2020 Long Island EFL Week#1 Green Bay Packers vs. Minnesota Vikings

[Long island EFL]

TAYLOR PULLS THROUGH TO GIVE PACKERS OPENING SEASON WIN OVER VIKINGS!

(Minneapolis, Minnesota) July 30, 2020. It's a long electric football season, but these early week #1 games and their importance historically, have come back to haunt teams. The LIEFL #7-Ranked Minnesota Vikings (82-73), have had quite the history in the Long Island Electric Football League with their best year finishing (13-1) in 1977-78. They lost to the LIEFL #6-Ranked Green Bay Packers (86-76), 14-2 in round 1 of the playoffs in a major upset that season, and what is amazing about this league is, we can look back! 

That bitter feeling losing to Packer Coach Ed Viglietta is not what it was for Viking Coach Joe Pizz now, but he reflected back after looking at the records saying, "I play much better now than I did then because I know the game of football, and what I try to do with this team is get the run going with Peterson, and when that fails, my next best option is Chris Carter and Sammy White who was All-Pro in this league back in 2008."

Since then, the Vikings have come close for Pizz, but they fall just short with the Teir I teams. And Pizz' claim to fame is delivering the #1-Ranked Miami Dolphins and Coach Billy O'C, a 21-14 regular season loss. Miami's second in their history in our league.

In 2017, Pizz took these Vikings to the NFC Championship Game, losing to the Detroit Lions 45-41, in the clash of the Titans!  Minnesota's Adrian Peterson was a beast that year. He finished #2 in the NFC in rushing and #5 in the LIEFL.  That may have been the Vikings best team ever as Minnesota finished (7-3). Since then, the league has gotten much stronger through the Draft and the average Vikings might find the league outgrowing their talent. Pizz is still here, and so are the Vikings all of these committed years later. We all committed to ending our league in 2025 and we will then donate everything to a special someone who can carry on the Long Island Electric Football PROMISE to contunue our tradition when we are gone.

One last observation about these Vikings is they have always been competitive, but never dominant. And since our 2008 Draft, both Green Bay and Minnesota have been a consistent team with a winning tradition. Minnesota just missed the playoffs last year as they split their two meetings during the regular season play with Green Bay.

In preparation for this game on opening day the two teams realize how important it is to compete at the highest level because it's games like this that at the end of the season matter in qualifying for the playoffs, so this in fact, is like a playoff game between these two division rivals from the NFC North. The Packers surprised last year when for the first time in a long time they made it to the postseason since 2000, when Green Bay finished 2nd in the old Central Division, beating the LIEFL #22-Ranked Arizona Cardinals (64-89) 41-38, in the NFC Wild Card Game, and losing to division rival, the LIEFL #4 Ranked Chicago Bears (94-66) 21-17, in the NFC Championship Game! 

 

This Packer team clinched the division title in 2019, and then they lost to the LIEFL #29-Ranked Carolina Panthers (29-27) 42-20 in that game, but they grew in the playoffs and learned from the experience against a superior team in the Panthers. Coach Viglietta knows how to build a team that can perform. They didn't quit on a group of rising stars in the Panthers.  Historic Packer running back Terdell Middleton leads the Pack, backed up by the great Jim Taylor at fullback. Taylor was a star in the Panther Wild Card Game. In that game had some tremendous end-around runs totaling 160 yards on the ground rushing against one of the toughest teams in our league for three touchdowns. That opened a lot of eyes. This season the Packers have improved at linebacker and it's going to be a pleasure watching these two amazing teams compete.

 

Play-by-Play

On the very first play the game on kickoff Adrian Peterson stomped 44 yards on the return until he was destroyed by Reggie White who laid him out at their own 43 yard line. Peterson got up slow. On Minnesota's first drive from the 43-yard line it took them three plays to get the first down on a 7-yard pass to Sammy White from Fran Tarkenton. White was pushed out of bounds at the 45 of the Packers.

And the Packers front line gave the Vikings the business with a lot of pushing and shoving up front in the trenches and no forward movement from the Vikings in the running game. Adrian Peterson had his hands full as he picked himself up from the dirt. It seemed that every time Peterson tried to get around the end, Green Bay's Reggie White was nearby as the intimidating Packer defensive line of White, Willie Davis, and Cullen Jenkins are a force in the division. 

 

Minnesota kept moving forward on big short yardage plays, but Peterson is the play-maker for the Viking offense catching a 33-yard pass play for another first down. On the very next play Coach Pizz Vikings pulled a real fast one on Coach Viglietta. Viking Quarterback Fran Tarkenton switched the ball up from Adrian Peterson to Chuck Foreman as Foreman ran for another 14 yard run to the packer 12 yard-line. Tensions flared between these two coaches. 

Green Bay then shut down the Viking offense for good as they walked into a wall of play-off hungry Packers, pushing them back 15 yards. The half ended on third down for the Vikings at the Green Bay 31-yard line, with 28 yards to go for a Minnesota first down. On the next play, the Vikings got stomped again on third down trying to pass the ball with no one to throw, the Packer defense forced a fourth-down. The Vikings made a hasty decision on fourth-down and got slammed with the price tag from Green Bay's lineman, Willie Davis who dragged down Adrian Peterson trying to hit an outside hole, Packers ball!  

 

On first down for the Packers Terdell Middleton scampered for a nine yard run to their own 49-yard line, one yard shy of the first down as Minnesota defensive tackle Carl Eller makes the stop. Behind a wall of blockers Middleton took Green Bay offense on a ride with runs of 10, 3, 8, and another first down run for 18 yards to the Viking 8-yard line with the clock ticking at 4:12 left to go in the game. After finding three more yards to the 5-yard line of the Vikings, the Packers hand it off to the big fullback Jim Taylor to make the score 7-0, with 37 seconds left to go in the game.

 

On the final kick return the game Minnesota's Adrian Peterson returned it 48-yards as the Green Bay Packers beat the Minnesota Vikings 7-0 in a battle of the defenses!

 

Adrian Peterson finished with nine carries for 128 all-purpose yards on the day as the Vikings travel to Indianapolis to face the (1-0) Colts who beat Jacksonville 20-14 in (OT). Terdell Middleton carried the Packers for 53 yards on seven carries and Jim Taylor again is the big story with the only touchdown in the game from 5 yards out. The Packers face the competitive Detroit Lions (1-0), who beat the Chicago Bears 34-28 in the LIEFL Game of the Week with Detroit's Dexter Bussy scoring 5 touchdowns and 499 all-purpose yards setting a new LIEFL record!