Vikings again make sack battle lopsided

GREEN BAY, WIS. - The Vikings sacked Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers six times Sunday while Brett Favre was not sacked in a 38-26 victory at Lambeau Field. Favre was also not sacked in the teams' first meeting Oct. 5.

Vikings defensive end Jared Allen had three more sacks and three quarterbacks hurries after collecting a career-high 4 1/2 sacks in the first meeting. Allen, who faced rookie left tackle T.J. Lang, has an NFL-leading 10 1/2 sacks in eight games.

Defensive end Ray Edwards dominated right tackle Allen Barbre at times and had his best performance of the season. Edwards finished with two sacks, four quarterback hurries and two pass breakups. He also drew a holding penalty against Barbre.

Edwards admitted he lost his cool after one play when he and Barbre had to be separated in the second half.

"He holds a lot," Edwards said. "I'm running to the ball and he's still holding the back of my jersey. But it's football. Offensive linemen do that all the time. I just try and stay focused and keep playing ball. "

Packers defensive lineman Johnny Jolly didn't exactly apologize for the ill-timed personal foul penalty for head-butting Vikings running back Chester Taylor after a play late in the first quarter. It turned a Vikings' fourth-and-10 situation at the Packers 14-yard line into first-and-goal at the 7.

Taylor had just been dropped for a 5-yard loss when Jolly bumped him as he was walking off the field. After passing Taylor, Jolly turned back and delivered the head butt.

Asked if he was too aggressive in that situation, Jolly said: "I play like that every game. It ain't going to change. ... It didn't cost us the game. They made the call. Deal with it. So be it."

Wide receiver Bernard Berrian was in the lineup after being listed as questionable because of a left hamstring injury. One national report Sunday morning said Berrian would not play, but he said "there was no doubt in my mind that I was playing."

Berrian caught three passes for 47 yards and scored the final touchdown -- a 16-yard catch with 3:48 left in the game.

No tripping, just a touchdown

A week ago, Jeff Dugan was called for a controversial tripping penalty that negated a touchdown against the Steelers. On Sunday, Dugan caught a 2-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter to give the Vikings a 31-20 lead. Dugan replaced fullback Naufahu Tahi, who was inactive because of an eye injury.

Tahi’s right eye was swollen and bruised; it was believed he suffered the injury horsing around in the locker room with Adrian Peterson.

“He bumped his eye on Saturday in the locker room and got some stitches in there,” coach Brad Childress said. “It looked like it was going to be fine. But he woke up [Sunday], it was swollen shut. Those two are roommates so Dugan knew by looking at him that he was going to struggle and Tahi knew when he woke up that he couldn’t see out of his right eye.”
 

The Packers elected not to kick the ball to Percy Harvin in the third quarter and they were rewarded for it. Brian Robison fielded the short kick and lost control as he got hit by A.J. Hawk and the Packers recovered it the Vikings 41. Green Bay scored a touchdown on that possession.

"I tried to cover the ball up and didn't get there in time," Robison said. "The guy just ripped it out. I was just running the ball and the guy stripped the ball. That's it."

The Vikings used Taylor in that up position after that.

"It wasn't discipline, it was a game plan thing," Robison said. "We knew they were going to try and kick the ball short like that. I'm not a running back. Obviously we saw that tonight."

Said Childress: "[Robison] picked it up and moved forward a little bit. Those big guys all think they can run with it but it's like arrows hitting an archery board. ... They are the hitters, no the hit-ees." 

• Vikings enter John Sullivan accepted blame for the botched snap that hit Favre on the leg and resulted in a lost fumble in the first quarter. Sullivan snapped the ball while Favre was trying to change the call. "It was miscommunication between Brett and I," Sullivan said. "It's on me and we'll get that worked out in practice and hopefully it won't happen again."

• Backup linebacker Erin Henderson was active for the first time this season. He collected two special teams tackles.

• Left tackle Bryant McKinnie complained about the field conditions in a postgame tweet. McKinnie said he had to change cleats during the game because he kept sliding.