Marquez Valdes-Scantling leads big-play day for…

Davante Adams opened Sunday’s game with an empathic 37-yard catch on the first play of the game, which came on a crossing route. Minnesota’s busted coverage resulted in just linebacker Eric Kendricks trailing Adams, who moved the ball down to the Minnesota 38.

The Vikings kept tabs on Adams for the rest of the game, tilting their two-safety looks towards the All-Pro receiver. That led to quarterback Aaron Rodgers targeting Valdes-Scantling five times in the first half and on 10 of his 33 total pass attempts.

Valdes-Scantling had perhaps the biggest offensive play of the first half at the start of the second quarter when he caught a 39-yard pass from Rodgers on third-and-12 to bust into Viking territory.

Green Bay tried a 32-yard field goal at the end of that drive, but Mason Crosby’s attempt banged off the left upright. It would be the last time, absent one Jordan Love kneel-down before halftime, that the Packers wouldn’t score.

Green Bay cut Minnesota’s halftime lead to 16-10 with Rodgers finding second-year tight end Josiah Deguara for a 25-yard TD off an extended play with 38 seconds left in the half.

The Packers carried the momentum into the second half, with a seven-play, 75-yard scoring drive that ended with a 10-yard touchdown pass to Adams. On the next series, a 26-yard pass to Equanimeous St. Brown on third-and-6 set up a second Adams touchdown, this time from 18 yards out, to give Green Bay a 24-23 lead.

“We just found a flow at that point,” Adams said. “I feel like we were hurting ourselves in the first half a lot, penalties putting ourselves in first-and-long, second-and-really-long situations. It becomes tough when you’re playing a team like that, with a really good defense; obviously at home, too.

“We shot ourselves in the foot with some self-inflicteds early and then we just kind of started jelling, figuring out the best ways.”