Supposedly they have a plan to push games around already. Not easy but that’s what they have schedulers for.
More MN Houston bitterness. There is now complaints that the Texans can still practice while the Vikings can't because of the Titans COVID-19 outbreak.
Im locked and loaded for the game... I got Justin Jefferson and Irv Smith off the waiver wire... Let's get this W!... for my fantasy football team!
Texans look awesome on the opening drive- Settle for a FG- Bob goes conservative up 3 and tries to run the clock out. Texans lose 3- 27 Fall to 0-4
The opposing teams are just going to start baiting the Texans to run the ball even more on first and second downs by presenting them defensive looks that appear to have large running lanes. In establishing the run by forcing the run, Deshaun is taken out of the equation, quick 3 and out so that the opposing offense can go on 8 minute drives. Sounds like a plan.
If only we could have one of the top 3 WRs in the league to pair with Deshaun...imagine the damage they could do
Looks like wr will be high on the free agency list next offseason. Assuming Fuller and stills are gone.
i share an equal opinion just with less agony and death! LOL I think Kubiak is going to want to come in here and turn back the clock for a game. I think he's going to use every play that worked in Houston and will make a point to remind us all that if we could have waited another few years.... who knows! (especially after the guy has a dang stroke for the team on the sideline!) MIN - 37 HOU - 27
Breaking down Vikings-Texans: Key matchups, players to watch and predictions By Chad Graff and Aaron Reiss 4h ago 4 Three weeks into this season, Vikings-Texans doesn’t look quite as exciting as it did when schedules were first released, but the stakes involved are higher than ever. The teams, which considered themselves playoff contenders before the season began, are 0-3 and facing practical must-win situations Sunday in Houston. This will be the first time they’ll meet up since 2016. What should you expect when they face off for the first time since 2016? The Athletic’s Vikings writer, Chad Graff, and Texans writer, Aaron Reiss, answer key questions about the matchup before offering their score predictions. This game is caught in the crosshairs of the NFL’s first COVID-19 outbreak, as the Vikings’ Week 3 opponent, the Titans, have a rash of coronavirus cases. How has that news affected each team’s preparations for this game? Graff: The Vikings first learned of the outbreak within the Titans around 9 a.m. Tuesday. They were more concerned initially about their coaches and personnel staff who had spent time before the game unknowingly chatting with infected coaches and personnel staff from the Titans. The Vikings closed their facility at 10 a.m. Tuesday, the day coaches primarily spend game planning while players are off. The facility remained closed Wednesday and the Vikings conducted remote meetings to install their plan for the Titans. After not receiving any positive COVID-19 tests through Thursday morning, the Vikings reopened their facility and conducted their first practice of the week Thursday afternoon with their standard one still scheduled for Friday, plus an additional light practice added to the plan Saturday morning. Reiss: The Texans operated as normal this week, though they recently had a COVID-19 scare of their own. Head coach and general manager Bill O’Brien recently said the team learned of two positive coronavirus tests around midnight the night before its Week 3 matchup against the Steelers. The team woke up several players around 5 a.m. Sunday for contact tracing, only to learn those two initial positives were false positives. “These are the things that every organization, not just us, are dealing with on a daily basis,” O’Brien said. These teams both traded star wide receivers during the offseason. After 0-3 starts, do those moves look better, worse or the same? Graff: Much better after last week. Unlike the Texans’, the Vikings’ trade was one they pretty much had to make. Stefon Diggs made it abundantly clear that he wanted out even though the Vikings didn’t want to move him. After Diggs’ flurry of tweets, they sent him to Buffalo, where he’s thriving through three games, for a first-round pick that turned into Justin Jefferson. Last week, the Vikings made Jefferson their No. 2 receiver for the first time, and he offered glimpses of the deep threat the Vikings deeply missed in their first two contests. Jefferson finished with a touchdown and 175 receiving yards and raised expectations for what could be in store this weekend. If he continues to play well, it would take a lot of pressure off Adam Thielen, who was Kirk Cousins’ only consistent target the first two games. Reiss: Worse than ever. In fairness to O’Brien, he couldn’t have anticipated how the pandemic would upend the offseason, but Deshaun Watson has gotten off to a slow start with his revamped receiving corps. The Texans rank 22nd in passing DVOA as new additions Randall Cobb and Brandin Cooks have failed to record a 100-yard game. The potential of Houston’s passing game was on display during the Texans’ first-half scoring drives against the Steelers as they featured seven explosive passes (judged to be for 16-plus yards) to six receivers, but the Texans couldn’t move the ball consistently because they tended to be behind the sticks thanks to running back David Johnson averaging just 1.8 yards per carry against Pittsburgh. Despite a strong Week 1 performance, Johnson, whose bloated contract the Texans took on in the Hopkins trade, has mustered just 3.8 yards per carry and only 23.7 receiving yards per game. The latter figure would represent a career low if it held for the season. So much for Johnson providing the offense with versatility and unpredictability. What’s the biggest key for each team to work out of an 0-3 hole and get back in the playoff picture? Graff: Boy, where to begin with the Vikings? The defense needs to be a lot better. So does the offense. Same for the coaching. Unlike the Texans’, the Vikings’ 0-3 start isn’t just because they’ve played great teams. A lot of Minnesota’s errors have been self-inflicted. Let’s focus on the offense. It was well known that the Vikings’ defense might struggle after so many changes in the offseason and while replacing basically its entire group of cornerbacks. But the offense wasn’t supposed to have so many issues. Last week seemed to offer the first blueprint for what the Vikings should look like offensively. It was a healthy dose of Dalvin Cook (who ran for a career-high 181 rushing yards), plus play-action that set up Jefferson in the passing game. The Vikings will need a lot more of that in Houston. Reiss: Houston has played an incredibly difficult schedule, but I wouldn’t say the Texans are winless solely because of that. Not when they have the third-worst point differential. The offense, which is going to have to win a lot of shootouts given how the roster is constructed, has simply not been good enough. The lagging chemistry between Watson and his new receivers was somewhat expected; the offensive line’s struggles were not. The Texans are always going to have a lot of negative plays because of Watson’s playing style, but they find themselves ranking last in Football Outsiders’ adjusted sack rate for the second time in three years because the line has regressed. After ranking eighth in ESPN’s pass-block win rate in 2019, the Texans returned every starter and now rank 30th in that metric. Although the line play certainly needs to improve, O’Brien hasn’t placed all of the blame there. He’s said his staff also needs to scheme the players into a better position to succeed. That means running the ball in less predictable ways so Houston doesn’t get behind schedule and creating easy intermediate throws. In the past, Watson could trust Hopkins to win one-on-one matchups along the sidelines, but Houston doesn’t have a physical, chain-moving receiver like him anymore.
