Taylor-made victory
MINNEAPOLIS -- With Adrian Peterson watching from the sideline in a sweat suit, Chester Taylor gave him plenty to cheer for.
Taylor had 202 total yards and 3 touchdowns, sending the Minnesota Vikings past former teammate Daunte Culpepper and the Oakland Raiders 29-22 on Sunday.
"I ain't the one to start no controversy," Taylor said. "I knew I could do what I did in the game. I'm going to play hard no matter what, and if I get the opportunity I'm going to take advantage of it."
Peterson was out with a minor knee injury, so Taylor did his best impression of the heralded rookie. He rushed 22 times for 164 yards, and Minnesota (4-6) pressured Culpepper into a costly turnover and 4 sacks.
"Chester has been overshadowed the entire year with Adrian, but I would take Chester Taylor on my team any time," center Matt Birk said. "He runs hard. He fights for every last yard he can get."
Taylor, smaller and shiftier than Peterson, played just like the featured back he was until Peterson fell to the Vikings on the draft board last spring.
Taylor touched the ball eight times in the first quarter and picked up 5 first downs, then scored his second touchdown on a 38-yard scamper to make it 19-13 Minnesota midway through the second quarter.
The Vikings turned the ball over four times in the first half, and Sebastian Janikowski followed their fumbles with 3 of his 5 field goals.
But he couldn't prevent Oakland (2-8) from losing its sixth straight game.
To Minnesota fans, Culpepper looked strange in silver and black, wearing his white No. 8 jersey instead of the purple No. 11 he donned here as a starter for six up-and-down seasons highlighted by three Pro Bowl appearances and plenty of touchdown passes to Randy Moss.
But this looked familiar: The Raiders were trailing 22-19 at the Minnesota 14 late in the third quarter, when Brian Robison crunched Culpepper in the pocket and forced the ball out of his hand.
Chad Greenway recovered, and Taylor soon followed with his third touchdown to make it 29-19.
"We've got to minimize our own mistakes and make teams beat us," Culpepper said. "We can't beat ourselves and we can't put ourselves in tough positions."
Culpepper completed 23 of 39 passes for 344 yards, 1 touchdown and 1 interception. His last-second heave into the end zone was batted down by Minnesota, after Tim Dwight's false start at the Vikings' 36 cost the Raiders 5 yards and probably an extra play because of the mandatory 10-second runoff.
Defensive tackle Warren Sapp called out Dwight for his penalty and the rest of his teammates for their self-destructive actions during a profane tirade afterward.
"I'm going to be where I'm supposed to be when I'm supposed to be there," Sapp said. "I'm going to know the snap count. I'm not going to jump offside on a spike play. Where the (heck) are you going? That makes no sense. Just when you think you've seen it all in 13 years, here's something else."