After going out and shocking the world, what did we learn about the Minnesota Vikings during their upset win over the New Orleans Saints on Sunday?
Next to no one believed the Minnesota Vikings could go on the road and defeat a 13-win New Orleans Saints in the first round of the 2019 playoffs.
But to the surprise of the “experts”, the Vikings walked out of the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on Sunday with a victory that was even more glorious since it also resulted in the Saints’ championship hopes getting demolished.
Not only was Sunday’s wild-card matchup in New Orleans entertaining, but it was also a marvelous performance by Minnesota on both sides of the ball. The offense was superbly efficient and the defense came up with a number of game-altering plays.
With their win on Sunday, the Vikings will take their “us against the world” mentality on the road again next week and take on the top-seeded San Francisco 49ers.
But before Minnesota heads out to make another attempt at shutting their doubters up, let’s grab one last look at their victory on Sunday and go over some of the biggest takeaways from their impressive performance.
Cousins gives Minnesota what they paid for
Ever since he signed his lucrative $84 million free-agent deal with the Vikings in 2018, the pressure has been on Kirk Cousins to prove he was worth the stacks of money he was given. In New Orleans on Sunday, Cousins gave Minnesota exactly what they paid for.
Against the Saints, the Vikings quarterback looked poised, he didn’t turn the ball over, and he threw a few passes that might end up being career-altering when this year’s playoffs come to a close.
On an afternoon where he was on the same field as future Hall of Fame inductee, Drew Brees, Cousins was the best quarterback of the day. Minnesota’s signal-caller didn’t explode with a monster statistical performance, but he made a bunch of clutch throws (especially in overtime) that ultimately resulted in the Vikings coming away with the victory.
After his day against New Orleans, it seems safe to say that Cousins has earned another contract from Minnesota and he will be remaining in the Twin Cities for much longer.
Moving Hunter and Griffen to the inside was brilliant
Mike Zimmer knew he was going to have to get creative with his defense if the Vikings were going to pull off the upset on Sunday and that’s exactly what he did.
With Danielle Hunter and Everson Griffen being Minnesota’s two most dangerous pass rushers and the Saints’ interior offensive line being the worst part of the unit, Zimmer came up with a clever plan. On numerous occasions against New Orleans, he had Griffen and Hunter line up as defensive tackles and bring their pass-rushing havoc up the middle.
It worked out gloriously as the Vikings were able to put a ton of pressure on Saints quarterback Drew Brees for most of the afternoon. Thanks to this tactic, Hunter was even able to force Brees to fumble late in the fourth quarter and stop a potential New Orleans scoring drive.
A lot of times, games in the NFL really just come down to matchups. Zimmer knows this and by using his two best pass rushers to exploit one of the Saints’ biggest weaknesses on Sunday, Minnesota was able to leave the field with a win.
Thielen looks back to normal
His day started off about as terrible as one could imagine, but for the first time since the early part of the regular season, Adam Thielen made an impact for the Vikings on Sunday.
After Thielen coughed up the football on the third play of the game, it felt like it was going to be a long day for Minnesota and their veteran receiver. But the Vikings maintained their composure and so did Thielen.
In his third game since returning from a lingering hamstring injury in Week 15, the talented receiver ended his day with seven catches for 129 yards on nine targets. While Thielen’s numbers were impressive, it was the nature of his catches that made the difference for Minnesota in their win over the Saints.
Six of Thielen’s seven receptions on Sunday resulted in first downs for the Vikings, including two catches of 34 and 43 yards that put Minnesota in position to score a pair of touchdowns.
With the way New Orleans was able to pretty much shut down Stefon Diggs, the Vikings needed another receiver to step up. Thielen proved to be worthy of the job and his re-emergence should have Minnesota’s offense feeling good about their next playoff matchup.
Apparently, Thomas can be guarded
Saints wide receiver Michael Thomas had an extremely impressive season in 2019 and he is more than deserving of all of the praise he has received all year long. However, the playoffs are a different story and the Vikings made sure to prevent Thomas from making any sort of difference on Sunday.
Despite their secondary dealing with injuries heading into the matchup, Minnesota held New Orleans’ top receiver to just seven catches for 70 yards. In the second half, Thomas only managed to haul in three passes for 18 yards.
The Vikings used a variety of methods to keep the Saints’ top receiver in check on Sunday. Minnesota had a handful of different defenders covering Thomas and they usually made sure that there was a safety or another defender nearby to prevent him from getting open.
For someone whose Twitter handle is @Cantguardmike, the Vikings defense certainly didn’t look like they were having a difficult time stopping New Orleans’ top receiver on Sunday.
Harris’ price to re-sign continues to go up
Speaking of the Vikings secondary, no member of this position group seems to be playing better in 2019 than safety Anthony Harris.
Against the Saints on Sunday, Harris managed to snag yet another interception (technically his seventh of the season). It was a huge play by the talented safety as it not only stopped a potential New Orleans scoring drive, but it eventually resulted in Minnesota scoring their first touchdown of the matchup.
Harris’ pick on Sunday is just one of the many plays he has made during his first season as a full-time starter on the Vikings’ defense. He took full advantage of his new role in 2019 as he racked up 60 tackles, 11 pass breakups, and six interceptions.
Unfortunately, Harris is a free agent in 2020 and thanks to his impressive play this season, he’s probably not going to be signing a cheap deal for anyone.
It would be ideal for Minnesota to figure out a way to re-sign him during the upcoming offseason, but it’s possible that the safety’s price tag might end up being too high for him to remain in the Twin Cities.
Of course the Saints blamed the refs
After they were traumatized by a terrible no-call in last season’s NFC Championship, New Orleans and their fans seem to always point the finger at the officials when things don’t go their way.
This was the case again on Sunday after Vikings tight end Kyle Rudolph hauled in a pass in the corner of the end zone to win the game for Minnesota in overtime.
Rudolph was being covered by Saints cornerback P.J. Williams on the play and the two were fighting for position as the football hung in the air. After breaking free from Williams’ grasp, the Vikings tight end was able to leap high enough in the air to come down with the catch and keep both of his feet inbounds.
Instead of realizing that this one play was not why they lost, New Orleans players later questioned why there wasn’t a flag thrown for offensive pass interference on the play.
Maybe instead of complaining about a call that wasn’t even close to offensive pass interference, complain about how your defense allowed Minnesota to move the ball 75 yards down the field on their opening drive of overtime?
Sure refs miss calls, but there are way too many plays throughout the course of a game to place the blame for a loss on one sequence that you believe should have turned out differently. The Saints had plenty of opportunities to pull ahead on Sunday and them not coming out with the win had absolutely nothing to do with the officials.
Cook can carry Minnesota to a Super Bowl
Dalvin Cook has been the heart and soul of the Vikings offense this season. As well as Kirk Cousins has played, it’s Cook who makes Minnesota’s offense one of the most difficult to defend when he’s out on the field.
During the last few games of the regular season, the Vikings top running back was dealing with a couple of injuries and it actually resulted in him not suiting up for the team’s final two matchups of the year.
So with the extra time to recover, Cook was able to return to the field on Sunday against the Saints and his presence made a tremendous impact on Minnesota getting the victory.
The Vikings running back finished the matchup in New Orleans with 130 total yards (94 rushing, 36 receiving) on 31 touches. Safe to say, Cook was an important part of Minnesota’s game-plan on Sunday.
If the young running back can remain healthy, the sky is the limit for the Vikings in the playoffs this season. Judging by Sunday, Minnesota’s attempt at earning a spot in the Super Bowl this season is going to rely heavily on the performance of Cook and that seems like a very good strategy.