Minnesota Vikings Week 1: Top 5 takeaways vs. New Orleans

A Deadly Duo

In the build up to the season opener, my colleague Jordan Schmidt detailed that it had been eight long years since the Vikings had a wide receiver reach the 1,000 yard milestone. Based on the performances of Stefon Diggs and Adam Thielen on Monday night, Minnesota has a legitimate chance of having two this season.

Thielen led the way from a yards perspective, racking up 157 on nine catches and a longest catch of 44 yards. With Bradford having time to go through his progressions, he found Thielen open time and time again.

The Saints’ cornerbacks might not have the best secondary (or even a mediocre one) but Thielen’s ability to gain separation was undoubtedly impressive. With Diggs potentially garnering much of the attention, Thielen should benefit from facing several second-choice cornerbacks throughout the year. Hopefully he can earn post game pizza every week.

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While Thielen was busy moving the chains, Diggs focused on putting the points on the board. Diggs put on a show catching seven of his eight targets for 93 yards and two scores. If he wasn’t running free in the end zone, he was hauling in absurd catches in traffic.

After getting wide-open on a play-action pass in the second quarter, Diggs hauled in his first touchdown with ease and celebrated by paying homage to Monday night’s Ring of Honor inductee Randy Moss. During the course of the night, Diggs continually payed homage to Moss with a series of increasingly difficult catches.

As if making a glorious toe-tapping sideline catch wasn’t enough, Diggs would follow it up with a grab between two defenders and hang on despite an illegal hit. The icing on the cake was his second touchdown catch where Diggs leapt above a cornerback to secure the back shoulder throw with the defender draped all over him.

With Diggs putting to rest any concerns about his ability to play on the outside and Theilen moving seamlessly into the slot the race to 1000 yards is officially underway.