Vikings blow up Lions fake punt to set up early touchdown

Minnesota Vikings special teams coordinator Matt Daniels was asked this week about how frequently the Detroit Lions run fake plays on special teams.

“We’ll have our antennas up and ready for that,” Daniels said.

It showed right away in Sunday’s game as the Lions tried a fake on their first punt of the game and were promptly blown up by the Vikings defense.

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That gave Minnesota the ball at Detroit’s 34-yard line. Two plays later, Vikings running back Aaron Jones was galloping into the end zone for a touchdown and an early 7-0 Minnesota lead.

The first drive for each team also highlighted the potential impact of Sunday’s inactive list. Jones was questionable with a hamstring injury but is active and scored right out of the gates for the Vikings. For Detroit, right guard Kevin Zeitler is out and being replaced by Kayode Awosika, who was flagged for holding twice on the opening drive.

Each team is expecting this game to be a heavyweight battle but the Vikings got the first punch in. We’ll see how the teams respond from here.

Detroit has won three straight against Minnesota while the Vikings are trying to remain undefeated in 2024.

Related: Vikings-Lions inactives: Aaron Jones in for Minnesota, Lions down a lineman