The Vikings are 9-2 and inching closer to the NFC North championship after a 33-26 win over the Patriots. Here are five things that stood out…
1. Gift-wrapped first down leads to go-ahead TD
Tied 26-26 with about 11 minutes to go in the fourth quarter, Minnesota punter Ryan Wright got clipped by a Patriot and the running into the kicker flag gave the Vikings a first down.
Two plays later Justin Jefferson made another insane catch for 36 yards to put the Vikings at the New England 15-yard line. On the next play, Kirk Cousins found Adam Thielen for a touchdown and a 33-26 lead. Here’s that amazing catch by Jefferson.
Special catch from a special player #skol
đź“ş: #NEvsMIN on NBC
📱: Stream on NFL+ https://t.co/TePpxXTdES pic.twitter.com/EMTVTpOata— NFL (@NFL) November 25, 2022
2. Defense is a major concern
Dallas scored 40 on the Vikings and they had 37 midway through the third quarter before calling off the dogs. The Patriots had a total of two offensive touchdowns in their three previous games against the Jets, Colts and Jets again. Then they lit up Minnesota for __ offensive touchdowns.
Ed Donatell’s defense gave up 30 points to the Bills, 40 to the Cowboys and 26 to the Patriots. Is it a matter of getting injured cornerbacks Cam Dantzler and Akayleb Evans back, or is it something more?
If you take away the last three Dallas possessions (when the game was out of hand) and the last four Patriots possessions, Minnesota gave up points on 14 of 16 possessions.
3. Defense showed up when it really mattered
Give the defense credit for coming up big when it really mattered. Trailing 26-23 after three quarters, Minnesota tied the game 26-26 early in the fourth quarter. After that, the defense forced back-to-back punts, a turnover on downs and the Patriots ran out of time on their final possession of the game.
Take away the Dallas nightmare and it’s similar to what the defense did against Buffalo. They were worked over by Josh Allen and the Bills in the first half, giving up 24 points, they held the Bills to just six points in the second half and overtime.
4. Greg Joseph’s PAT problems
It hasn’t killed them yet, but it may only be a matter of time before a missed extra point by Greg Joseph ends up really hurting the Vikings. Joseph’s missed PAT following the second quarter touchdown pass from Kirk Cousins to T.J. Hockenson was his fifth of the season.
Cairo Santos of the Bears and Jason Sanders of the Dolphins have each missed three extra points, but no other kicker has missed more than two. Joseph is far and away the worst at extra points in the NFL this season.
5. Vikings scoring on high-end defenses
Entering Week 12, the Patriots had the No. 1 scoring defense (16.9 PPG) in the NFL. Dallas is No. 2 (17.0) and the Bills rank sixth (18.1). Throw out the Dallas debacle and Minnesota has found ways to put up points against two of the best defenses in the NFL.
They’ll need that to continue as the Jets rank ninth (18.6), the Colts are 11th (20.0) and the Giants are 14th (21.1).
Related: Justin Jefferson breaks Randy Moss receiving record
