Minnesota Vikings at Indianapolis Colts: Key information and first quarter discussion

It certainly felt as though it took a while to get here, but it’s finally time for Week 2 in the National Football League. This week, your Minnesota Vikings make their first road trip of the 2020 NFL season, traveling to Lucas Oil Stadium to battle the Indianapolis Colts.

Here is all of the information you need for today’s contest.

Date and Time: Sunday, 20 September, 2020, noon Central time

Location: Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis, Indiana

Television Coverage: KSTP-9 in the Twin Cities, FOX affiliates around the country, DirecTV Channel 711

Radio Coverage: Vikings Radio Network, Sirius Channel 106, XM Channel 234 (Colts feed)

Line: Vikings +3, Over/Under 49

Chris’ Prediction: Vikings 24, Colts 20

Three keys

1) Get off the damn field - We mentioned it last week, but the Vikings are seeing a disturbing trend of getting walloped in terms of time of possession. When your opponent holds on to the football for 40 minutes/game, you’re probably going to lose. This defense has to get some stops on third down so that they can get the ball back to the offense.

2) Stay on the damn field - Conversely, when the offense does get its hands on the ball, it needs to start sustaining drives. Whether it’s on the ground with Dalvin Cook and Alexander Mattison or through the air, the Vikings need to give their defense the opportunity to breathe when they do get a chance to sit on the sidelines.

3) No dumb penalties - Last week, the Vikings gave their opponents at least a couple of free first downs by jumping offside on third and less than five. You can’t have that if you’re going to be successful, and the Vikings can’t afford to keep doing it.

Know the Foe: Stampede Blue

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We’re going to stick with the quarterly Open Threads for this week, as hopefully whatever issues there had been with the commenting system last week have been resolved. Keep your eyes out for those, as usual. With that, here’s hoping that we can all get together back here when this is over and celebrate a victory.

SKOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL VIKINGS!!!!