Which matchup could swing the game? Graff: The Vikings’ offensive line against the Texans’ pass rush. The interior of Minnesota’s offensive line has been among the worst in the league and it has struggled when it mattered most. The Vikings had a chance to mount a winning drive against the Titans last week, but the offensive line was so bad the Titans had players in the backfield before routes had developed. Now the Vikings face J.J. Watt and company. The Texans rank No. 10 in ESPN’s pass-rush win rate metric and could make life awfully difficult for Cousins. Reiss: Cook versus the Texans’ run defense. Houston has surrendered 5.18 yards per carry, the sixth-highest average in the league, as the Texans’ high-paid off-ball linebackers, Benardrick McKinney and Zach Cunningham, have gotten off to uncharacteristically poor starts. Minnesota loves to use heavier personnel on offense, but I wonder if the Vikings will play more three-wide receiver sets than normal given how particularly vulnerable Houston’s nickel defense is against the run. Who’s a player to keep an eye on? Graff: Defensive end Yannick Ngakoue. The Vikings traded for him just before the season began in part because they thought they had a playoff team and wanted to mitigate the loss of Danielle Hunter, who remains out indefinitely with a neck injury. Ngakoue struggled in his Vikings debut but has gotten better each week and notched his second strip-sack of the season against the Titans. The Vikings don’t have a great defensive line when Hunter isn’t healthy. But to beat the Texans, teams have to take advantage of their weak offensive line, and to do that, the Vikings need Ngakoue to have a big game. Reiss: Cunningham and McKinney. I already mentioned their roles in the Texans’ issues against the run, but it’s also worth highlighting how vulnerable they could be against Minnesota’s play-action attack. Thanks largely to the two linebackers’ struggles in coverage, the Texans ranked last in DVOA against passes over the middle last season, and they are 25th through three games this year. Any notable injuries? Graff: The Vikings appear to be getting rookie starting cornerback Cameron Dantzler back after he missed the last two games because of a rib injury, but they’re not completely healthy in the secondary. Mike Hughes, their top corner, didn’t practice Thursday and is probably out. That’s a huge loss against a group of wide receivers that co-defensive coordinator Adam Zimmer called the fastest the Vikings have faced. Danielle Hunter remains on injured reserve, which is a huge loss. Right guard Pat Elflein is also on injured reserve and he’s been replaced by Dru Samia the last two games. Samia has struggled in both contests, so that could be an area where the Texans look to take advantage. Reiss: Wide receiver Will Fuller, who has struggled to stay on the field his entire career, appeared on the injury report Thursday with a hamstring injury. Watson’s splits with and without Fuller are drastic, so it’d be particularly bad for Houston to miss Fuller in a must-win game like this. It’d also be a big loss for the Texans if they don’t have defensive lineman Charles Omenihu, who missed Wednesday’s practice with a knee injury and was limited Thursday. The second-year pro has two sacks in the past two games and could feast against the interior of Minnesota’s line if he’s able to go. Who wins and why? Graff: I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m picking the Vikings. I should know better after the first three games. The Texans rank dead last in expected points added on defense/special teams, and the Vikings’ offense finally looks like it’s getting going. I think Cousins does enough not to lose the game and the offense relies on Cook to move the ball. And defensively, although the Vikings have a ton of trouble on pass defense, the fact the Texans have been so poor at running the ball should set up Mike Zimmer to concoct some schemes that help out his young corners. So I’ll take the Vikings, 28-27. Reiss: The Texans haven’t been able to stop anyone on the ground, and I don’t think they’ll start against Cook and the Vikings. Minnesota’s weak pass defense might allow Houston to stay in the game with explosive plays and look great on certain drives, but if the running game keeps putting the Texans behind the sticks, it’ll be difficult for them to move the ball consistently. I’m picking the Vikings, too. Minnesota 28, Houston 24.
