Minnesota Vikings quarterback Sam Bradford connected with Kyle Rudolph for a nice touchdown in the second quarter of week 3 against the New York Giants.
The Vikings continued to play a stout game of football defensively, but it was on offense where Minnesota was able to assert themselves in a big way early on during the week 4 Monday Night Football game against the New York Giants.
Following a 1 yard touchdown run from Matt Asiata, the Vikings and Giants exchanged field position for a little while before Sam Bradford engineered a drive to lead Minnesota into the red zone and eventually the end zone.
Here is the touchdown pass as shared by the NFL on their official Twitter account:
https://twitter.com/NFL/status/783117511290032128
This score made the game 14-0 in favor of Minnesota, but let’s take a look at how it all happened.
Bradford noticed that New York Giants backup defensive back Trevin Wade was covering tight end Kyle Rudolph at the start of the play. This mismatch became the focus of the play, as Rudolph’s size, experience, and route running would make him the ideal target.
As soon as Rudolph created some separation from Wade, Bradford let the pass rip. it was outside of the defensive back, making it out of reach but allowing enough room for the intended receiver to catch the ball.
After that, it was all elementary. Rudolph held on to the pass and maintained possession to extend the Vikings lead to 14-10 in the second quarter of the game.
Next: Full game-by-game 2016 Vikings season preview
Tight end Kyle Rudolph has emerged as being one of the favorite targets for quarterback Sam Bradford, who enjoys the size advantage, physical mismatches, and separation that can be created, especially in the red zone. Hopefully, Vikings fans will see much more of this kind of play in the future.