went on.  In the fourth quarter, they got back-to-back sacks on him to force a punt.

-Like they did in the first half, penalties stalled drives again for the Redskins offense.

-Griffin was sacked four times in the second half after not getting sacked at all in the 1^st half.

-Peterson took over the second half and finished with 20 carries for 74 yards and two touchdowns.