Trap Evaded

Vikings 19

Redskins 9

Alright, we can all relax.

For the last few days all you heard was that this Thursday night game against the lowly Redskins was a trap game. That it was going to be just like the Buffalo game last year. I could revisit all the reasons it was never going to be that Buffalo game, but I won't.

What it was was a classic Thursday night game. Like most others it was not a particularly good game, or smoothly played. These Thursday games are a poor product, and a poor representation of whatever teams are playing. You get almost no time to practice, and certainly not enough time to physically recover from the previous Sunday.

The red hot Vikings offense from the last 3 weeks was a lot more vanilla last night. The biggest change was that an offensive line that made great strides regressed backwards. Pass protection was very poor. They had multiple drive-killing holding penalties. They weren't good. 

But...the offense was still very productive, at least in yardage. They didn't punt in a game for the first time in 15 years. Cousins threw for almost 300 yards, and had only 3 incompletions(2 throwaways and a Cook drop). Diggs made some big plays. Cook and Mattison had good games. It was just those penalties and that early Diggs fumble that led to either zeroes or threes instead of sevens.

Case Keenum returned to the site of the miracle for the first time, and for the first half he played well. The Skins moved the ball pretty consistently, until the D clamped down and held them to field goals. Mostly this was accomplished by blatantly picking on Xavier Rhodes. It's sad to see what's become of Rhodes. Most once great players kind of gradually decline, but Rhodes appears to be one who has simply fallen off a cliff. He is so slow to react to things now, and he was never a speedster so he can't fall back on that. And his DPI call was legit. I hate to say it, but after he got a concussion it undeniably helped the defense to get him off the field.

The first half was ugly football, but it ended with basically the perfect 2 minute drive. Cousins hit a few throws. Cook got some big YAC. They burned off the whole clock, and Cook got in the endzone.

Then after halftime the Redskins pulled a concussed Keenum and put in the rookie Dwayne Haskins. At this point the game was over. No way was a raw rookie QB who presumably had no practice reps going to lead a comeback.

The only thing that could possibly lose the game at that point was doing something stupid. And, well, Zimmer did. Now up 16-9, Zimmer opted to go for a 4th and 1 from his own 34. Why? Just punt and play defense. Haskins was not leading a long touchdown drive on you. 

Cousins snuck and was stuffed, and now Washington had a short field in a 7 point game. Fortunately, Haskins sailed a pass 2 plays later and Anthony Harris got the pick, and that brief crisis was squashed. 

The offense took the ball, and drove a bit before penalties got em again. The fans booed like crazy on a 3rd and long draw, but these people simply don't get it. You're in field goal range. Just get the 3, and make it a 2 score game again against a team with almost no chance to ever drive for a touchdown on you at that point. 

Bailey drilled his 4th field goal. It was a 10 point game. Ballgame over. 

I did love how we took the ball with 8 minutes left and just bled the clock dry.

With the game in hand, it got emotional. Adrian Peterson was back last night too, realistically for probably the last time. He played well too. He had a couple explosive plays, enough to pass 2 more guys on the all time rushing list to move up to 6th place. During a timeout late, this fact was shown on the scoreboard, along with Adrian on the sidelines. He got a big round of applause, then after he saluted the crowd it became a full on ovation. I teared up. This was awesome. It was great to see one of the all time Vikings saluted this way. I know that 2 of his last 3 season here were disasters for different reasons, but for nearly a decade he was THE guy, the straw that stirred the drink. He is easily one of my top 5 favorite Vikings ever. He will be a 1st ballot hall of famer. I'm glad I got to see him play one more time, and get this well deserved tribute.

Now back to the current Vikings. They got the win. No new injuries. Now they get a mini bye week before they go to Kansas City and Dallas back to back. I think those 2 games will determine what level of team we have here. I think they are a playoff team. But will they be a 10 or 11 win wild card or a 12 or 13 win division champ? Obviously the KC game largely depends on what QB we face. But if we can at least win one of those next 2 we can start bringing up the upers owlb as a realistic possibility again.