Murray finally pays dividend
MINNEAPOLIS — Even though he was signed to help the Vikings replace Adrian Peterson, Latavius Murray has been behind nearly from the day he stepped foot in Minnesota.
Plowing through the Ravens as he did on Sunday should help him catch up in a hurry. Murray rushed for 113 yards and a touchdown, and Kai Forbath kicked six field goals to lift the Vikings to a 24- 16 victory over the Ravens.
After making the decision to move on from the face of the franchise, the Vikings signed Murray away from the Raiders to help fill the void. But ankle surgery kept him out of the entire offseason program, all of training camp and most of the preseason and buried him on the depth chart behind Dalvin Cook, who was lost for the season with a knee injury Oct. 1, and Jerick McKinnon.
“I just think it was a matter of me just trying to find my rhythm, try to get a groove going,” Murray said after averaging 6.3 yards per carry. “I said eventually I know I would have some success. I knew I had to continue to keep doing what I do and continue to keep working, and those big runs will pop.”
Forbath made kicks of 52, 51, 43, 43, 34 and 32 yards to back another suffocating effort from the defense for the Vikings ( 5- 2), who sacked Joe Flacco five times and allowed just 208 yards. Everson Griffen had two sacks and has nine for the season.
Justin Tucker kicked three field goals for the Ravens ( 3- 4), including a 57- yarder in the first half. Flacco completed 26 of 38 passes for 186 yards and a 13yard touchdown to Chris Moore as time expired.
“Those clichés like ‘ worn down’ and ‘ gap control,’ it’s just all meaningless chatter,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said after his team gave up 169 yards rushing. “We’ve got to do a better job against the run and get them stopped.”
The nine combined field goals tied an NFL record for most in a game.
Murray had started slowly with 97 yards rushing through the first six games. But he burst through a big hole in the third quarter, made one cut and surged to the end zone to give the Vikings an 18- 6 lead.
“It’s good to see him going,” coach Mike Zimmer said. “It adds a dimension on the offense with a guy like Jerick and a guy like him.”
Case Keenum completed 20 of 31 passes for 188 yards and one interception for the Vikings.
Flacco, who entered the day with a 66.1 rating that was good for 31st in the league, was stuck under 100 yards passing until well into the fourth quarter.