Saints Lead Vikings 21-13 At Half

The Saints have outgained the Vikings 222-7 through the air through the first half. By that number you’d expect New Orleans to be up by at least three touchdowns but that’s not the case. Drew Brees and the Saints passing game have been brilliant as expected but the Saints have made just enough mistakes to keep the Vikings in it. A pair of fumbles, one on a botched snap, helped the Vikings score six points (they could’ve had more but broke down offensively before getting in the end zone). The Vikes got their TD after a hubristic Sean Payton went for an onside kick which the Vikings recovered. Adrian Peterson burned Payton by breaking off a 39-yard run to set up the score. A few rickety plays later, Toby Gerhart dove for the touchdown.

The Vikings really did very little that was good in the first half. The offense was weak when Bill Musgrave was making smart play calls and terrible when he was making dumb ones. I think it’s safe to say the Saints have those screens to Percy Harvin sniffed out Bill. And the Joe Webb calls? I love Joe Webb as much as the next guy but trying to force him into the game like that doesn’t serve anyone’s interests. Christian Ponder looked like a scared quarterback for much of the half and wasn’t helped by Musgrave’s insistence on running Webb into the game at key moments. The defense was pretty much gashed but, like I said, the Saints made just enough mistakes to keep the blow out from materializing. We’ll see how the second half unfolds but my money is on the Saints shoring things up.