Vikings Lead Saints 17-0 at Halftime – Will Receive Ball to Start the Second Half
Joe Johnson
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What a great way to start this game… Although that field goal would’ve been huge.
After what felt like an eternity, especially this past week after it was known that the Vikings would be facing the New Orleans Saints in what feels like potential vindication for the 2009 NFC Championship game. The Vikes started the day by winning the coin toss and deferring, which immediately paid dividends as the defense came out firing on all cylinders and forced a three and out to get Case Keenum on the field. After three consecutive runs to pick up the first Vikings first down of the day, the Vikings put up seven points against a Saints defense that was described by purplePTSD writer Joe Oberle (who is currently watching the game from the press box at US Bank Stadium) as confused and out of position on a ton of early plays. Beyond that, the Saints defense has been giving this Vikings offense a ton of free yards and first downs by committing a ton of penalties in the first half (which, as those of us who remember 2009, isn’t that surprising) and giving the Vikings the confidence to keep trying for chunk plays as they know that they have a good chance of picking up the yardage one way or another (as the Saints almost had 100 yards of penalties in the first HALF, typical Saints).
Before the Vikings picked up their second touchdown (to bring the score to 17-0), future Hall of Famer Quarterback Drew Brees (who re-broke the single season completion percentage record this season) was 1-for-6 for 3 yards and an interception against this Vikings defense. That’s incredible, considering the fact that Brees is one of the best quarterbacks to ever play this game and while this wasn’t his most impressive statistical season, the Saints have also gone from the high-flying deep passing team they were known as to one that focused more on short passes and their run game. So, the fact that this Vikings defense is shutting down a “safe” version of the Saints offense, means great things for the second half and really for the rest of the playoffs (not to look too far ahead). The Saints hadn’t crossed mid-field until a 22-two-yard completion from Brees to their tight-end, with about seven-and-a-half minutes left in the half. After the second pick of the day for Brees, on a gigantic play that really killed any potential momentum that the Saints may have thought about starting.
For a Vikings defense that wasn’t known for generating turnovers this season, it was thought that that may have been part of the reason that the Vikings lost to the Saints (by the insane amount of talking heads nationally that picked the Saints to win). While I’d rather have a defense that is number one in the league despite not having that many turnovers (comparatively), but obviously if you can add turnovers like this to a Vikings defense that is this dominant, then there’s really not a whole lot the opposing team can do, especially on the road. There’s still a lot of football left, but the first half was about as encouraging as you could hope and the Vikings will be getting the ball back to start the second half with a 17-point cushion. Let’s just get this game overwith and then we can focus on traveling to the Philadelphia for the fifth NFC Championship since the late 80’s for this organization and hopefully the first win against a team that, like the Vikings, has had it’s own struggles with NFC Championships and Super Bowl victories (or lack thereof).
SKOL Vikings!