The Nfc Central

A Viking to Their Liking

The bulletin coming out of Minnesota is that the Vikings, who last season were third in the NFL in passing but 20th in rushing, may have finally found a ground game that can take some pressure off Warren Moon's 38-year-old throwing arm. Do we hear snickers resounding around the division? Well, it's no joke. Robert Smith, the Vikings' third-year, injury-prone running back, goes into this Sunday night's game against the Cowboys with at least a shot at becoming the answer to a trivia question: Name the guy who outperformed Barry Sanders and Emmitt Smith on successive Sundays in 1995.

In the Vikings' 20-10 victory over the Lions on Sunday in Minneapolis, Robert Smith, who didn't resolve a contract dispute with the club until training camp was 34 days old, carried 20 times for 111 yards and a touchdown. It was the second time in his career that he had gained at least 100 yards in a game, the other coming on Oct. 31, 1993, when he piled up 115 in a 30-27 loss to, yes, the Lions. "The last time we didn't win the game, so this feels better," said Smith. "As long as I can be productive out there and we win the game, I'm happy."

Smith's magic against the Lions is as mysterious as Sanders's disappearing acts against the Vikings. This time his stats, a measly 35 yards on 13 carries, were his most un-Barry-like in a regular-season game since he gained only 16 yards in a 10-3 loss to—who else?—the Vikes in Week 2 last year. How does Minnesota do it? "You've got to have 11 men going to the ball," said Viking coach Dennis Green Sunday. "We were doing a solid job of chasing him. The first guy, if he missed him, we had two or three other guys who were coming behind."

"Anytime you take Barry Sanders out of the ball game," said Detroit coach Wayne Fontes, "our offense becomes a very difficult offense to run. They did a good job on Barry. They brought a guy down for an eight-man front, kind of floated him down. We decided to go to the passing game because we couldn't get anything going with the run."

But Lion quarterback Scott Mitchell didn't exactly remind anyone of the second coming of Dan Marino. Mitchell may have passed for 279 yards, but he also tossed a third-quarter interception at the Viking 12 with the score tied at 10.

Minnesota responded by driving 76 yards in 10 plays, setting up a 27-yard field goal by Fuad Reviez. Dating to last season it was Reviez's NFL-record 30th consecutive three-pointer, breaking the record set by John Carney of San Diego in 1992-93.

Except for Reviez's record and Smith's ballcarrying, the Viking offense didn't provide much in the way of highlights. Moon still looked like an old quarterback, and Minnesota committed too many penalties (10 for 96 yards). Among the more critical appeared to be a delay-of-game infraction with the Vikings facing a third-and-nine situation at their own 20. There were about five minutes left, and Minnesota was clinging to the three-point lead.

On the next play Moon's upfield heave to wideout Qadry Ismail was so under-thrown that even the fans in the nosebleed seats could read "interception" all over it. Greedily, Lion defenders Ryan McNeil and Bennie Blades both went for the ball, but the result of their midair collision was a tipped pass that Ismail grabbed and carried untouched for an 85-yard touchdown, the longest aerial score by the Vikings since 1969.

"You take away the ball where two guys went after it, and we win the game," said Fontes. "They came up with a big play on the tipped ball, if that's what you call a big play." That's what you call it, Coach. But Viking fans had something more important to crow about. To wit, how about that running game?