ShareThisWhile Minnesota Vikings coach Brad Childress had to be pleased his defense held Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger to 175 yards passing Sunday, he couldn't have been happy that, for the second consecutive game, an opponent used explosive plays to move quickly down the field near the end of the opening half.
The Vikings consider an explosive play to be a run of 12 or more yards or a pass of 16 or more yards.
In the Vikings' 33-31 victory over Baltimore in Week 6, the Ravens took possession at their own 18-yard line with 1 minute, 47 seconds left in the second quarter and drove to the Vikings 11. Steve Hauschka then made a 29-yard field goal to pull Baltimore within 14-3. Key plays included back-to-back completions of 22 and 23 yards by quarterback Joe Flacco.
In Sunday's 27-17 loss in Pittsburgh, the Vikings had a 7-3 lead when the Steelers got the ball at their own 9-yard line with 1:39 left in the first half. Pittsburgh drove to its own 38 when Roethlisberger connected with Mike Wallace on a 22-yard completion. Roethlisberger, who entered the game leading the NFL in passing yards, stopped the clock by spiking the ball at the Vikings 40, then hit Wallace for a 40-yard touchdown. Pittsburgh never trailed again.
"I just think in general on defense situationally, you hate to see two explosions happen before the half," Childress said. "The thing on defense is putting the whole thing together. Being able to play short-yardage situations, third-down situations, two-minute situations. That was a lapse."
The defense gave up 10 explosive plays against the Ravens, including touchdown runs of 22 and 33 yards by Ray Rice, and seven against the Steelers, including four rushing.
"It is uncharacteristic, and I can't really tell you why it's happening or what's going on," linebacker Ben Leber said. "I think sometimes its just teams are hitting the spots or hitting the holes or just a good call on their parts. We definitely want to correct those things but it's kind of hard to sit there and say, 'Hey, we're going to stop all explosive plays,' because you get too conservative at that point."
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
Must credit Minneapolis Star Tribune
