Minnesota tops Jacksonville in ugly/crazy OT contest
Joe Johnson
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Note: This article originally appeared on our sister-site, VikingsTerritory.com. Check out both sites each day for all your Vikings news/reaction/analysis!
Vikings Jaguars Recap
Every Tuesday I cohost Minnesota sports legend Bob Sansevere’s ‘BS Show’ in Duluth, St. Cloud, and Hibbing. One thing that Sansevere has said multiple times since I joined his show the week before the Vikings’ week 1 nightmare against the Green Bay Packers is that the Vikings don’t know how to handle success.
With the Jacksonville Jaguars coming to town Sunday, that idea seemed as apt as it was frustrating as these were two teams that seemed to be on completely different paths in 2020.
The Jags started 2020 1-0, then lost their next TEN games. The Vikings started the year 1-5, then came out of their Week 7 bye 4-1. However, as we saw in the one loss since the bye or against the one-win Falcons before the bye… Or last week against the Meh Carolina Panthers… These Vikings either don’t know how to handle success, or play up/down to the level of their opponent, or simply make too many mistakes to blow their bad opponents out of the water.
Last Sunday the Panthers scored a defensive touchdown on back-to-back plays. The Jags scored on a pick six on the first play/pass of the second half, and also picked up a Cook/Cousins fumble on a goal-line carry that could’ve put the game out of reach for the Jags late in the third quarter.
The Vikings defense also only allowed one offensive touchdown Sunday going into the final Jacksonville drive, a week after only allowing the same against the Panthers.
It’s that final drive, though, that was reminiscent of the final drive that lead to a missed field goal by the Panthers as well as the game-winning drive by the Cowboys the week before.
The Jags not only scored a touchdown on their final drive but picked up the two-point conversion to tie the game with 1:08 to go. Had the Vikings not missed TWO extra points earlier in the game things could’ve been completely different.
But, the Vikings offense is incredibly talented and if they can’t get to within field goal range against one of the worst defenses in the NFL, then they don’t really deserve to make the playoffs in general.
The Vikings had two time outs going into the final drive and opened with a … Run. The next play was a completed pass to Chad Beebe. The Vikings picked up the first down on the next play, then called their second time out. It allowed Adam Thielen to return to the field after sitting out the previous play with an apparent lower-body injury.
With the ball at their own 40, the Vikings dumped the ball off to Ameer Abdullah, which brought them to nearly within field goal range for Dan Bailey (who had previously made a 48 yard field goal).
With 29 seconds to go, the Vikings had 2nd-and-10 with another timeout. They completed a pass to Justin Jefferson, his NINTH of the contest. That play brought up 3rd-and-1 on an apparent passing down. After a failed deep ball to Thielen, Bailey came on the field for a 51-yard try.
No good.
Snap was good, hold was good. Bailey seems to have caught the same special teams craptastic virus that’s plagued this team all season.
Luckily, the Jags also missed their subsequent 61-yard field goal attempt, one that was returnable had the Vikings put a returner on the field.
Minnesota won the toss, though, going into overtime because they called tails and tails is objectively always the right call. Always. That’s a hill I’m willing to die on. Not my evisceration of Philadelphia Eagles fans that clearly struck a chord with those who must’ve taken a break from all the charity work they do to respond with a collective expression of dishing but not being able to take.
The Vikings started overtime with a 9-yard-loss after Brian O’Neill was beat for a sack, and dropped pass by Kyle Rudolph (who ESPN.com said would have a huge game Sunday), bringing up third-and-19 from their own 15.
Cousins connected with Jefferson on a 47-yard strike. But it was called back for offensive pass interference on Jefferson.
You really are going to make that call, in this situation?
That brought up 3rd-and-27. The Vikings elected for a screen pass to Cook, and were forced to punt.
The Vikings had a good punt and coverage, which after a penalty on the Jags, put them at their own 15-yard-line. On first down the Vikings safety Anthony Harris had good coverage which brought up second down. James Robinson ran to the left on second down, bringing up 3rd-and-9.
The Harrison Smith picked off the ball at the Jags 48 courtesy of a double-A gap blitz.
Jefferson lined up offsides after a nine yard gain on first down bringing up 2nd-and-6. Tyler Conklin completed a ten yard catch, bringing the Vikings to well within field goal range. However, with Dan Bailey struggling, there’s an argument to be had for going for the first down and/or touchdown here.
The Vikings stayed conservative with another handoff to Cook, who cut back to pick up a huge first down (which also brought him to over 100 yards on the day). After two more runs, the Vikings were facing third-and-3 from the Jags 11 with just over three minutes remaining in the contest.
The Vikings used their final timeout to give their cadre of superstars time to rest. You’d hope they’d run a play-action rollout pass to Thielen/Jefferson or Rudolph.
Instead, Cook got the call again and picked up the first down bringing up first-and-goal from the Jags 5. Cook made it down to the 2 yardline, bringing up a chip shot field goal by Bailey.
That seemingly confused the commentators as they thought the Vikes would run another play. But considering the turnover(s) earlier in the game, it made sense to bring in Bailey (especially as a botched snap/hold could be covered for another two chances, which, is a good insurance policy for a team that has had a ton of miscues).
However, the Vikings then brought the offense back on the field to run a second-down play after the two minute warning. Cook made it to the half-yardline, bringing up third and goal. Cook was super close, though, as in inches.
After a false start, the Vikings brought Bailey in for the game winner.
Notes:
Rookie receiver Justin Jefferson had yet another huge game for the Vikings. Jefferson eclipsed 1,000 yards on the season in the third quarter, making him only the fifth receiver to accomplish that feat (in their first 12 games) in league history.
Things weren’t clearly all sunshine, lollipops and rainbows, though. The Vikings yet again had multiple mistakes Sunday, with multiple missed extra-points, allowing a defensive touchdown, turnovers and a botched punt return (that was recovered by the Vikings but still).
As I’ve said increasingly this season, at some point these mistakes will effect whether or not the Vikings win. For a team with a razor thin margin of error (of they want to make the playoffs), they need to clean up these mistakes ASAP. These aren’t just young players making these mistakes, as both Cousins and Cook are on the hook for multiple turnovers and defensive scores these last few weeks.
For now, though, the Vikings are .500 and looking at potentially moving into the 7th-and-final playoff spot should the Arizona Cardinals lose to the Los Angeles Rams this afternoon.
While there’s a lot to be worried about, yet again, this team does deserve a lot of credit for overcoming (deep inhale) the injuries they have on defense, the 1-5 start to the season, Cousins’ start to the year, etc.
But there’s a lot to be encouraged by, including a breakout game from Cameron Dantzler, the rookie corner who previously had been a liability on defense. Dantzler had the best game of his young career with good coverages, his first interception and a key forced fumble.
Just clean up the mistakes. Please.
Considering where this team was around the halfway point of the season, that’s something worth noting.
Stay tuned!
Highlights:
Safety!
Jefferson is good
Harry the Hitman and Hercules the… Hercules
CJ Ham for the score!
Thielen is COVID free and uncoverable
The Needle’s first INT
The Needle forces a fumble
Stats:
Minnesota
Jacksonville:
