New England Patriots at Minnesota Vikings: Key information and first quarter discussion

It was a short week, but it still felt like a long wait to get to this one. Nevertheless, we’ve made it to the first Thanksgiving home game in Minnesota Vikings history, as they’ll host the New England Patriots on Thursday Night Football! Here’s everything you need to know to be prepared for tonight’s contest.

Date and Time: Thursday, 24 November 2022, 7:20 PM Central time

Location: U.S. Bank Stadium, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Television Coverage: KARE-11 in the Twin Cities, NBC affiliates around the country, Peacock streaming service

Radio Coverage: Vikings Radio Network, SiriusXM Channels 85 and 227 (Vikings feed), SiriusXM Channel 88 (national feed), SiriusXM App Channel 820

Line: Vikings -2.5, Over/Under 42.5

Chris’ Prediction: Vikings 20, Patriots 17

Three Keys

1) Put Sunday’s disaster in the rear-view mirror: We all know what happened this past Sunday against Dallas, and having a quick turn-around like this should give the Vikings an opportunity to get past it quickly. The team should have a raucous home crowd behind them for this one, so they need to remember what got them to 8-2 in the first place and get after it.

2) Find Matthew Judon: I said this exact same thing about Micah Parsons ahead of Sunday’s game and. . .well, the Vikings didn’t do that. Now, the NFL’s sack leader comes to town and the Vikings are without their budding star left tackle, Christian Darrisaw. Kevin O’Connell and company will need to make the adjustments they didn’t make last week or it could be another long night for the offense.

3) Get after Mac Jones: Jones has thrown just four touchdown passes on the season and has been prone to turning the ball over this season. The Vikings need to get some big-time pass rush from Za’Darius Smith and Danielle Hunter (among others) and get some pressure on Jones. Keeping the Patriots behind the chains would help, too, which is something else they didn’t do against Dallas.

Know the Foe: Pats Pulpit

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Now you should be up to speed for tonight’s game, folks. As usual, we’ll have Open Threads firing up at the start of each quarter, so keep an eye out for those and keep the discussion moving along.

Here’s hoping that in about three hours or so, much like a great Thanksgiving meal, this game has managed to take the awful taste of Sunday’s disaster out of our mouths and this team will be back on the winning track.

SKOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL VIKINGS!!!!