Daily Norseman
The Minnesota Vikings and the Houston Texans have gone into the locker room at halftime at U.S. Bank Stadium, and
The Vikings won the coin toss and chose to receive the opening kickoff, giving J.J. McCarthy and the Minnesota offense the football first. A penalty on the opening kickoff gave the Vikings the ball at their own 12-yard line to start things off. McCarthy found Jordan Addison early and often, as his first three completions all went to Addison for 33 yards to move the Vikings into Houston territory. The Vikings then converted a 4th-and-5 as McCarthy rolled to the right and decided to keep it himself, gaining 8 yards to move the chains.
After McCarthy’s third-down pass to Jordan Mason fell incomplete, the Vikings brought on Will Reichard for a field goal attempt. He split the uprights from 48 and the Vikings took an early 3-0 lead.
Houston then got their first turn on offense behind Davis Mills at quarterback. The (mostly) second-team defense didn’t put up a whole lot of resistance, as the Texans marched into the end zone, scoring on a 14-yard touchdown pass from Mills to Braxton Berrios to take a 7-3 lead late in the first quarter.
Minnesota started their next possession at their own 40-yard line after Kai’mi Fairbarn didn’t put the kickoff into the proper landing zone. Sam Howell took over for the Vikings at quarterback, marching the Minnesota offense into Houston territory once again. The drive eventually stalled, and Reichard connected again, this time from 38, to make the score 7-6.
The Vikings’ defense then forced the first punt of the afternoon, as Gabriel Murphy got around the Texans’ offensive line for a sack on Kedon Slovis to stop Houston’s next possession.
On the ensuing punt, returner Rondale Moore, who missed all of last season with a torn ACL, went down on the sideline and grabbed his leg immediately. He wound up getting carted off of the field, which is a terrible break for someone who busted his hump to come back from last year’s injury.
The Vikings started the ensuing possession at their own 6-yard line, but Howell moved the offense down the field once again, finding Lucky Jackson and Jeshaun Jones for big gains into Houston territory. A couple of nice runs by Zavier Scott pushed the ball to the 1-yard line, and Howell took it in from there for the Vikings’ first touchdown of the preseason, with Reichard’s extra point making it 13-7 late in the second quarter.
Houston put together a rather leisurely two-minute offensive effort, managing to push to midfield before Gabe Murphy got to Slovis for his second sack of the afternoon. That’s how they go into the locker room in this one, with the Vikings leading 13-7.
Come hang out with us for the second half! We’ll have our recap of this one up as soon as the final gun sounds.
