4 reasons why the Vikings will beat the Texans in Week 4
By Dustin Baker
Houston hasn’t been able to stop the run
A calling-card of Mike Zimmer football is to pound the ground game and then hope to open up the passing attack accordingly. No human will ever be guilty of labeling the Zimmer-led Vikings as a pass-first offense. Zimmer is a disciple of Bill Parcells, and Parcellsian football is to run the football, play defense, make a few big plays.
Because Houston has endured the unfortunate slate of games with Kansas City, Baltimore, and Pittsburgh, the interior of its defense has been bludgeoned by Clyde Edwards-Helaire, Gus Edwards, James Conner. A rather coherent argument can be made that Vikings halfback Dalvin Cook is better than all three of those men, so the purple and gold will be able to run the football in Houston.
Since Mike Zimmer took over the franchise, the Vikings have won 87 percent of all games (34-5) when his team posts 120+ rushing yards. This ranks third in the NFL in this regard. The total NFL win percentage when rushing north of 120 yards is 70 percent. Ergo, there is some variance there, and Minnesota thrives when chewing up ground yards.