Editor: Joe Bryant. Game Recap Contributors: Mike Anderson, Michael Brown, Chris Burtt, J.D. Caldwell, David Dodds, Jim Enochs, Joel Faulhaber, Michael Flynn, Kevin Goldblum, Clayton Gray, Bob Harris, Fred Hebert, Jesse Hilsenrad, Drew Kendall, Jeff Lewis, Joey Matusek, Justin Oliver, Steve Prosapio, David Shick, Cody Smith, Scott Smith, Jeffrey Stout. Buffalo 45 at Minnesota 39 (OT) WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW Buffalo Bills: QB Drew Bledsoe displayed veteran poise and a cannon arm in a fantastic game. He had plenty of time to throw on most plays, waited for secondary receivers to get open, and repeatedly delivered the ball on the numbers all over the field. WRs Peerless Price and Josh Reed produced when the Vikings double-covered Eric Moulds in the second half. Price finished with 13 catches, 185 yards, and 2 TDs (including the game-winner in OT), with at least 100 of his yards coming after the catch. Josh Reed looked solid as well. He's the # 3 WR so keep that in perspective but he clearly has skills. 6 of Reed's 8 catches were across the middle, sometimes uncovered. RB Travis Henry was ineffective in the first half. Buffalo practically abandoned the running game after halftime. The Buffalo run defense failed to stop runs up the middle, especially when the Vikings spread the field and ran against nickel and dime defenses. Minnesota Vikings: The "Randy Ratio" held true for the second straight week. The Vikings called 59 pass plays (including penalties, scrambles, sacks, and fumbles). WR Randy Moss was targeted 23 times as a receiver and threw one pass, for a Randy Ratio of 40.7 percent. Moss had a 40-yard TD called back on a holding penalty (though Moss appeared to push off on the play), and had a sure 2-yard TD broken up on a fantastic deflection by CB Nate Clements. What could have been a monster day was simply a very good day. RB Michael Bennett may have played himself down into a RBBC today. Bennett had only one run longer than 5 yards, failed to catch a pass, committed a holding penalty that called back a TD, and was rarely seen in the red zone offense. Long time readers will not be surprised by this. The Vikings pass defense was disorganized all day, and repeatedly left receivers open in zone coverage. K Doug Brien missed a 44-yard FG at the end of the first half, missed two extra points in the second half, and botched a squib kickoff that gave Buffalo field position to tie the game at the end of regulation. Vikings head coach Mike Tice called in to the post-game show on KFAN radio in Minneapolis. He announced that Doug Brien would be released, and the team would be contacting former Vikes kicker Gary Anderson (still a Twin Cities resident) ASAP. WHAT YOU OUGHT TO KNOW Buffalo Bills QB: Drew Bledsoe spread the ball around, working the sidelines in the first half, opening the middle for the second half and OT. He was effective hitting receivers in stride on short routes (especially Price) and giving the WRs ample opportunity to gain extra yards after the catch. Bledsoe took a couple of coverage sacks, but had plenty to time to throw on most plays, and had zero interceptions. Bledsoe even recovered a Travis Henry fumble inside the five-yard line, preserving a drive that produced a TD. RB: Travis Henry had a bad game - 30 yards on two carries, his other 10 rushes netted zero yards. Henry fumbled on the one-yard line, and was fortunate that Bledsoe recovered it. The Bills practically abandoned the running game after halftime, and Henry was not a factor in the passing game. Larry Centers caught 4 passes, including one flat pass for ten yards where he got tackled at the two. WR: Eric Moulds made the most of his receptions in the first half on hitches and short routes. Moulds saw double coverage most of the game, but was still targeted multiple times in the red zone. Peerless Price was a major factor all day, making most of his yards after the catch on hitches, slants, and hooks. Late in the second quarter, Price broke a tackle to turn a 10-yard catch into a 38-yard gain, setting up Buffalo's first touchdown. The game-winner was a 12-15 yard pass, and Price juked two DBs to break free for the 48-yard score. Price also had a 21-yard catch reversed on a replay challenge. Rookie Josh Reed found the middle of the field open when the Vikings' secondary committed to shutting down Moulds. He was wide open for his TD catch in the second quarter (the Vikings blew their coverage), and was wide open in the seam on back-to-back plays in the fourth quarter. Reed's low point came after failing