A barn burner it was not. This game made the wrong kind of history. It was the first game in Raiders history that was scoreless in the fourth quarter. In fact, the first score didn’t happen until 1:57 left in the game. That was a Vikings field goal and it proved to be the game winner.
Both teams had moved into scoring range earlier in the game, but the Vikings missed a field goal attempt and the Raiders fumbled it away inside the 20.
The result was a 0-0 tie for the first 58 minutes and a final of 3-0.
Top Baller: DE Maxx Crosby
The Raiders were dialing up pressure all game long. And, as you might expect, Crosby led the way. The Vikings’ second possession featured a Crosby tackle for loss and ended with his first sack. He was even held on the play, but fought through it to get the sack anyway. The 50th of his career.
It was a QB hit by Crosby that stopped the Vikings on their first decent drive to force a 49-yard field goal attempt that missed wide right. He then ended the next drive with his second sack of the game.
The first Vikings possession of the third quarter ended with Crosby chasing Josh Dobbs out of bounds for two yards on third and long. The next drive began with Crosby in the backfield to make a run stuff for no gain.
The first two possessions for the Vikings ended three-and-out and four-and-out with Crosby getting a pressure for an incompletion and a tackle for loss. He finished with a team-leading 10 combined tackles along with two sacks, four QB hits, and three tackles for loss.
Top Buster: QB Aidan O'Connell
He looks out of his depth on just about every dropback. The first drive ended with him holding the ball too long to get sacked and then throwing a two-yard completion on third and 23. The second possession he missed Josh Jacobs open in the left flat, throwing it away out right and was flagged for intentional grounding.
A possession in the second quarter went three-and-out with O’Connell throwing high and behind Hunter Renfrow which got him hit hard and the ball fell incomplete. Then the first half ended with him again throwing behind Renfrow and then again holding the ball too long to get sacked.
The final three possessions for the Raiders saw O’Connell show is lack of mobility to get sacked, run backward so far on third and three that his pass to Ameer Abdullah was stopped at the line of scrimmage, and then throwing an interception on the first play to end the Raiders chances of scoring in the game.
Baller: LB Robert Spillane
Tied for the team lead with 10 combined tackles with two tackles for loss, a sack, and a QB hit. His pressure on third down set up a sack to end the Vikings’ first possession with a three-and-out.
On the first Vikings possession of the third quarter, Spillane timed a blitz so perfectly, he got a free run at Josh Dobbs to get a 10-yard sack. He added a tackle for loss on the next drive and a run stuff on the next drive, leading the two teams into the fourth quarter knotted at nothing.
Midway through the fourth quarter, he got a hand on a pass, but somehow TJ Hockenson still managed to catch it for a 26-yard gain. But Spillane got the last last laugh three plays later with a suplex tackle well short of the first down to force a punt.
Buster: G/C Dylan Parham
Parham moved over from left guard to center when Andre James left with an injury. But Parham had already given up a run stuff and a drive-killing holding penalty before that shift happened. That holding penalty backed the Raiders up from the 10-yard-line and the next play was the Hunter Renfrow fumble that kept them from scoring on their best opportunity.
The fourth quarter saw Parham give up a run stuff on a play Josh Jacobs left with injury. And the next possession, he skipped a snap that led to an incompletion and a three-and-out.
Baller: DE Tyree Wilson
Easily Wilson’s best game as a Raider. He had a sack, a tackle for loss, and a sack in the game. All of which were drive killers.
His sack came on third down to force the first Vikings punt. His tackle for loss came in the third quarter on a screen to set up a third and long and a punt. His QB hit was in the fourth quarter on third down to force a punt.
Buster: CB Jack Jones
Both of the Vikings’ chances to score went through Jones. The first drive into field goal range saw Jones give up a 15-yard catch on third-and-four and a five-yard catch on fourth-and-two.
That first one ended on a missed long field goal. The second was the one that ended the game for the Raiders. The play that put them in field range was a catch Jones gave up while going for the turnover, which also caused him to miss the tackle and it went for 20 yard to the 22-yard-line.
Baller: DE Malcolm Koonce
The third edge rusher to make the Ballers for this game. After the Vikings got in scoring range the first time, Koonce had a QB hit that led to an incompletion to set up third-and-long and led to the missed field goal.
The next drive ended with a Crosby sack, but it was Koonce holding his gap that helped make it happen.
The second drive of the third quarter ended with Koonce getting another QB hit to force an incompletion. And the next drive ended with Kooce making the ankle tackle at the line on a scramble attempt to force the punt.
Buster: OC Bo Hardegree
A first drive that saw the Raiders convert on fourth-and-one at their own 45. Then it ended with a two-yard pass on third-and-23.
Then in the second quarter, he called a pass on third-and-one that fell incomplete. On each of the first two drives, the Raiders went for it on fourth-and-one at around their own 45 and converted. And yet, suddenly they were faced with fourth-and-one at their own 48 scoreless late in the second quarter and opted to punt.
I mean, if you’re going to go to the air on third-and-one, you better have already made up your mind you’re going for it on fourth-and-one if need be. Also, in a game without a score yet, and looking like even a field goal could be the difference, you can’t really afford to be timid. This offense looked timid all day.
