New Orleans Saints at Minnesota Vikings: Second Quarter Open Thread

To get things underway in the 2017 regular season opener, the Minnesota Vikings won the opening coin toss and elected to defer to the second half, giving the New Orleans Saints the football first. Drew Brees and Adrian Peterson led the Saints’ offense onto the field, and Peterson got the first couple of carries that resulted in a first down (even though it looked like Peterson was stopped for a loss on the second carry). A face mask on Linval Joseph gave the Saints a free set of downs, and soon they were at midfield. A screen to Mark Ingram pushed the Saints down to the Minnesota 30, and the Saints were in business. A holding penalty on the Saints pushed them back a bit, and that was enough to help the drive stall out. Will Lutz connected from 43 yards out, and the Saints took an early 3-0 lead.

The Vikings answered the Saints, as they converted their first two third down opportunities on passes from Sam Bradford to Stefon Diggs. The second catch saw Diggs get hit out of bounds for a 15-yard penalty to put the Vikings into New Orleans territory. The Saints picked up another personal foul, as linebacker Alex Anzalone went helmet-to-helmet with Dalvin Cook to give the Vikings even more yardage. Minnesota converted another third down with a handoff to Jerick McKinnon and were deep into the Saints’ red zone. However, they could not punch the ball in, and had to settle for a 24-yard field goal from Kai Forbath to tie things at 3-3.

The Saints’ drive went 13 plays and lasted six minutes and thirty-nine seconds, and the Vikings answered with a 15-play drive that took up seven minutes and twenty seconds. So, that’s pretty much all the action from the first quarter. As we move to quarter number two, the Saints are currently looking at 3rd-and-3 from their own 31-yard line.

We are tied after fifteen minutes of play at U.S. Bank Stadium, as the Vikings and the Saints are tied at three. Come join us for the second quarter of play!