This was described by fans of both teams as “must win”, with Buffalo hoping to stay close to New England in their division, and Minnesota hoping to have some faint hope of relevance in the NFC North. Buffalo came in to the game sporting one of the top defensive squads in the league, while the Vikings defence is starting to look at least respectable after a few years of far below average play.
Both teams are starting to look like patchwork quilts, with all the backup players thrust into starting roles, and by the end of the game Buffalo was down to one healthy running back, while Minnesota had to plug in their reserve centre and swing tackle at guard due to injuries to John Sullivan and Vladimir Ducasse.
Ted Glover hands out his Blue Chip Investments:
Jerick McKinnon, RB: Coming into this game, the Bills had the best running defense in the NFL, giving up less than 70 yards a game on the ground. All McKinnon did was go for 103 yards on 19 carries, leading a ground attack that chewed the Bills up for 158 yards. He’s taken over the starting job at running back, and although he’s not going to fill the shoes left by Adrian Peterson’s absence, we’re finding out that once AP’s time in Minnesota is over, the Vikings running game should be in good hands.
Anthony Barr, LB: Barr is making a strong case for Defensive Rookie of the Year, and had another fantastic game against the Bills–10 tackles, two fumble recoveries, broke up a pass, and was generally the Tasmanian Devil from the Looney Tunes cartoons–a mini hurricane that was all over the place. This kind of game is starting to become routine for Barr, and as exciting as that is for us as Vikings fans, I hope it’s scaring the Hell out of the rest of the NFL.
Everson Griffen, DE: I’m not trying to be a braggart when I say this, but I’ve been on a bunch of radio spots and podcasts between free agency and today, and in all those interviews, well, let’s just say I wish I had a nickel for every time I was asked if the Vikings made the right call in keeping Griffen and letting Jared Allen walk. After today, when Griffen had 3.5 sacks and was an absolute beast on the outside, I’m pretty sure I won’t be asked that question anymore. On the season, Griffen now has seven sacks. Meanwhile, in Chicago, Allen has one, and saw his playing time drop today against the Dolphins.
Blair Walsh, K: We really haven’t talked about Walsh much this year, but once again we got a reminder as to why he’s one of the best kickers in the NFL. He was 3/3 on field goal attempts, including a 55 yarder right before the half that might have been good from 65. In Buffalo.
