Victory Is All About Vick

The Minnesota Vikings learned a lesson Sunday that NFL defenses would be wise to learn quickly: Don’t turn your back on Michael Vick.

The Atlanta quarterback ran for a career-high 173 yards in 10 carries, including a spectacular 46-yard touchdown run in overtime that gave the Falcons to a 30-24 victory over the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday.

Vick’s rushing yardage was the most by a quarterback. Tobin Rote had the previous high of 150 for Green Bay in 1951.

On his game-winning run, Vick was flushed out of the pocket and saw a Viking defender turn his back to cover a receiver. Vick sprinted into open field, went through three defenders and then burst past safety Ronnie Bradford.

“When he turned his back, I just took off with it,” said Vick, who accounted for 346 of Atlanta’s 379 yards. “It seems like I am a running back too.

“Coach [Dan] Reeves is always telling me, ‘Get down, get down.’ But I wasn’t seeing that. I was thinking end zone.”

The Falcons (8-3-1) are 7-0-1 since an Oct. 6 loss to Tampa Bay. Vick, who rushed for two touchdowns and threw for another, struggled at times, completing only 11 of 27 passes for 173 yards. He also had an interception and two fumbles.

But Vick got a chance to make up for those turnovers after Sam Rogers sacked the Vikings’ Daunte Culpepper on the on the first overtime possession to force a punt.

On the Falcons’ second play, Vick dropped back, rolled left and broke two tackles on his way to the score.

“I just try to forget about all the bad plays and just move on to the next play,” Vick said. “You have to be strong mentally to be successful.”

Added Reeves: “He certainly had bad plays today, but he just didn’t let it bother him.

“I’ve never seen anyone turn on the jets like that.”

Culpepper completed 22 for 41 passes for 260 yards, getting one touchdown passing and another running. But he was sacked six times and threw three interceptions.

The Vikings (3-9) lead the league with 35 turnovers, 26 by Culpepper.

With Minnesota trailing 24-21 on a third-and-15 situation just before the two-minute warning, Culpepper heaved a pass to Randy Moss for a 40-yard gain to the Atlanta 32.

Then Moss, who caught nine passes for 134 yards, went into motion, took a handoff and threw an apparent touchdown pass across the field to Culpepper with 27 seconds left. But it was negated by an illegal formation penalty.

The Vikings settled for Gary Anderson’s 29-yard field goal to tie the score with 11 seconds left.