This game felt like a throwback to the sort of games that were routinely played in the 1970s, and earlier. Two teams taking swings at each other. It was a defensive game, as the final score clearly indicates, with both offenses taking what they could get. The difference in the game was that the Falcons offense couldn't get into the end zone with their chances and the Vikings could. The Falcons defense allowed two touchdowns. The Vikings defense allowed three field goals on four attempts.
The Falcons win streak ended at three games. The Vikings win streak is now at eight games.
The Vikings put an end to another Falcons streak. This was the first game since December 13, 2015 in which quarterback Matt Ryan failed to throw a touchdown pass. It was a streak of 30 games, the 8th-longest in NFL history.
Vikings quarterback Case Keenum played another efficient, winning game. He completed 25 of 30 passes for 227 yards and two touchdowns. A fine game. His play in the second half could be considered perfect. He completed all 13 passes that he threw for 117 yards and a touchdown. Three of those 13 converted three big third downs.
It's been a blast to watch Keenum guide his team. It's also been a blast to hear him during press conferences and interviews. He's helped guide the Vikings to eight straight wins. He was just named the November's NFC Offensive Players of the Month. He's been playing great. Everyone with a microphone, phone, or pen is still asking how can a sucky, journeyman quarterback possibly be playing so well. He was just playing ball when his opportunity arrived in September. He's just been playing ball ever since. The questions have felt condescending all along but he's always taken them with a smile. He's just playing ball. Maybe everyone should stop questioning his play and enjoy it. He and his teammates are fun to watch.
All third downs are big downs. In the days leading up to this game the media talking heads honked a bunch about the Falcons offense being the league's best at converting third downs and the Vikings defense being the league's best at preventing third down conversions. It was a terrific talking point and the honkers were right to honk about it. The Falcons converted only one of the 10 third downs that they faced. Advantage: Vikings defense. The Vikings offense converted six of the 12 first downs that they faced.
The Vikings defense was great but they didn't produce any flashy stats. No sacks. No turnovers. More important than no sacks and no turnovers was the no touchdowns stat.
Falcons offense:
First Downs 15
Total Plays 51
Total Yards 275
Passing Yards 173
Rushing Yards 102
Third Down Efficiency 1/10
Time of Possession 25:58
That's not the sort of production that this Falcons offense is accustomed to seeing.
A big reason for that reduction in production was the game that Vikings corner Xavier Rhodes played against Falcons all-everything receiver Julio Jones. Last week Jones piled up 253 yards. Yesterday he had two catches for 24 yards. Only one of those catches came against Rhodes.
With 8:06 to play in the third quarter the Vikings offense took the field with possession of the ball on their own 11-yard line. On the first play of the fourth quarter and 15th play of the 89-yard drive Keenum tossed a six-yard touchdown to tight end Kyle Rudolph. It was a grinding, dominating drive. It was the sort of drive that really good teams have as they take a competitive game away from their competitor. They had a similar sort of drive that took care of the final 4:40 of the game. The final two minutes of the game were kneel-downs on the Falcons 10-yard line. The Vikings have been having more of these sorts of drives as this season gets older.
That 89-yard drive was the Vikings 11th 80+-yard drive of the season. They had four all of last season.
Vikings running back Latavius Murray is really picking up steam. He has 496 yards on the season with 323 of those yards coming in the last four weeks. Those aren't eye-popping numbers but they are solid numbers. He and Jerick McKinnon are giving their team a dependable running attack. That's something that many observers didn't think that the Vikings would have when rookie Dalvin Cook was lost for the season in Week 4. It's taken me while to get used to Murray's running style. He's a tall back at 6'3" and due to his long limbs and strides he sometimes looks a little out of control when he runs. His 30-yard run to the Falcons two-yard line to set up the Vikings first touchdown was terrific. He made up a cut at the line of scrimmage that I wasn't sure that he could make.
The luck of the FOX announcer draw has given viewers of the Vikings a ridiculous number of games called by Kevin Burkhardt and Charles Davis. So much so that this FOX team might as well board the same flights that carry the Vikings to their games. I've always liked Davis and still do but I'm getting real tired of Burkhardt. For the third straight game he's stated that Dalvin Cook was leading the league in rushing at the time of the injury. That's simply not true. If this duo flies to Carolina with the Vikings next week and Burkhardt tosses out his little Cook false fact I'm going to lose my damn mind. During one of his first Vikings games Burkhardt even mixed up a Storm Trooper for Darth Vader. Who does that?
