Minnesota Vikings vs St. Louis Rams Match Player Stats On Sep 07, 2014

SportsDirect Inc. staff
Sep 7, 2014


Vikings 34, Rams 6: Cordarrelle Patterson provided the offensive highlight and Minnesota piled on late in a road victory in the season opener.

Matt Cassel was 17-of-25 for 170 yards and two touchdowns for the Vikings (1-0), who were 0-7-1 on the road last season. Patterson ran for 102 yards on three carries and Adrian Peterson added 75 yards on 21 rushes.

Rams starting quarterback Shaun Hill was 8-of-13 for 81 yards and an interception before leaving with a thigh injury. He was replaced at the start of the second half by Austin Davis, who went 16-of-23 for 192 yards and an interception that was returned for a touchdown.

With both teams struggling to find some consistent offense, Patterson extended Minnesota's lead to 20-3 with 1:54 remaining in the third quarter when he lined up in the backfield, took a pitch and weaved 67 yards down the right sideline. Cassel found tight end Kyle Rudolph on a 7-yard TD with 6:35 left before safety Harrison Smith picked off Davis and raced 81 yards for a score.

Blair Walsh converted 52- and 46-yard field goals to provide Minnesota a 6-0 lead early in the second quarter before cornerback Josh Robinson intercepted Hill at the Rams' 35 and Cassel found Greg Jennings in the back of the right corner of end zone for an 8-yard touchdown with 21 seconds left in the half. The Rams got on the board early in third on a 56-yard field goal by Greg Zuerlein.

Game Notebook: Hill entered the game 4-0 as a starter against Minnesota, 9-13 against all other teams. … Minnesota was the only team without a road win in 2013. … The Vikings, without DE Jared Allen for the first time since 2007, notched five sacks.