Redskins-Vikings MNF Liveblog
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by user SuperFrankieLampard
Josh here again. We're going to try liveblogging tonight's game between the Beloved Redskins and the Vikings. I've been a Skins fan as long as I've been alive, so I'm sure you'll see that come out in the blogging. All times are "time remaining in said quarter."
Pregame
We've got Sportscenter (or maybe PTI on, I don't know) and Kornheiser and Wilbon are both wearing sweeeeeet red blazer jackets. FedEx field looks strangely empty, leading me to believe the PTI segment is not live. Who knew?
My room-mate just changed the channel to ESPN. The Pregame show. They're doing the national anthem with vocalists from all our military branches. Chills, for real. Five years ago I woke up, a freshman in college, to my room-mate saying "somebody crashed a plane into the World Trade Center." I thought "what kind of idiot hits those things?" and went to take a shower. By the time I got out of the shower the second plane had hit and the world had changed. Back to the game, the crowd is chanting USA, the Redskins band is marching off the field. I have been waiting for the start of the Redskins season since they lost in the playoffs last year. This is like Christmas for me. Berman picks the Vikings. I hate Berman anyway, so that's cool.
When the Redkins beat the Hated Cowboys last year in the first game I literally lept out of my seat and started screaming when Santana Moss caught the second touchdown pass. I love the Redskins, and heeeeeeeeere we go!
Game Intro
We have a pretty cool sequence with various players in various stages of suspense, and then...Arnold? and then a dumb GMC commercial disguised as a game intro? Seriously? ESPN, that's really disappointing.
Tirico, Theisman, and Kornheiser are talking up the game. Theisman is a hero, just thought I'd point that out.
Live shot of the Pentagon. Man, it's weird to be having this game in Washington tonight. Weird, but I can't think of a more fitting place.
Suzy Kolber is covering the Redskins sideline. Deadspin's own Unsilent Majority will like that.
Joe Namath is sitting here next to me and he won't shut up about how hott Suzy is.
Kickoff in 60 seconds. i'm getting nervous.
Chad Johnson playing Madden commercial. I love me some Chad Johnson. He and Southeast Jerome are the two most entertaining players in the game, bar none.
The new Hank Williams Jr. MNF song is playing. It's pretty good, just like the old one was. Kind of cheesy but pretty much perfect for a spectacle like Monday Night Football on ESPN.
First Quarter
Kickoff Vikings receive. Skins wearing all white. LET'S GO SKINS!
Redkins player injured on the kickoff. Fantastic. It's Pierson Prioleau. Geez.
First shot of Almost God. I mean Joe Gibbs.
14:16 Brad Johnson nearly gets sacked twice and then throws it out of bounds. Vikings also get a penalty for inelligible receiver downfield. That's my Redskins defense.
13:00 Chester Taylor tackled for a small loss. Redskins already showing a better run defense than they did all preseason. This is promising.
11:17 Skins give up a long pass. Evidently it was the fault of the guy playing because of Shawn Springs' injury. It's never good to lose a guy like Springs.
10:15 Second and goal from the 10, Johnson throws it into the ground.
10:05 Vikings just scored, Chester Taylor ran it in, but the extra point was muffed and the Skins tackled the punter as he tried to run it in after messing up the hold. Nice.
10:01 First shot of a Tillman jersey. He's also a hero. Seriously.
9:50 Santana Moss big gain off a screen pass. Nice start.
7:45 The Skins did not show ANYTHING of their offense in the preseason. People are going to be surprised.
4:40 The Skins are marching down the field better than they ever did in the preseason. I know preseason is meaningless, but man, what a huge change in the way their offense is moving.
3:15 PORTIS IS IN THE GAME! When Gibbs said he might play Coach Janky Spanky as a backup, I didn't think it would be this soon in the game.
2:30 Theisman just said "I tell you what, the Redskins are trying to top what the Vikings did on that last drive." Yeah, Joe, that's sort of the object of the game, to top what the other team does.
2:00 Skins get a field goal. Vikings are up 6-3.
