The first half of Sunday's game against the Cleveland Browns was just another preseason game for the Vikings. Nothing special. The Browns had our offensive plays down to a T. They knew what to expect.
As a player in the season opener, your mind has to gather all the components, you have to play hard and make it work by doing your job and doing it solidly.
On the mental side, the Vikings needed to be aggressive and there wasn't any of that in the first half. Why would you want to kick an onside kick the first play of the season? Coaches would have told their players to look for onside kicks, high kicks or anything unusual — to keep an eye out for anything. The Browns were prepared.
When I played, coaches told us big plays make the difference in the game, win or lose. The Vikings' big play in the first half came from Darius Reynaud. His 36-yard punt return set the team up for our first touchdown of the game.
The Browns had two big plays in the first half. First, they captured our onside kick to open the game and turned it into a field goal. And second, Joshua Cribbs returned a punt 67 yards for a touchdown shortly before halftime, giving Cleveland a 13-10 lead.
The Vikings' special teams need to pick it up and stay in their lanes. In special teams, everyone has a responsibility. There is a player left and right that is supposed to contain an opposing player. I noticed when Cribbs ran for the touchdown, two Vikings were running too close together. One of them should have remained outside — in other words, stayed in his lane.
There needs to be enthusiasm when playing your season opener, regardless of being home or away. And nobody from the Vikings looked excited during the first half.
But rookie Percy Harvin got things headed in the right direction by stepping up and returning the kickoff 41 yards to begin the second half. Adrian Peterson scored on the next set of downs to give the Vikings the lead for good. I felt that Peterson was the key ingredient to firing up the team. After a few runs and some blood loss, he would hit people on the helmet and jump around. As I mentioned last week, it's this type of energy that gets your teammates going.
The interception by Cedric Griffith set up another touchdown, with Harvin catching a pass from Brett Favre to make it 24-13. The most exciting part was when Brett ran down to celebrate with Percy in the end zone. To see them jumping around and showing emotion was awesome!
I felt it was a slap in the face when our defense let the Browns score a touchdown late in the game. In my opinion, it's inexcusable to let the opponent score when you are dominating a game with such little time left. And it doesn't matter if the second string was in or not. As the Browns got within scoring distance, the starting defensive line came back in the game. You can't ease the pressure just because you are guaranteed a win.
Over the years, I've noticed the seam, or the crease pattern, cannot be covered by our linebackers. That was the play the Browns scored on.
The Vikings offense had a big challenge the first half. I thought the Browns would come eight in the box, and at times, I even counted nine. They blitzed. They corner blitzed. They put pressure on Favre, and they read our plays well. Other teams will study those films and come out strong against our line. We are fortunate that we play Detroit next week. If it was a stronger defensive team, it could hurt our running game this early in the season.
Overall, the progress the Vikings displayed the second half is a step in the right direction. The offensive formation, utilizing the pass and the run, gave the Browns defense some confusion.
We have a lot of offensive ammunition. And as the season goes on, it will be exciting to watch us grow. Mark it as the first win toward our goal!