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Minnesota Vikings beat Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving Day to extend win streak to seven

By Dana Gauruder, The Sports Xchange
Minnesota Vikings quarterback Case Keenum (7) calls out to his line in the fourth quarter of the Pittsburgh Steelers 26-9 win against the Minnesota Vikings at Heinz Field on September 17, 2017 in Pittsburgh. File photo by Archie Carpenter/UPI
Minnesota Vikings quarterback Case Keenum (7) calls out to his line in the fourth quarter of the Pittsburgh Steelers 26-9 win against the Minnesota Vikings at Heinz Field on September 17, 2017 in Pittsburgh. File photo by Archie Carpenter/UPI | License Photo

DETROIT -- Case Keenum threw two touchdown passes to Kyle Rudolph and ran for another, and the Minnesota Vikings extended their winning streak to seven games with a 30-23 victory over the Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving Day at Ford Field.

Keenum completed 21 of 30 passes for 282 yards. Latavius Murray gained 84 yards on 20 carries and scored a touchdown for Minnesota. Everson Griffen led the defense with two sacks.

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Minnesota (9-2) opened up a three-game lead in the NFC North with five games remaining.

Matthew Stafford passed for 250 yards and two touchdowns and was intercepted once for Detroit (6-5), which saw its three-game winning streak snapped.

Stafford suffered an apparent right ankle injury while throwing a 43-yard scoring pass to Marvin Jones early in the fourth but didn't miss a snap. Jones caught six passes for 109 yards and two touchdowns.

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Murray scored 2:08 into the second half on a 2-yard run to give Minnesota a 27-10 lead. He set up the score with a 46-yard burst.

An apparent Stafford-to-Darren Fells touchdown pass was nullified upon review, as Fells didn't complete the catch. Detroit had to settle for Matt Prater's 32-yard field goal. Prater drilled a 50-yard field goal late in the quarter.

Stafford's 43-yard scoring pass to Jones made it 27-23. Kai Forbath's 36-yard field goal with 3:42 left gave the Vikings a seven-point advantage. Stafford was intercepted on a desperation fourth-down pass by cornerback Xavier Rhodes with 2:50 left.

An offsides penalty against Detroit on another Forbath field-goal try wiped out a potential tying touchdown on a blocked kick return with 1:14 left. That clinched the win for the Vikings.

Minnesota led 20-10 at halftime.

The Vikings drove 80 yards on 14 plays during their first possession. They capped it off with a 1-yard pass from Keenum to Rudolph. The extra-point try was blocked.

They were back in business when Lions running back Ameer Abdullah fumbled a handoff at his 39 and defensive end Danielle Hunter recovered. Keenum scored three plays later when he faked a handoff and ran untouched into the end zone from 9 yards out.

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Prater's 32-yard field goal put the Lions on the board. Rudolph got behind the defense and caught a 22-yard scoring pass from Keenum with 37 seconds remaining in the half.

Detroit got those points back in just 27 seconds with a three-play, 75-yard drive. Jones barely crossed the goal line on a 6-yard touchdown reception.

NOTES: Veteran DE Dwight Freeney, claimed by the Lions from Seattle earlier this week, was inactive. Top kick returner Jamal Agnew (knee) and RB Dwayne Washington (hip) were also among the inactives. ... Minnesota OT Mike Remmers (concussion) missed his third consecutive game. ... The teams split their first four meetings on Thanksgiving Day. ... Lions S Tavon Wilson departed early in the second half with a shoulder injury. ... Both teams play three of their next four games on the road. ... Minnesota K Kai Forbath has missed a league-high five extra-point attempts.

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