Happy Monday, everyone!
Well, we found out that the Vikings CAN win even when the defense is struggling. Yesterday’s game was the first in quite a while where the defense got a bit steamrolled by the opposition. Usually when that happens, the Vikings wind up with a notch in the L column, but that’s not what happened yesterday. Nope. Yesterday, the offense said “y’all kick back & relax, we got this”, and after two quarters of back-and-forth with the Lions, they slowly took control and just scored enough points where it didn’t matter what the Lions offense did, they were just going to out-do them. All facets of the game seemed to be clicking; Cousins was sharp, and it seemed that every receiver, tight end, and running back got a piece of the receiving action. Four different players caught TD passes from Cousins, and although he didn’t find the end zone (he should have, he dropped a perfect Cousins pass in the end zone), Stefon Diggs led the team with 142 receiving yards. The running game, with Dalvin Cook carrying most of the load, was running through the Lions defense. Cook averaged nearly 6 yards per carry, and found the end zone twice. It was fun to watch.
The offense. It was fun to watch the offense. The defense.......wasn’t as much fun to watch. They did not play as well as we’re accustomed to seeing them play. To me, their approach seemed to be a little different yesterday. I didn’t see them focusing on pressuring Stafford, as they normally do, and Stafford & Co. made them pay. I’m not sure what the strategy was, but the Lions put up a lot of yards, and a lot of points. The offense saved the game, and they got the team an important win, and it was on the road against a division rival.
Special teams: for only the second game out of seven this season, we had a missed field goal. It was from 46, so I won’t freak out about it, but we Vikings fans are very sensitive to field goal misses. Stay calm everyone, don’t panic. Yet.
Around the DN since our last open thread:
Chris introduced us to the Daily Norseman Vikings Fan Shop.
With his third straight lights-out performance, Kirk Cousins made NFL history yesterday, per Chris.
Chris posted the post-game wrap-up.
Dalvin Cook joined Sirius XM’s Sunday Drive, a fanpost by Chris.
Ted popped in and dropped off the Stock Market Report: Lions.
Other Vikings and NFL news, other sports news, and random oddities and annoyances:
Over at Vikings.com, catch Coach Zimmer’s locker room speech and his post-game presser, see Cousins address the media after the game, and there’s lots more to look through in the media vault.
Catch up on all the NFL week 7 scores and highlights, courtesy of ESPN.
We come to today’s media selection:
It’s our post-win open thread, so you know what that means. STRIKE UP THE BAND!
We all know the rules, but in case someone is new:
- No discussion of politics or religion
- No feeding of the trolls
- Leave the gender hatred at the door
- Keep the bad language to a minimum (using the spoiler tags, if you must)
- Speaking of which, if discussing a newer show or movie, please use spoiler tags
- No pictures that could get someone fired or in serious trouble with their employer
- If you can’t disagree in a civil manner, feel free to go away
- While navigating the open thread, just assume it’s sarcasm.
With that, the beer light is on and the bar is open. Belly up & tie one on, don’t tip the cows don’t forget to tip your waitress, and try the toasted Lion.