Sid Hartman: Vikings find a way to slow down Griffin

It was quite a different performance for the Vikings defense Sunday compared to the previous two times they have faced Robert Griffin III.

On Dec. 14, 2012, Griffin ran 13 times for 138 yards and two touchdowns and completed 17 of 22 passes for 182 yards to pace the Washington Redskins to a 38-26 victory over the Vikings in Landover, Md.

Then a year ago, in a Thursday night game last Nov. 7 at the Metrodome, Griffin went 24-for-37 for 281 yards and three touchdowns, and he also ran for 44 yards, but the Vikings were able to overcome his 114.8 quarterback rating, rallying in the second half to win 34-27.

Well, they rallied again Sunday, but this time they did a better job containing Griffin, the 2011 Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback at Baylor. He threw for 251 yards and a touchdown, but he also threw a costly interception and was held to seven rushes for 24 yards in the Vikings' 29-26 victory that moved them to 4-5 heading into the bye week.

Mike Zimmer's defense gave up 347 yards to the Redskins, but it was able to make crucial stops when necessary.

One must not forget that last Monday, this same Redskins team, without an injured Griffin, stopped the six-game winning streak of Tony Romo and the Dallas Cowboys with an overtime victory on the road.

Meanwhile, the Vikings were led by a relative bunch of no-namers such as Matt Asiata, who rushed 10 times for only 26 yards, but he not only scored three touchdowns, he also ran in a two-point conversion as the Vikings played their best second half of the season.

A Vikings offense that has struggled for much of the season scored on touchdown drives of six plays for 56 yards, 10 plays for 76 yards and a winning drive that went 12 plays for 73 yards.

Teddy Bridgewater had his best game yet as he completed 26 of 42 passes for 268 yards, 17 more than Griffin, and one TD. Bridgewater got rid of the ball much faster than at any time this season and gave the offensive line a chance to deliver a very improved performance.

This victory bodes well for the Vikings, who have a favorable schedule coming up after this week's bye.

The time off should give the team time to heal and maybe even allow for Rudolph to comeback for their Week 10 game at Chicago, where the Bears are struggling. Then they will have three consecutive home games against the Packers, Panthers and Jets.

Asiata saw his carries drop in favor of rookie Jerick McKinnon in recent weeks, combining for only 12 carries the previous three games after rushing 60 times for 221 yards over the first four games the Vikings were without Adrian Peterson this year.

"On the offensive side, we just have to set the tempo for the whole team. Let them know we mean business, and that's what we did today."

Asiata said that in watching Bridgewater, he sees him improving constantly.

"He's getting better every game, everybody is," he said. "It's good to see him work through his progress and get the win."

It's amazing to consider that Asiata has had three three-touchdown games in the span of less than a season. He also scored three times in a 48-30 victory over Philadelphia in Week 15 last year, then did it again on Sept. 28 when the Vikings beat Atlanta 41-28.

Asiata said he knows his role is to come in and finish off drives.

The offensive line had a good day, giving up only two sacks. Left tackle Matt Kalil, who has taken a lot of criticism, said the line is improving.

"We just struggled a little bit early in the season, but progressively getting better," he said. "We're working better as an offensive line and I think today was an overall team win and played great."

Kalil was asked if he thinks he has been playing well.

"There is always stuff I have to work on, but as long as I get better and don't get worse — but as far as the outside thing, I don't pay attention to that," said the 2012 first-round pick, who gave up a first-quarter sack to linebacker Trent Murphy on Sunday. "I pay attention to my coaches and what I need to get better at, that's all that matters."

In the third quarter Sunday, Vikings safety Harrison Smith made what looked like a nice stop on third-and-1 when he tackled Griffin for a 2-yard loss. But Smith as called for unnecessary roughness, setting up a touchdown on the very next play that made it 17-14 Washington.

Asked what was different Sunday from the previous time Smith faced Griffin in 2012 (Smith was hurt for last year's meeting), he said: "It's totally two different things. I can't even remember a whole lot from that game. I think today was just everybody tried to do their job, take care of their assignment and I think that kept them in check.

"You always want to stop the run and they make plays on the pass. He got outside the pocket a few times and made some plays. But in the end, we did enough to win."

Vikings center John Sullivan spoke of how nice it is to get back-to-back close victories going into the bye week. Asked if the team could make a push for an NFC North title when it returns, he said: "I don't know what the big-picture stuff is, and I don't think there's any advantage to thinking about all that stuff.

"What we have now is a week where we can rest up and get healthy, and then we have a stretch of games coming down there, but it's still one at a time after the bye."

Trying to explain the Vikings' improvement on offense in the second half, especially in the running game, Sullivan said: "I'm not sure if the play-calling was different or what we did. I just think we just started executing better, moving guys around on the line. I think the backs were seeing things a little bit better in the second half, finding holes better.