{"id":151406,"date":"2025-08-16T20:48:13","date_gmt":"2025-08-16T20:48:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/151406\/"},"modified":"2025-08-16T20:48:13","modified_gmt":"2025-08-16T20:48:13","slug":"patriots-20-12-vikings-aug-16-2025-game-recap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/151406\/","title":{"rendered":"Patriots 20-12 Vikings (Aug 16, 2025) Game Recap"},"content":{"rendered":"

MINNEAPOLIS — \u2014 New England rookies TreVeyon Henderson<\/a> and Efton Chism III<\/a> each had another preseason touchdown, and the Patriots beat the Minnesota Vikings<\/a> 20-12 on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Henderson, the second-round draft pick from national champion Ohio State who’s been turning heads in training camp and tracking toward a prominent role in the backfield, rushed for 20 yards with an 8-yard score on four carries during a two-drive stint for the first-team offense. Henderson had a 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown last week<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Patriots held a handful of projected starters out, including four-time Pro Bowl wide receiver Stefon Diggs<\/a>, who’s returning from a torn ACL in his right knee suffered halfway through his lone season with the Houston Texans<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Second-year quarterback Drake Maye<\/a> started against an all-backups Vikings defense and went 4 for 7 for 46 yards with a delay-of-game penalty and an overthrow that was nearly intercepted but dropped by Tavierre Thomas<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Chism made another compelling case for a regular-season roster spot with six receptions from backup QB Joshua Dobbs<\/a> for 71 yards and a score. He caught a short throw on third-and-9 from the 12 and broke six tackle attempts as he twisted and muscled his way into the end zone.<\/p>\n

With Diggs, DeMario Douglas<\/a>, Kayshon Boutte<\/a> and veterans Kendrick Bourne<\/a> and Mack Hollins<\/a> on the Patriots’ roster, there might be only one opening for a wide receiver. Chism, who was undrafted out of Eastern Washington, will certainly get a long look. He had a 12-yard touchdown catch last week.<\/p>\n

Vikings play it safe <\/p>\n

The two teams had two days of joint practices<\/a> this week, providing plenty of valuable tests for players in situational drills in a controlled setting<\/a>, and Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell<\/a> was more than satisfied with the work. Not a single projected starter on either side of the ball suited up for Minnesota, and several key backups who are locks to make the team were given the afternoon off, too.<\/p>\n

New quarterback J.J. McCarthy<\/a>, who led one 12-play drive last week, wore an earpiece on the sideline while Sam Howell<\/a> started.<\/p>\n

Howell, who was acquired in a trade with the Seattle Seahawks<\/a> in April after the veteran backup market dried up, went 1 for 5 with an interception he forced off his back foot under pressure.<\/p>\n

Undrafted rookie Max Brosmer<\/a>, who has been the best of the backups in camp, went 15 for 27 for 156 yards while playing the whole second half. His final throw from the 13-yard line on the last play of the game was tipped and intercepted in the end zone by Kyle Dugger<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Up next <\/p>\n

The Patriots finish the preseason at New York Giants<\/a> on Thursday, when the Vikings play at the Tennessee Titans<\/a>.<\/p>\n

——<\/p>\n

AP NFL: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/NFL<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MINNEAPOLIS — \u2014 New England rookies TreVeyon Henderson and Efton Chism III each had another preseason touchdown, and…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":151407,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[1232,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-151406","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-nfl","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115040413548072916","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=151406"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151406\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/151407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=151406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=151406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=151406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}