to catch a two-point conversion in the fourth quarter, head-butting a DB after the play (personal foul penalty) and forcing Buffalo to kick off from their own 15. TE: Jay Reimersma had only two catches, and one drop. Since the Buffalo WRs had little trouble getting open, Reimersma was an afterthought in the passing game. Pass Defense: The Bills' DBs made few plays in pass coverage (except for one fantastic deflection in the endzone by CB Nate Clements), but did rattle Culpepper on blitzes from the slot. The pass rush needed blitzers to cause trouble, but they did force two fumbles on sacks, including one returned for a TD. Rush Defense: was vulnerable up the gut in the second half, especially when the Vikings spread the field, and ran up the middle against nickel and dime defenses. Special Teams: K Mike Hollis was a hero, hitting a 52-yard FG for their first score, and a 54-yarder at the end of regulation that hit the crossbar and bounced over. Charlie Rogers took a kickoff 90 yards for a TD in the third quarter. Coverage units did their jobs. /**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/** Minnesota Vikings QB: Daunte Culpepper finished with fine fantasy numbers, but had a very shaky game. Many of his passes were off-target. Culpepper fumbled four times - two on sacks (one was returned for a TD), one on a scramble, and one fumbled snap. Culpepper is still the goal-line runner of choice, as the Vikings frequently used the shotgun in the red zone, calling rollouts and QB draws. Culpepper ran in a rollout right for a TD on 4th-and-1 from the 2. RB: That rumbling noise you heard at about 7 PM Eastern on Sunday was a mass exodus from the RB Michael Bennett bandwagon. Bennett only broke one run longer than five yards, and did not catch a pass. Bennett did not get touch the ball after getting called for a holding penalty in the 3rd quarter that negated a TD pass to Moss, though he did see the field. This guy is a has been that never was. Moe Williams played a lot in the second half, and had great success running out of spread and shotgun formations. The OL opened huge holes for him against six-man fronts. Williams had a 2-yard TD run with 30 seconds left in regulation - a run up the middle where Williams knocked a safety backwards into the endzone. Doug Chapman had 4 rushes for 41 yards and showed a nice burst. WR: Randy Moss made the most of a 40.7 percent "Randy Ratio" - 23 pass targets and 1 pass thrown in 59 pass plays called. Moss finished with 11 catches (3 circus-quality), 4 of which were for gains of 15 yards or greater. He also added a five-yard gain on a reverse, and was able to create running room for RBs on several fake reverses. On another reverse, Moss pulled up to pass to a WIDE OPEN Derrick Alexander, but Moss was hit just after releasing the ball, causing a weak underthrow that fell incomplete. Moss had a 40-yard TD called back on a holding penalty. D'Wayne Bates was invisible in the first half. In the third quarter, he broke a 60-yard punt return inside the Buffalo 5, then got involved in the passing offense. Bates was wide open on a post pattern for a TD, thanks to a great look off by Culpepper that cleared the free safety out of the play. Derrick Alexander made his case for the #2 WR job, but failed to established a rhythm with Culpepper, despite being targeted several times. He did catch a 5-yard pass for a TD. Chris Walsh caught two passes, but only played in 4 WR sets. TE: Jim Kleinsasser had six receptions, most were 6-8 yards down the middle of the field. He was usually the second option on pass plays, and Culpepper appears to have a lot of confidence in him. Pass Defense: was disorganized all day, though they did create a few coverage sacks. New starting CB Tyrone Carter (a converted SS) was picked on by Bledsoe no matter who he was trying to cover. Rush Defense: contained Travis Henry well, and shut down outside runs for the second straight week. The Bills abandoned the run after halftime, a function of both the effective run defense and the porous secondary. Special Teams: K Doug Brien missed a 44-yard FG (hit left upright) at the end of the first half, missed two extra points (both wide left, one wasn't even close) in the second half, and botched a squib kickoff that gave Buffalo field position to tie the game at the end of regulation. Vikings head coach Mike Tice called in to the post-game show on KFAN radio in Minneapolis. He announced that Doug Brien would be released, and the team would be contacting former Vikes kicker Gary Anderson (still a Twin Cities resident) ASAP.