End of the first. Score is 6-3 in favor of the Barbarians of the Scandanavian Persuasion.
Second Quarter
14:41 Perfect throw by Brad Johnson down to about the 10 yard line but the receiver lets it go right through his hands. That would have been gigantic for Minnesota. Vikings have to punt.
14:00 Redskins drive goes nowhere. They're forced to punt, and the kick is not a good one, giving the Vikings the ball at about their 35.
Crazy:0Crazy First shot of Tom Cruise in Dan Snyder's luxury box. Tom Cruise, by the way, is batshit insane.
12:10 Vikings forced to punt, Randle-El receives and runs it back to the 48 or so after Carlos Rogers absolutely blows a guy up with a block. These Redskins hit hard. Portis, Rogers, Springs, Taylor...they're all beasts.
11:30 Jamie Foxx in the announcer's booth right now. Nice. He's even a Skins fan! He says he's got a seat in the owner's box too but Cruise has the entire front row of the box to himself. I'd give Cruise the entire row too, I wouldn't want him going all batshit insane on me if I didn't give him what he wanted. Foxx says he played football in high school and passed for over a thousand yards for his school in Texas. Not bad. I'm liking this Jamie Foxx kid more and more.
10:30 The Skins are marching and they just showed Katie Holmes sitting next to Crazy Tom. She looks... I don't know, what's the word i'm looking for here... brainwashed. That's it.
8:34 Huge Ladell Betts run to about the 20 and then an unsportsmanlike conduct on the Vikings after the ball was dead. Skins ball at the 6.
8:06 Touchdown Portis!!! Shoulder? What shoulder? The band is playing Hail to the Redskins, the crowd is singing along, and Portis has a crazy haircut. I love the Washington Redskins.
3:06 Vikings ball after punts from both teams. The crowd erupts as a big third-down conversion is called back for illegal formation. From what I can tell the crowd is deafening at FedEx tonight.
2:30 Randle-El is tossing grass into the air to see the wind direction as he waits for the punt. Do most punt returners do this? I honestly had no idea that guys did that. He then returns across the midfield to the 45.
2:00 Santana Moss catches a bomb from Brunell after going out-of-bounds and coming back in for the catch. However, Moss was pushed out and reestablished himself inbounds before the catch, so it counts. Tony says "Big points for me on my fantasy team. I tried to pick guys who were playing on Monday night so I'd have someone to root for so I can stay awake this late." Tirico then says "So you're going to keep doing this all season? Fantastic." Oh, those two!
1:09 Daren Sharper absolutely crushes Santana Moss to keep him from holding onto a touchdown pass. I was scared for Moss for a minute, but thankfully he was hit in the body and not the head. That was a ridiculous hit. Skins get a field goal to make the score 13-6.
0:56 The Redskins have no penalties in the first half. That's really big for them, last year they got killed by getting penalties. Vikings have the ball, Theisman says Brad Johnson is a "master of the two-minute offense" and Kornheiser points out "Well, he's got 56 seconds to do it."
0:36 The Vikings have the ball on the Skins' 35. They could score here, they've got time to do something.
0:24 Johnson tries two fairly long passes, both incomplete due to good defense.
0:03 Minnesota tries a 44-yard field goal attempt and it's...good. The first half ends 13-9, Redskins. Washington will receive the ball at the start of the second half.
Halftime I'm going to go get some food real quick. if you've got a DVR, record the address by the President at 9 eastern, 8 central. You might not like the President, I don't really, but this will be something worth watching.
Third Quarter
14:01 First Redskins drive goes nowhere fast, forcing a punt. Vikings get a good return to about the 45. Kick returner tackled by the punter, that's gotta suck.
11:20 Brad Johnson completes about a 20-yard pass, getting his team down to the Skins' 20. He's showing everyone that his success last season wasn't a fluke. He's a solid QB, not spectacular, but solid and he doesn't throw the ball away.
9:38 Vikings touchdown, Johnson to McMullen. Extra point good this time, and they take the 16-13 lead.
