MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Somewhere, Michael Vick must have been shaking his head.
The Minnesota defense overwhelmed Atlanta's Joey Harrington with six sacks and two interception returns for touchdowns, and rookie running back Adrian Peterson finished off the Falcons in a 24-3 victory by the Vikings in Sunday's season opener.
Kevin Williams returned an interception 54 yards for a first-quarter score, and Antoine Winfield
ran one back 14 yards in the fourth quarter for Minnesota. Peterson
made an amazing catch out of the backfield that he turned into a
60-yard touchdown reception and -- oh, by the way -- finished with 103
yards rushing on 19 carries after starter Chester Taylor hurt his hip.
Harrington?
He was doing all right, until imploding down the stretch. But he
certainly didn't do anything to make Atlanta forget about Vick, whose
indefinite suspension and probable jail time for his role in a
dogfighting ring stunned the Falcons this summer.
Harrington
finished 23-for-32 for 199 yards, but he failed to lead his team to the
end zone -- and paid dearly for his two interceptions.
Peterson,
the seventh overall draft pick out of Oklahoma, was taken to inject
some life into an offense that was one of the NFL's worst last year. He
couldn't have been any better in his debut.
With the Vikings clutching a 10-3 lead early in the fourth quarter, Peterson sneaked past DeAngelo Hall and put both hands on an off-target pass from Tarvaris Jackson.
The ball popped straight up in the air, but Peterson caught it and ran
right through the secondary for his first career touchdown.
Peterson
didn't just become the featured back in his first for-real NFL game. He
was the lead kickoff returner, and he also saved Minnesota from a
dangerous situation late in the first half by falling on a fumble at
his 31-yard line after an errant shotgun snap by Matt Birk.
The Falcons were without defensive tackle Rod Coleman and another starter, free safety Chris Crocker.
They forced one turnover in the third quarter, a diving interception by
Hall, but moved a measly 10 yards after the possession change and
summoned Michael Koenen for his fourth of five punts.
Warrick Dunn,
coming off an offseason operation on his back and entering his 11th
year in the league, showed he's not slowing down. Dunn finished with 55
yards on 22 carries against the league's best rushing defense in 2006,
and he caught four balls for 26 yards.
But the Falcons sure
could've used the energy and constant threat that Vick -- for all his
faults as a passer -- always provided.
Atlanta led the NFL in
rushing last season, but 1,039 of those yards came from Vick.
Harrington, who fell to 23-44 as a starter, made some clutch throws on
third down and was certainly more accurate than Jackson.
He held
onto the ball too long, however, taking two sacks on the last-chance
drive the Falcons had following Peterson's big play.
With
offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell ordering the plays instead of
coach Brad Childress, the Vikings showed a few out-of-the-ordinary
formations and calls -- including reverses run by Peterson and Troy Williamson.
It
was mostly the same for Minnesota's offense, though, until the rookie
took charge of the second half. Jackson was blitzed a lot, and the
Falcons stacked the line without fearing any Vikings receivers.
Jackson finished 13-for-23 for 163 yards, with the one touchdown and one interception.
Matt Prater made a 45-yard field goal for Atlanta, but he missed a 44-yard try in his NFL debut.
