Valencia misses great opportunity

With four minutes left in the first half the Vikings faced fourth and three at the Birmingham 25-yard line. Rather than attempting a field goal, the Vikings went for it.

Unfortunately their perfectly executed pass play went kaput when Nicholas Hale inexplicably took his eye off the ball for a millisecond, resulting in a dropped ball. Hale would have scored easily. Instead Birmingham took over on downs.

You probably can guess the rest.

Yup, three plays later Birmingham quarterback James Beloff found a streaking Jake Granitz on a gorgeous 75-yard touchdown pass straight up the Patriots sideline. We're tied 14-14 with 3:19 left in the half.

Hale has nothing to be ashamed of. Mistakes happens. By the way, he's already got five catches for 89 yards.