7:10 Dr. I Don't Know is looking good tonight, especially for a guy who was "83 percent" only a few days ago. I'm so glad to see Portis in the game.
6:45 Vikings with a stupid penalty, roughing the passer, to give the Skins a needed first down. Betts then runs it to about the 10.
4:28 Skins don't get into the end zone from close, but John Hall makes a chip-shot field goal to tie the game. Theisman says the Skins are "downright ugly" in the red zone, and he's pretty right-on. It was the same way for Washington last year sometimes too.
2:55 Brad Johnson just threw the ball with his opposite hand because his right hand was tied up by Marcus Washington. So Johnson threw it left-handed, like a girl. Pretty impressive, actually.
1:26 Sean Taylor consistently hits as hard as he can, ever single play. He's the type of guy teams love to have on defense.
End of the third quarter, all tied at 16. It's going to be an exciting fourth.
Fourth Quarter
14:52 Ryan Longwell misses about a 57-yard field goal badly. Skins hold, and have a chance to take the lead here, having great field position at the 44.
11:59 Washington doesn't move the ball at all and punts, but downs the ball all the way back at the 2-yard line. The Vikings have a loooong way to go. I'm kind of surprised the Skins haven't gotten an interception yet this game, as they live off those things, but Johnson doesn't make mistakes and the couple of chances for them the Skins have had haven't materialized.
10:59 Sean Taylor called for a late hit, giving the Vikings a much-needed first down. I think it was a bad call, but I can see how a ref could make that call in the speed of the game. Unfortunate for the Skins anyway.
9:05 Every single series, the Vikings run on first and second down and then convert a long pass on third down. Every.Single.Time.
8:10 Facemask call on Archuleta. Man, these late-game penalties...I'm nervous.
7:45 Vikings don't get the first and have to punt. Thankfully it's a touchback. Washington has seven minutes and about thirty seconds on score and probably hold Minnesota on another series. This is gonna come right down to the last second.
5:42 Edwards nearly catches a Brunell pass that he would have returned for a touchdown, effectively ending the game. Thank goodness he didn't catch it, but the Skins have to punt anyway. Washington commits a penalty on the kick too, giving Minnesota another five yards. The Redskins absolutely have to hold here if they want to have a chance to win.
4:30 Chester Taylor is starting to get big gains on his runs. The Skins' run defense looks worn down, and if the Vikings can wear down the Skins, they'll wear down everybody.
2:37 Another big penalty on the Redskins, a major facemask penalty. That puts the Vikings down at the Washington 25. They're already in field goal range, and Chester Taylor is running the ball and they're not stopping him. This is not good.
2:26 Gibbs is 0-5 all-time on Monday Night Season Openers. This may be his sixth loss.
1:54 Washington is calling timeouts (times-out?) to stop the clock. They can stop it one more time after this. They absolutely cannot let them get a touchdown here. Absolutely cannot.
1:04 The Vikings have a 31-yarder to take the lead. Kick is up and kick is...good. Crap.
1:00 Brunell and the Redskins have sixty seconds to get down the field and at least kick a field goal. I don't know.
0:54 Ladell Betts returns the kickoff to the 38. Decent field position.
0:47 Santana Moss makes a killer catch as he's pushed out of bounds at the Vikings 39. And he stops the clock!
0:22 Third and six, Moss catches a pass and gets out of bounds.
0:17 John Hall misses a 40-something yard field goal, wide left. Hall is not a good kicker from distances of more than about 35 yards.
0:12 The Vikings down the ball and win. This sucks.
End of the Game
It sucks to see Washington lose. Every time they do I feel like it's the end of the world. It's just one loss though, and it's the first game of the season. The Skins will be okay, I'm still confident of them making the playoffs. They showed some promise tonight, and they looked a ton better than they did in the preseason. They'll be okay.
Thanks for stopping by, everyone. Come back next week as a Hated Cowboys fan and I liveblog the game together. You really don't want to miss that.
Date
Mon 09/11/06, 2:55 pm EST
