Image courtesy of Vikings.com
After scoring a touchdown on their opening drive on Sunday, the Minnesota Vikings never looked back and eventually defeated the Houston Texans 31-13. Behind 24 unanswered points in the first half, the Vikings had virtually no trouble in taking care of the Texans and easily improved to 5-0 on the season.
At the end of the first quarter, Minnesota led Houston 14-0 and it was extremely hard to imagine the Vikings giving up that large of a lead on Sunday based on the way their defense has been playing in 2016.
Speaking of defense, the Vikings unit kept up with their fierce play this season with another impressive performance on Sunday. Minnesota racked up four sacks, one interception, and held the Texans to just 214 total yards on the day.
The Vikings have scored in a variety of different ways this year and it was no different on Sunday against Houston. Minnesota padded their lead midway through the second quarter with an exciting 79-yard punt return for a touchdown by cornerback Marcus Sherels. For Sherels, the touchdown return was the second he has had so far in 2016.
With the win, quarterback Sam Bradford improved his record to 4-0 as a Vikings starter this season. Bradford had another turnover-free game and finished the day completing 22 of 30 passes for 271 yards and two touchdowns.
Image courtesy of Vikings.com
One of the recipients of a Bradford touchdown on Sunday was wide receiver Adam Thielen. In his third NFL season, Thielen had a career day against the Texans finishing with seven catches for 127 yards and one touchdown.
Minnesota wide receiver Cordarrelle Patterson saw his role in the offense increase for the second straight game on Sunday. He finished with just 46 total yards on five touches, but he was able to register his first touchdown catch since Week 7 of the 2014 season.
Next week the Vikings will get a much anticipated week off and it should allow for some of their players to rest up before their showdown with the Philadelphia Eagles on October 23rd.
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Another one bites the dust.
Dominating performance. So good that Im starting to think in terms of what we did wrong versus hanging my hat on few good things. With teams playing at this level, mistakes are so few that they stick out. #22 dropped a pick six and a tight end got past #54. And with 7 1/2 minutes left our D looked a little winded and subsequently yielded yardage and a TD garbage. That's it! Now, granted no JJ Watts and like the Giants, a cobbled together secondary, made things easier///But this stretch of games rivals some of our better 5 game runs. After peaking emotionally in 1987 we physically dominated 5 weeks in 88, including a 23-0 Turkey day roasting of the Lions/// Everson Griffith got called for an offsides that the announcer questioned. Stealing a Page from Alan, he may be so fast that the refs can't believe their eyes/// They say close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades, but Ill wager our pass rush is changing the game without always getting to the QB. Edge pressure and collapsing pockets are forcing early throws and lots of grounded balls. Last week it seemed Eli imposed a three second limit, and both he and Brock one-hopped a bunch of throws/// Titans, Packers, Panthers, Giants, Texans -begs the question, what else ya got?! !!
I also thought that Everson timed that one perfectly. He was off with the snap. He did not encroach in my opinion. This defense is for real. Far better than what I imagined possible, and I did think that they were going to be very good before the season started. Bye week then off to Philly. A win at Philly against a rising team win be huge. SKOL!!
wow. very impressive. i knew this game was over in the first qtr. after we scored 14 points. i remain cautiously optimistic, but very confident in this team
this Viking group is a TEAM and I love the way they step up to contribute for coach Zimmer, in the past you would see players looking over their backs waiting for something bad to happen, I see a team that is looking ahead with confidence...that comes from a great coach and players who believe in this system and continue to do their job
Thumbs up to all, agree with everything you guys just said. 5 and zero.
On to the bye, maybe get a little healthy...then it's on to Philly.