Broncos plunder Vikings 35-32 to reach top of AFC West – NFL Recap Week 13
The ancient Vikings were a feared tribe of pillagers moving from village to village looting those who dared to oppose them. On Sunday, it was their modern day namesake Minnesota Vikings who got plundered at home by Denver Broncos
35-32 in a cracking encounter at the Mall of America Field in Minnesota.
Quarterback Tim Tebow provided a dominant second-half performance to lead his team to its fifth straight win. Broncos are now tied with hated rivals Oakland Raiders at the top of American Football Conference West completing a significant
turnaround in the team’s fortunes after a slow start to the 2011 season.
The 24-year old covered a season best 202-yards in the game completing 10 out of 15 attempted passes and creating two passing touchdowns as Broncos rallied from a first half 15-7 deficit to win in the dying minutes of regular time.
"I know that I had a lot of help. Offensive line did a great job, and receivers stepped up and made me look a lot better than I really am," said Tebow
Minnesota Vikings were left to rue what could have been as they lost their fourth straight game to complete a shocking 2-10 record. Vikings who lie, bottom of the National Football Conference North division were in familiar territory
losing the initiative when they were in a position to go on and win the game.
Vikings Wide Receiver Percy Harvin was disgusted at the performance telling reporters after the game
"Too many times this year we've had leads and then had letdowns or missed assignments," Harvin said. "It's another game we feel we had control of, and to somehow let it slip away, that's disgusting."
Vikings rookie quarterback Christian Ponder ended the game covering 381 passing yards completing 29 out of 47 attempted passes with three TD passes and two interceptions.
"Hard to argue. That guy wins games," Ponder said praising Tebow’s match winning performance.
Minnesota Vikings took the lead early in the first quarter as Jared Allen tackled Broncos Wide Receiver Willis McGahee for a two point safety. Broncos then got their first points on the board seven minutes later with Mario Haggan
scoring a touchdown after intercepting a Christian Ponder pass for 16 yards. Vikings kicker Ryan Longwell scored a 40-yard field goal a minute from time to peg back Broncos to a two point lead.
With the score at 7-5 Vikings retook their lead in the second quarter. Kyle Rudolph collected a 19-yard pass from Christian Ponder at 3:33 to make it 7-12 and Longwell sent a 25 yard field goal right at the death to increase Vikings
lead to 7-15.
A battle of the quarterbacks ensued in the second half as both Ponder and Tebow sought to outdo each other and lead their respective teams to victory. Tebow sent a 21-yard pass to Demaryius Thomas at 11:18 in the third quarter
to bring the score to 14-15. Ponder however was not to be outdone and the rookie sent an eagle-eyed 52-yard pass to Percy Harvin with three minutes to go to increase Vikings lead to 14-22.
A minute later Vikings saw their lead brought back to a single point with Tebow sending a 41-yard pass again to Thomas to make it 21-22.
Both teams entered the fourth quarter neck and neck with the home crowd anxious for a rare taste of victory. Their dreams seemed to be fulfilled as Ponder sent a 48-yard pass to Harvin for his second TD of the game. With the score
29-21 McGahee made up for his first quarter safety give away with a mazy 24-yard run to the end zone and Tebow showed his never say die attitude successfully completing a two-point conversion to tie the game at 29-29.
Vikings Kicker Ryan Longwell and the crowd thought they saw the winning points with a 39-yard field goal with just three minutes of regular time remaining but Broncos did not come all the way to go home defeated.
Up stepped Matt Prater to tie the score at 32-32 with just a minute left to go and with the final kick of the game sealed victory for his team crushing the home crowd and sending Vikings to their tenth defeat of the season.
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