NFC North Standings thru Week 13
| Vikings | 10-2 |
| Lions | 6-6 |
| Packers | 6-6 |
| Bears | 3-9 |
The Vikings have a four-game lead with four to play.
The big news of this past NFL week was the benching of Eli Manning by the New York Giants. That controversial move ended Manning's consecutive start streak at 210 games. It's a streak that started in 2004. During the course of that 13-year streak the Vikings have started the following quarterbacks.
Daunte Culpepper
Brad Johnson
Tavaris Jackson
Kelly Holcomb
Brooks Bollinger
Gus Frerotte
Brett Favre
Joe Webb
Donovan McNabb
Christian Ponder
Matt Cassel
Josh Freeman
Teddy Bridgerwater
Shaun Hill
Sam Bradford
Case Keenum
Impressive.
In place of Eli Manning, the Giants started Geno Smith against the Raiders in Oakland. Smith's stats looked ok. 21/34 for 212 yards, one touchdown, and no interceptions. He did have two fumbles. Both on the Raiders side of the field. One was in the red zone. His team lost 24-17.
This has been a disastrous season season for the Giants. One of the worst in franchise history. In all that despair they've found a potential long-term keeper in freakishly talented tight end Evan Engram. He had seven catches for 99 yards and a touchdown against the Raiders. Whoever quarterbacks the team next year will be thrilled to throw to Odell Beckham, Sterling Shepherd, and Engram.
Congratulations to San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo on his first win with his new team. He led his team to five goals. That was enough to beat the Chicago Bears 15-14.
About eight weeks ago many were raving about the impressive play of the Kansas City Chiefs. The Chiefs were quite impressive after ripping off five straight wins to start the season, including a Week 1 thumping of New England Patriots. Nay-sayers were harking back to the 2016 season when the Vikings started 5-0 and then lost eight of their final 11 games. The yay-sayers were saying that this Chiefs team was far too strong to fall so far after such a fine start. Well, the Chiefs are now carrying the same 6-6 record after Week 13 that the Vikings carried last year. The Chiefs lost to the New York Jets yesterday, 38-31. I really don't think that the Chiefs are as flawed as the Vikings were last year but they simply can't win a game right now. They are having the sort of puzzling struggles that could cost head coach Andy Reid his job.
The Green Bay Packers have a tough road to the playoffs in front of them. No Aaron Rodgers and Brett Hundley playing in his place. Hundley was great last week in pushing the Pittsburgh Steelers to the very end. He guided his team to an overtime win yesterday over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 25-20. The Packers are hanging around and they could get Rodgers back to finish the season.
One of the day's biggest games was the NFC South battle between the Carolina Panthers and New Orleans Saints. The Saints (9-3) separated themselves from the Panthers (8-4) and the Falcons (7-5) in the division with their 31-21 win.
I'm giving the Rookie of the Year award to Saints running back Alvin Kamara. Against the Panthers, he was terrific again. Nine carries for 60 yards and two touchdowns (2.20) and five catches for 66 yards. He and Mark Ingram form an often dominant, always versatile running duo.
The Seattle Seahawks saved their best game of the season for the best team in the league. Few teams have made the Philadelphia Eagles sweat this season as they piled up 10 wins. Their lone loss to the Chiefs felt so long ago that it might've happened last season. The Seahawks are always tough home so this game was a real test for the Eagles. It was perhaps their first real test. The Seahawks controlled the game and won 24-10.
Seahawks linebacker Bobby Wagner was brilliant against the Eagles and could be setting the pace for the Defensive Player of the Year award. After the game he said "We were tired of people sleeping on us, tired of people doubting us." The Seahawks have always propped up an "us vs. them" script. Wagner's attempt now is a little shaky. Nearly every talking head considered his team to be the first team in a while that could give the Eagles a real test. Besides, it was the Seahawks inconsistent offense and injuries on defense that brought about doubts. The Seahawks finally played the sort of game that most thought the team had in them.
Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz has some ridiculous skills. Early in the fourth quarter he rolled to his right with a defender in pursuit. He then launched a 45-yard throw with that defender's arms wrapped around his legs. He wasn't set and he had no legs to get set and he threw a perfect 45-yard pass to a receiver that had come open. It was a wrecked that play that turned into a 51-yard play. He might be the only quarterback in the league that could make that play.
Aaron Rodgers could probably do it.
New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski should be suspended, perhaps for the remainder of the season, for his asinine wrestling-like blow to the head of Bills corner Tre'Davious White. If the league is truly serious about head injuries Gronkowski isn't playing for a while. There's no place in the league for an intentional act like that.
Week 13 concludes with the Pittsburgh Steelers at Cincinnati Bengals.
In place of Eli Manning, the Giants started Geno Smith against the Raiders in Oakland. Smith's stats looked ok. 21/34 for 212 yards, one touchdown, and no interceptions. He did have two fumbles. Both on the Raiders side of the field. One was in the red zone. His team lost 24-17.
This has been a disastrous season season for the Giants. One of the worst in franchise history. In all that despair they've found a potential long-term keeper in freakishly talented tight end Evan Engram. He had seven catches for 99 yards and a touchdown against the Raiders. Whoever quarterbacks the team next year will be thrilled to throw to Odell Beckham, Sterling Shepherd, and Engram.
Congratulations to San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo on his first win with his new team. He led his team to five goals. That was enough to beat the Chicago Bears 15-14.
About eight weeks ago many were raving about the impressive play of the Kansas City Chiefs. The Chiefs were quite impressive after ripping off five straight wins to start the season, including a Week 1 thumping of New England Patriots. Nay-sayers were harking back to the 2016 season when the Vikings started 5-0 and then lost eight of their final 11 games. The yay-sayers were saying that this Chiefs team was far too strong to fall so far after such a fine start. Well, the Chiefs are now carrying the same 6-6 record after Week 13 that the Vikings carried last year. The Chiefs lost to the New York Jets yesterday, 38-31. I really don't think that the Chiefs are as flawed as the Vikings were last year but they simply can't win a game right now. They are having the sort of puzzling struggles that could cost head coach Andy Reid his job.
The Green Bay Packers have a tough road to the playoffs in front of them. No Aaron Rodgers and Brett Hundley playing in his place. Hundley was great last week in pushing the Pittsburgh Steelers to the very end. He guided his team to an overtime win yesterday over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 25-20. The Packers are hanging around and they could get Rodgers back to finish the season.
One of the day's biggest games was the NFC South battle between the Carolina Panthers and New Orleans Saints. The Saints (9-3) separated themselves from the Panthers (8-4) and the Falcons (7-5) in the division with their 31-21 win.
I'm giving the Rookie of the Year award to Saints running back Alvin Kamara. Against the Panthers, he was terrific again. Nine carries for 60 yards and two touchdowns (2.20) and five catches for 66 yards. He and Mark Ingram form an often dominant, always versatile running duo.
The Seattle Seahawks saved their best game of the season for the best team in the league. Few teams have made the Philadelphia Eagles sweat this season as they piled up 10 wins. Their lone loss to the Chiefs felt so long ago that it might've happened last season. The Seahawks are always tough home so this game was a real test for the Eagles. It was perhaps their first real test. The Seahawks controlled the game and won 24-10.
Seahawks linebacker Bobby Wagner was brilliant against the Eagles and could be setting the pace for the Defensive Player of the Year award. After the game he said "We were tired of people sleeping on us, tired of people doubting us." The Seahawks have always propped up an "us vs. them" script. Wagner's attempt now is a little shaky. Nearly every talking head considered his team to be the first team in a while that could give the Eagles a real test. Besides, it was the Seahawks inconsistent offense and injuries on defense that brought about doubts. The Seahawks finally played the sort of game that most thought the team had in them.
Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz has some ridiculous skills. Early in the fourth quarter he rolled to his right with a defender in pursuit. He then launched a 45-yard throw with that defender's arms wrapped around his legs. He wasn't set and he had no legs to get set and he threw a perfect 45-yard pass to a receiver that had come open. It was a wrecked that play that turned into a 51-yard play. He might be the only quarterback in the league that could make that play.
Aaron Rodgers could probably do it.
New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski should be suspended, perhaps for the remainder of the season, for his asinine wrestling-like blow to the head of Bills corner Tre'Davious White. If the league is truly serious about head injuries Gronkowski isn't playing for a while. There's no place in the league for an intentional act like that.
Week 13 concludes with the Pittsburgh Steelers at Cincinnati Bengals.
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