Vikings-Saints

It's on to Santa Clara.

The Minnesota Vikings were supposed to be a Wild Card Playoff punching bag for the New Orleans Saints. After all, the Saints were supposed to be headed to the Super Bowl. The Vikings were just the first step on their path. An easy first step. The Vikings were playing in New Orleans. They ended the season with two losses. They were terrible in one of them. The one that mattered. Kirk Cousins is their quarterback. It was all scripted. Ignoring the nonsense outside the team, the Vikings decided to write their own script. Their script ended with Cousins connecting with Kyle Rudolph on a 4-yard fade in the corner of the Saints end zone. With that score on the opening and only possession of overtime, the Vikings beat the Saints, 26-20. The Vikings move on to the Divisional Round. The Saints will be at home.

In all honest sincerity, the Saints did enter the playoffs looking like the best team in the NFC. That's one of the reasons that I was pleased that they were the Vikings opponent in the Wild Card round. As the saying goes, you have to beat the best to be the best. The Vikings are a good team with the potential to be a very good team, maybe even a great team. I feel that if they can put a complete game together they can beat any team in the league. Even their best games during the season (Eagles, Cowboys) were hardly complete games. But every good team (with potential to be a very good team) can beat the best teams in the league. The talent disparity between playoff teams is usually slight. The best team on any given day usually wins. The Vikings can play with any team in the league. They proved that yesterday. It was their day and they outplayed the big, bad Saints. For the second time in three years they walked off the Saints. Now, it all starts again. In the Divisional Round. The Vikings are rewarded with the #1 seed San Francisco 49ers. In Santa Clara. You have to beat the best to be the best.

There's a narrative about Kirk Cousins. This Wild Card game against the Saints is the sort of game that he can't win. He chokes. He doesn't do all the things that he did yesterday. The 43-yard beauty that he threw to Adam Thielen in overtime is always intercepted rather than a 43-yard beauty to the Saints 2-yard line. He always falls short in games like this. Yesterday, he played like he supposedly can't. He made all the plays that the narrative says he won't. Yesterday, he outplayed Drew Brees. Yesterday, Kirk Cousins led his team to a playoff win.

Cousins:
19/31, 242 yards, 1 TD, 96.4 rating

Brees:
26/33, 208 yards, 1 TD, 1 Int., 90.4 rating

Cousins made plays and the Vikings defense didn't let Brees take over the game.

The player that damn near did turn this into a Saints win was Taysom Hill. My goodness, that guy is a pain-in-the-ass if your team is playing the Saints. The Vikings did a very good job against the usual playmakers that dot the Saints roster. Brees, Alvin Kamara, Michael Thomas, Jared Cook. Those players had modest games. Hill was a monster.

Passing:
1/1, 50 yards

Rushing:
4 carries, 50 yards

Receiving:
2 catches, 25 yards, 1 TD

Whenever Hill stepped onto the field everyone knew that he was going to be involved in the play. The Vikings couldn't stop him. He set up the Saints first touchdown with a 50-yard heave to the 4-yard line. He scored their second touchdown on a 20-yard reception. He was responsible for 125 of his team's 324 yards and largely, if not directly, responsible for both touchdowns. It even got to the point that it was a relief to see Brees on the field. The Vikings survived Taysom Hill.

Dalvin Cook is back:
28 carries, 94 yards, 2 TDs
3 catches, 36 yards

Cook looked like his pre-shoulder/chest injury self in the first half. The Vikings offense is at their best when Cook is a big part of it. The only blemish to his game and the offense was the final 17 minutes of regulation. With a 10-point lead, the Vikings turned conservative. They wanted to burn time with the run. The Saints sold out to stop the run. It didn't work in the Vikings favor. On their final three possessions of regulation, the Vikings offense ran 15 plays for 13 yards and burned little time off of the clock. It wasn't pretty and the Saints got back in the game.

Adam Thielen is back:
7 catches, 129 yards

Thielen had a rocky start to the game when he fumbled on the first possession of the game. That was a hiccup. He made up for that hiccup. The Saints couldn't cover him. He looked like himself for the first time in a long time. It was a welcome site.

Vikings defensive ends Danielle Hunter and Everson Griffen dominated the Saints offensive line. They split equally the three sacks of Brees. Hunter's strip sack of Brees with just over four minutes to play ended a Saints scoring threat. If the offense had done anything with the ball the Vikings might not have needed overtime to win the game. In a nice twist, Hunter and Griffen lined up on the interior on a few passing situations. Often standing up. The twist appeared to cause some issues for the Saints. Hunter and Griffen caused problems for the Saints wherever they lined up. Hunter was his usual beastly self. Griffen played his best game of the season.

When I saw safety Andrew Sendejo playing opposite Saints all-everything receiver Michael Thomas I was worried. It looked like a decided mismatch and I thought that Mike Zimmer had lost his mind. Instead, it was part of a well-schemed plan to handle the best receiver in the game. Sendejo was pressed into increased playing time by injuries to cornerbacks Mike Hughes and Mackensie Alexander. Sendejo didn't cover Thomas throughout the game but was part of a coverage rotation. He did a fine job of it. He kept everything in front of him, closed, and tackled. A depleted secondary didn't look so depleted against an explosive Saints passing offense. Sendejo was a big part of that. He also played on every special teams unit. It was a strong, ironman performance.

This game came down to a coaching chess match between Mike Zimmer and Sean Payton. Zimmer's depleted defense vs. Payton's explosive offense. The Vikings didn't have the players to cover all of the Saints weapons. Even healthy, the Vikings secondary would be suspect against the likes of Drew Brees, Michael Thomas, Alvin Kamara, and Jared Cook. With his rush and coverage strategy, Zimmer won the chess match. The biggest problem was slowing Taysom Hill. The Vikings had no answer for him but fortunately they survived his impact.

It was a great win. A great team win.

Vikings 26
Saints 20

I like that!

It's on to Santa Clara!