Although the rest of the game may not be all that memorable for Dolphins fans, Minkah Fitzpatrick’s pick-6 in the second quarter and the 75-yard TD run to start the third were definite high points for Miami. Before Cousins threw that interception, Miami was down 21 points and the Vikings were threatening to run up the score. After the interception, the dreaded over-cautiousness came back to Cousins and he was clearly more worried about making mistakes than making plays. The Dolphins’ running touchdown was a fantastic effort that the football gods rewarded appropriately. Other than those two plays, however, there isn’t a lot of comfort for the team or the fans, especially when your quarterback ends up being sacked nine times.

The first quarter was practically flawless for the Vikings in new offensive co-ordinator Kevin Stefanski’s first game calling plays, with an almost perfect balance between passing plays and rushes. Dalvin Cook got his first rushing touchdown of the season and Latavius Murray ran in a second. Kirk Cousins was boasting a perfect passer rating at the end of the first fifteen minutes of play, and Miami didn’t have any answers at all.

At the Daily Norseman, Ted Glover provides his usual post-game Stock Market Report:

Buy/Sell:

Buy: The first and fourth quarter. They opened the game strong, as the offense scored touchdowns on their first three possessions, and the defense forced three punts. In the fourth quarter, the Vikings offense scored two touchdowns and a field goal, while the defense either forced a punt or got the ball back on downs. When you hear guys talk about ‘complementary football’, that’s exactly what the first and fourth quarter was. The offense scored, the defense got off the field, rinse and repeat.

Sell: The second and most of the third quarter. But as hot as the Vikings were to open the game, when they went cold they were Antarctica. After a really strong start, Kirk Cousins threw a horrible pick-six up 21-0, and after the 75 yard run the defense gave up to open the second half, bada boom bada bing it was 24-17 Vikings, and US Bank Stadium was as quiet as a Missouri Synod Lutheran Church. I don’t know that they can overcome mistakes like that on the road during the playoffs, but before they can do that, they have to overcome them. period. And today, they did.

Buy: Kevin Stefanski, OC: Stefanski called a lot of plays with C.J Ham as a lead blocker, and the Vikings line running a lot of traps and pulls. There wasn’t a lot of pre-snap motion, and the plays looked fairly straightforward with not a lot of slow developing exotic stuff. As a result, the Vikings ran for 220 yards, three touchdowns, and the Vikings boatraced Miami. Huh. Funny how when you play to the strengths of what your offense does well, good things generally happen.

Sell: It was all John DeFilippo’s fault. Still, it’s too easy to say everything was John DeFilippo’s fault. In the third quarter, the Vikings offense looked as shaky under Stefanski as it did under DeFilippo, and it’s got a lot of things they need to fix (untimely penalties, turnovers) that have killed them in the past, but they got away with today.

Buy: There were no missed kicks. How about that kids? You know it’s a good day when even the kicker for the Vikings is perfect. Is that even a thing?

Sell: A kicker doing his job should not be cause for celebration. This shouldn’t be something we celebrate. Because, you know, kicks shouldn’t be an adventure. Just sayin’.

Being a wine snob myself (when I have the budget for it, anyway), I did enjoy his Quote of the Week:

So my wife is pretty cool having put up with me for almost 30 years. She wanted me to go to this wine tasting, and because it was important to her, I did. Let’s be clear that I pissed and moaned about it, but I went. I hate wine. It gives me a headache, I think it all smells like either ass or a used dishrag, and tastes about the same. Anyway, it’s her wine society group, and they’re tasting sparkling wines (or champagnes, if they’re from the Champagne region of France. If they’re not from that region, they have to be called sparkling wine, and I’m embarrassed to know this).

Anyway, they tried the last sparkling wine, and then moved on to the champagne. SInce it was the transition from the North American sparkling wines to the French champagnes, the head wine dude there asked a question one might ask in this environment — ’do these taste any different?’

Me, being me, leans over and whispers to my wife:

‘Would it be appropriate to say the French champagne surrendered to the palate, whereas the American sparkling wine bombarded the palate before conquering it?’

Turns out, it would not have been appropriate to say to her American Wine Society meeting.

I’m glad I asked.