Game Summary
RB 
Rice, a 2nd round pick of the Vikings in 2007, was one dropped pass away from establishing a new team record single-game receiving yards. But the rare drop by Rice wasn’t nearly enough to damper his career day – 7 receptions for 201 yards.
On several occasions, Favre noticed single-coverage on Rice and simply launched the ball his way, allowing the lanky 6-4 receiver to use his size and outstanding ball skills to come up with the grab.
Rice’s productive day was complemented by outstanding efforts from Peterson and Favre, too. The Vikings superstar RB registered several game-breaking runs, shedding defenders one moment and simply running over them the next. He averaged 7.4 yards per carry and found the endzone twice.
Favre’s favorite target was clearly Rice on Sunday, but he found 6 others on the afternoon as well and threw a TD pass to TE
But the game wasn’t all about the Vikings offense. The defense rose to the occasion as well, holding the Lions to just 10 points and only 2 rushing 1st downs. Detroit QB Matthew Stafford threw for 224 yards, but was pressured constantly and was sacked 3 times.
DE
The win moves Minnesota to 8-1 overall, 6-0 in the NFC and 4-0 in the division. The Seattle Seahawks come to town next weekend and the Chicago Bears will travel to Mall of America Field the weekend after that to wrap up the Vikings 3-game home stand.
It was over when…
Favre hit Harvin in the middle of the field and the rookie WR bounced off a tackler, sprinted away from another, picked up a block from
Highlights
-- Rice stole the show on Sunday, registering a career-high 201 yards receiving and continuing his emergence as a dangerous deep threat in the Vikings passing attack. He wasn’t able to find the endzone, but Rice had receptions of 56, 43, 43, 21 and 20 yards, along with a pair of 9-yard grabs, which helped to set up a couple of TDs.
-- The Vikings defense was stout once again in front of the home crowd, holding Detroit to 10 points and 6 three-and-out drives. The Lions punted 7 times, gave up 3.0 sacks and fumbled twice – losing 1 of them.
-- Favre and Peterson certainly deserve credit for their efforts in addition to Rice. Favre’s 344 passing yards are his most since playing Detroit in 2007 and he registered a passer rating of 120.5, which will likely push him to #1 among NFL QBs in passer rating.
-- Another solid game by the Vikings kickers on Sunday. Longwell was 2-2 on FG tries (22 and 35 yards) as well as 3-3 on PATs. He also recorded 2 touchbacks.
-- DE Ray Edwards had a solid game. Early on he was constantly pestering Stafford and eventually he was able to tally a pair of sacks. Edwards is having a solid season and drew praise from Vikings Head Coach Brad Childress after the game.
-- Although the Vikings offense had just 10 points in the 1st half, it was encouraging to see the offensive staff create another productive game plan and even incorporate new looks and plays following the bye week. The Vikings tried a couple of reverses (one of which resulted in a lost fumble) and at game’s end had 492 net yards of offense while averaging 7.8 yards per snap.
-- The Vikings defense was without the services of CB
-- The Vikings offense was 2-2 in scoring TDs in goal-to-go situations, punching it in with Peterson one time and then connecting on a Favre-to-Jeff Dugan 8-yard strike in the 4th quarter.
-- LB
-- The Vikings kick coverage units did a nice job. LB
A couple of things to work on…
-- Considering the Vikings won by 17 points, there are a lot of aspects that are in need of some correction. The most pressing and most obvious is penalties. The Vikings were penalized 13 times for 91 yards – exorbitant amounts in both categories and something that needs to be corrected by next week. As Childress said during his press conference, the Vikings leaked yardage on Sunday and the penalty numbers are disturbing because the Vikings are generally one of the league’s least-penalized teams.
-- The Vikings have excelled on 3rd down this year but weren’t so hot in those situations on Sunday, converting just 3 of 11 opportunities.
-- WR
-- Favre went another game without an INT, but the Vikings lost 2 fumbles and they came at key times. One came early in the game as Peterson was attempting to flip the ball to Harvin on an end around that looked to be wide open. The 2nd fumble came as Peterson was sprinting to the endzone after a huge gain and Lions CB Phillip Buchanon came from behind and punched the ball loose.
-- Just as they have been on 3rd downs, the Vikings have been sharp in the red zone this season – but they weren’t on Sunday, scoring TDs on only 2 of 6 trips in the red area.
What they were saying…
-- “He (Favre) just has great confidence in Sidney in a one-on-one situation. He is going to give an opportunity to make a play to that guy and he certainly hasn’t let him down. Whether it’s high, whether it’s low, whether it’s back shoulder, he’s going to give him an opportunity to make a play in one-on-one football matchups.” – Vikings Head Coach Brad Childress
-- “The thing is about that play with Percy, as amazing as that was, I’m not surprised about it. I saw a couple of kickoff returns two weeks ago, where you go, ‘What else can a guy do.’ You throw a couple of balls up to Sidney, he makes one catch and you go, ‘That’s amazing.’ He makes three or four and you go, ‘What the heck.’” – QB Brett Favre
-- “Just communication and trust. I feel like he has a lot of confidence in me, same as I have in him and it’s not only just me, but its all of the receivers. Just communication throughout the week is great and that is something that we have to continue to do.” – WR Sidney Rice
-- “He made a great play. I was open and swinging the ball and he came up and punched it out. You got to give him credit. He made a great play.” – Adrian Peterson on his fumble, forced by Lions CB Phillip Buchanon
-- “Anyone can be stopped, but he sure is difficult to cover. The types of plays he makes, I think, is what we all expect him to do. It’s just great catches, in traffic, coming back underneath guys, you name it. He’s proven he can make those types of catches.” – QB Brett Favre
-- “Ray has had a good year. Ray is a nice complement to what is going on with the other side. He holds his own as a base end. He gets a lot of runs. Most teams are right-handed running the ball that way. So he’s able to play the run very well and pretty doggone good in pass rush as well.” – Vikings Head Coach Brad Childress
-- “As far as getting on the same page as guys, I knew it had to be quicker for obvious reasons, coming in late. I think that’s where my experience pays off.” – QB Brett Favre
-- “I actually didn’t think about it until I got back up to the locker room. A couple guys were saying something about it but it’s a great accomplishment. I owe it all to the offensive line and the receivers because those guys are really the ones that make it happen.” – Adrian Peterson on becoming the 4th-fastest RB in NFL history to rush for 4,000 yards
-- “They always play us tough. We’re both NFC North teams, and I think the Lions feel like we’re a rival and they come out and fight us really hard. But, at the same time, we came together as a team and got it done.” – CB Cedric Griffin
-- “Adrian, he’ll be killing himself all night over that, but the guy, he’s amazing. He really is, the way that he can stop and go. I think he will be the first to tell you there are some things that he wishes he could have done better, but you can’t bottle him up for too long. The guy is impressive. He can stop and go and has as much power as anybody I have ever seen.” – QB Brett Favre
