NFL
By Steve Rogers
The Vikings are taking the NFL by surprise. After week one, when they went to New York and dismantled the Giants, no one really batted an eye. Then the Vikings came home and faced the reigning NFC champion San Fransisco 49ers. Coming into the game, the Vikings were 5.5-point underdogs. The Vikings didn’t blink and delivered on all three phases offense defense and special teams. The Vikings took control early and never let up. The offense moved the ball effectively on the ground and showed explosiveness on the 97-yard blow-the-roof-off touchdown bomb from Sam Darnold to Justin Jefferson. Darnold dropped back to pass from in his own end zone then stepped up and from a yard or two still in the end zone fired a missile to Jefferson who caught it on the other side of the 50-yard line perfectly in stride and his legs did the rest. The defense was dominant and imposing. They collected six more sacks 11 total as a team. Patrick Jones II had his second straight game with two sacks and has four in the first two games. The Vikings got another interception as well. The Vikings stifled the 49ers high-powered offense and held them to 17 points. The special teams unit got involved and blocked a punt the Vikings recovered with great field position. The defense is the biggest story as they are outperforming the quote-unquote more talented offense. The Vikings are a top-10 defense and currently the #3 scoring defense.
UNDEFEATED vs UNDEFEATED
The Vikings are now set to welcome the also 2-0 Houston Texans to town. This will only be the sixth time these teams have faced off. The first five games have all been won by the Vikings. The Vikings have scored 31 points in both of the last two matchups. The most recent of which was back in 2020. This is a whole new Texans team. Ironically these two teams have a somewhat intimate knowledge of each other as they each have five former players on each other’s rosters. Most notable is the Texan’s addition of former Vikings wide receiver Stefon Diggs and defensive end Danielle Hunter and three of the biggest signings by the Vikings are linebackers Blake Cashman and Jonathan Greenard and cornerback Shaq Griffin. This Texans team is now coached by former player DeMeco Ryans and in only his second year is already on the fast track of being one of the best head coaches in the NFL. Similar to Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell. Both these teams have two of the top defenses so far. Both are holding teams under 90 yards rushing per game. Both of these teams have impressively talented wide receiver rooms. Both teams are running the ball incredibly well averaging over 125 yards per game on the ground. How about their points per game? The Vikings are averaging 25.5 and the Texans are 24. The similarities aren’t done yet as these teams both have a former top-three or better overall pick quarterback. However, their paths to this game are far from similar as Sam Darnold is resurrecting his career after being flushed through two of the worst quarterback situations ever. Tom Brady wouldn’t have looked any better in the same situations. Now with a stable organization with a former quarterback as the head coach and elite play caller along with the most talented offensive roster top to bottom Darnold has EVER had the opportunity to play for and with. After five years and four teams, Darnold is finally starting to play up to the level of a top-three overall pick. On the flipside is C.J. Stroud who was last year’s #2 overall pick and in his rookie season set the league on fire and had arguably one of the best rookie quarterback seasons ever. Stoud is picking up this year right where he left off.
Final Predictions
These are two of the top 10 teams so far. This will be the best game of the week three schedule. Even with these offenses scoring will be at a premium as this will be a show of dominance by the defenses. The Texans are loaded with first-round draft talent on defense. This will be Hunter’s first time playing against his former team as well his first time back in Minnesota. It’s certain to cause some mixed emotions as he was very open about wanting to be a Viking for his whole career. This will also be Diggs’s first time back in Minnesota since he was traded in 2020. The Vikings have called the US Bank Stadium home since 2016. It was the site of Super Bowl LII and one of the more memorable Super Bowl moments “The Philly Special”. However, that same year Diggs was involved in the greatest play in Minnesota sports history “The Minneapolis Miracle”. This game will be a hard-fought battle. I believe it will be low-scoring and come down to who has it last. It will come down to a walk-off field goal. The final score will be 17-16. Even if the Vikings come up short nobody expected them to be 2-1 at this point.
