Like Swiss cheese
Packers secondary shredded by Vikings' deep balls
Posted: Tuesday October 06, 1998 11:21 AM
| |
Randy Moss and Randall Cunningham burned the Packers secondary all night AP |
GREEN BAY, Wisconsin (AP) -- In the surprisingly one-sided battle for
supremacy of the NFC Central Division, the Minnesota Vikings'
talented trio of wide receivers turned the Green Bay Packers'
secondary into a Wisconsin-sized slab of Swiss cheese. Randall Cunningham, subbing
for the injured Brad
Johnson, completed 20 of 32 passes for 442 yards Monday night in the
Vikings' 37-24 victory that was nowhere near as close as the final
score. Cunningham's passing yards were the most against Green
Bay in the 80-year history of the franchise. The previous high was 411
yards by San Francisco's Joe Montana on Nov. 4, 1990, in a 24-20 victory at
Lambeau Field. "We could not stop them offensively," said
Packers coach Mike Holmgren, who was the 49ers' offensive coordinator
during Montana's big game. "They had 450 yards passing. That's an
incredible number. And, of course, we didn't help our defense by turning
the ball over on offense. You put that combination together and you get a
game like we had tonight." The receiving trio of Cris Carter, rookie Randy Moss and Jake Reed accounted for 17
of those receptions for 398 yards with three touchdowns. The
6-foot-4 Moss hauled in touchdown passes of 52 and 44 yards over outsized
cornerback Tyrone
Williams and saw a 75-yard scoring catch nullified by a holding
penalty. "You can't take anything away from them. They were the
better team today, Moss was the better man today," said the 5-foot-11
Williams. "You're in position, but the guy just went up and got the
ball." All eight of Carter's receptions resulted in first downs,
including six third-down conversions. "I was just trying to make
the plays," Carter said. "We wanted to spread the ball around."
Reed, 6-foot-3, finished with four receptions for 89 years and victimized
6-foot cornerback Craig
Newsome on a 56-yard touchdown catch. In getting off to a
4-0 start, the Packers allowed an average of 199.5 yards passing with a
high of 236 in a season-opening 38-19 rout of Detroit. The
Packers' previous three had averaged 3.2 yards a play. The Vikings averaged
8.3 yards per play Monday night. In their first four victories,
the Packers registered 15 sacks, but had none against Cunningham, who was
rarely hurried and barely touched. "I think any team that plays the
Vikings, a couple of things have to happen," Holmgren said. "You better get
some pressure on the quarterback or those big receivers are going to cause
you some problems. We did not get enough pressure on him this evening."
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
| 
