ONE GOOD SUNDAY

VIKINGS 31

TEXANS 23

This had not been an enjoyable NFL season coming into today. An 0-3 start by a Vikings team I at least thought was going to be a sure playoff contender, plus having games in front of at least mostly empty stadiums, plus basically every team I want to lose being off to good starts...it was all going badly. 

It still might continue, but at least we got one today. The Vikings got their 1st win of the season today, playing their best collective game, and holding off a rally by the still winless Texans.

The Vikings really rode Dalvin Cook this time. The Texans have a lousy run defense, so it was definitely going to be a Dalvin day,  and he had an amazing game. I'm sure he had a career high in yards gained after contact. Over and over today he was hit early but then kept grinding for extra yards. He never had any huge gainers, but his consistency helped the Vikings offense really flip the script from the first few games and control the ball. They had a huge edge in time of possession.

Kirk Cousins was efficient today, kind of in more of a game manager mode. There weren't too many big pass plays (Thielen and Jefferson each had one) but again it was very efficient. Gary Kubiak did an okay job today. He at least didn't screw it up. And he did call that Kirk bootleg run on a 4th and 1, which was the comedic high point of the day as Kirk totally tumbled out of bounds despite not being hit. A graceful lad, that Kirk. 

The Vikings defense came to play. They again showed some of that incremental improvement. The pass rush was by far the best they've been all year. Deshaun Watson is hard to get on the ground, but they did get sacks from Ngakoue and DJ Wonnum, and fairly consistently brought pressure. The Texans didn't get much done on the ground.

This might have been an even better game for the defense if not for what happened late in the first half. Houston is driving, and on a pass over the middle there is a collision between the receiver and Harrison Smith. The flags fly, and even worse is Smith gets ejected for a helmet to helmet hit. But there WAS no helmet to helmet hit. The replay clearly showed Smith turning his helmet AWAY from the contact. The receiver lowered HIS helmet and that initiated the contact. It's supposed to be illegal for an offensive player to do that (although it's never called), but not only do the refs blow the call (no matter what that POS Mike Pereira said) but they take away arguably the most indispensable player on our defense.

We held them to just a field goal on that drive, but that BS ejection changed the whole game.

Watson immediately started going after Smith's replacement George Iloka in the 2nd half. Both of their 2nd half touchdowns were on Iloka, including the 2nd one on a preposterous 4th and 10 play where Iloka just left a guy wide open in the end zone. Iloka cannot see the field again. I would take a 60 some year old Joey Browner over that crap. 

It looked briefly like we were gonna have almost a rerun of last week's abrupt lost lead. Houston drove quickly to a score. Then we missed a really long field goal (which was probably not worth the risk), and Watson immediately hit a deep pass inside the 10. But the defense held. Houston only got a field goal to make it 17-16.

The Vikings next offensive series looked headed for a punt, but then on probably the biggest play of the game to that point, Kirk snuck a pass into double coverage that Jefferson went up and took. Then on what I thought might have been a throwaway Kirk found Rudy along the sideline for another 20. And a couple plays later Kirk threw a dart to Thielen in the endzone and the Vikings had regained control.

Control didn't start to slip again until that 4th and 10 Texans touchdown. The Vikings got the ball back needing to seal the game, a situation they had last week and failed to do. They didn't exactly succeed this time either, but some more Cook hard running burned off a lot of time. Kirk just missed Thielen on a 3rd down throw that could have iced the game.

It sure looked like giving the Texans a final shot was going to cost us. Watson drove em right down the field. They had a 1st and goal with nearly 2 minutes left. But after 2 runs got stuffed short and a 3rd down pitch was nearly fumbled away the game came down to a 4th and goal.

Watson lofted a fade to Will Fuller, who caught the ball on Holton Hill and came down in bounds. But wait! That ball moved while touching the ground as Fuller came down. Look, I don't like the whole "complete the process" rule. It cost us a game in Carolina in 2017 that might have also cost us home.field advantage. But I liked it today. The touchdown was wiped out, and the game was over.

So yeah, we got lucky there. But the defense also made the plays to make it a 4th and goal. They made other plays during the game to earn the win. Plus Houston would have still had to make a 2 point conversion. Fact is the Vikings had some good fortune due them.

I hope some of that good fortune can follow them to a seemingly hopeless matchup in Seattle next week. Seattle might be the best team in the NFC, and Russell Wilson might be the MVP. It would probably be one of the biggest upset wins in recent Vikings history if they somehow won. 

Either way it's promising that the team seems to be figuring things out. Cook is excelling. Jefferson is only tapping his potential. The defense is slowly but steadily improving. Next week could be rough, but overall the worst is over.

Other week 4 thoughts:

Only the Vikings tasted victory in the division today. The Saints blew right past the Lions, and the Bears laid a total egg against the Colts. So maybe Foles isn't quite a savior.

Seattle and Buffalo are 4-0. Seattle I know is really good. The Bills still seem a little enigmatic. Their schedule the next month is brutal. If they survive that they're among the elite teams.

The media will surely slurp Brady all week for throwing 5 touchdowns, although from what I saw it was more that the Chargers coverage was pathetic.

The Browns rolled the Cowboys, although they also almost blew a huge 4th quarter lead. I'm not ready to buy into the Browns yet, and Dallas has to be one of the most disappointing teams so far.