EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – Marcus Sherels had widely varying fortunes in the Vikings' 23-7 loss to the Giants on Monday night.
The Vikings return man and cornerback scored the second touchdown of his career on an 86-yard punt return in the first half.
But in the third quarter, Sherels missed an interception chance and, on the following play, he fumbled the ball away on a punt return although he was untouched, setting up a Giants touchdown.
Sherels' punt return was the third longest in team history, behind a 98-yarder by Charlie West in 1968 and a 91-yarder by Nate Burleson in 2004. It gave the Vikings a 7-3 lead. Sherels has two career punt return TDs, tying the team record held by David Palmer and Mewelde Moore.
But Sherels' fumble was costly. The Giants led 10-7 in the third quarter, and Sherels fielded Steve Weatherford's kick at his own 10. He stumbled ahead to the 13 but lost the ball when he hit the ground, untouched, and New York eventually recovered the bouncing ball at the 3. Peyton Hillis scored two plays later on a 1-yard run for a 17-7 lead.
By the way, the Giants backfield is so injury-riddled that they added Hillis, the former Cleveland Browns starter who had been working as an assistant coach at a Tennessee high school.
Physicality needed
The reigning league MVP plans on having a talk with the Vikings offensive unit ASAP.
"One thing I'm going to stress on is being more physical as an offensive unit," Adrian Peterson said after gaining only 28 yards on 13 carries. "Definitely be more physical. We were more physical last year. And that's one thing that stands out this year."