There wasn’t much excitement in advance of this Thursday night game between the 5-2 Minnesota Vikings and the 1-6 Washington Redskins, and the odds in Las Vegas had the Vikings as 17-point favourites. Thanks to a slow start, the Vikings didn’t come close to covering the spread, but did end up with a fairly comfortable win. A fumble by wide receiver Stefon Diggs gave Washington an early boost, but Vikings defensive end Danielle Hunter strip-sacked Case Keenum (recovered by Shamar Stephen) that gave the ball back to Minnesota before the Redskins could capitalize.

Exterior of US Bank Stadium, home of the Minnesota Vikings by “www78”
“Viking Stadium” by www78 is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

Washington coaches have clearly been studying recent Vikings game film, as they seemed to concentrate on cornerback Xavier Rhodes for much of the first half, picking up yardage on passes and on penalties. Rhodes still seems to be unable to get back to his early career form.

Do you get a sick feeling in the pit of your stomach when the talking heads on the TV start digging up stats on individual players? I did, when the Fox crew started complimenting Vikings right tackle Brian O’Neill for not having given up a sack so far in his NFL career … which, of course, he promptly did on that drive (Cousins was sacked twice in the span of three plays, which snuffed out a drive and the Vikings had to settle for a field goal attempt).

There was, however, a Dalvin Cook touchdown run on the night (the only TD by either team):

In addition to Cook’s rushing, backup Alexander Mattison did some great work … that unfortunately won’t show up on the stat sheets due to penalties wiping out his runs. He’s not as shifty as Cook, but he’s an excellent 1-2 combination with Cook and I’m delighted the Vikings have him on the roster.

Matthew Coller says the Vikings didn’t earn any style points in the win:

Over the past three weeks the Minnesota Vikings played a brand of football that looked like some of the best offenses in team history. They were video-game-numbers wins, the type that fans get a thrill out of watching. Thursday night’s 19-9 win over Washington did not fall into those categories.

On the Vikings’ first drive it appeared they might be in for another track meet when quarterback Kirk Cousins — who cleared 300 yards and a 135-plus quarterback rating in each of the last three games — found star receiver Stefon Diggs wide open in Washington’s secondary. But Diggs tried to cut back and escape defenders, which resulted in a fumble, his fourth of the season.

It appeared that Washington interim head coach Bill Callahan was well aware of the only way to stay in the game with the much more gifted Vikings: By slowing things down.

[…]

Keenum suffered a concussion in the first half when defensive tackle Linval Joseph slammed him to the ground forcing rookie Dwayne Haskins into the game. It wouldn’t take long for him to show exactly why Washington has been hesitant to play him.

After an aggressive decision by Mike Zimmer to go for a fourth-and-short failed late in the third quarter, Haskins overthrew an open receiver, which bounced directly into the hands of Anthony Harris, ruining Washington’s chances to tie the game and give themselves a shot at a stunning upset.

The Vikings took advantage, grinding out a field goal drive to put them up 19-9 with 11 minutes remaining. Haskins continued his struggles, taking a third down sack and the Vikings killed clock with Cook and Alexander Mattison. Of course the Vikings’ final drive wasn’t without penalties that drove them back to first-and-25. But Mattison closed things out with a 19-yard gain on third down that put things on ice.

Mixed into the game were a total of 11 penalties for 120 yards, six sacks, less than four yards per carry for the Vikings and few targets for receivers that went in anyone’s direction outside of Diggs.

Judd Zulgad on the performance of Kirk Cousins against the team that drafted him:

… there was one curiosity that existed when it came to this matchup. That would have been the fact Kirk Cousins was facing his former team — the franchise that never believed in him — in prime time. Gulp. You did not have to look very hard to find that Cousins was 5-13 in prime-time games.

This was the exact type of game in which Cousins would try to do too much and make a key mistake. Maybe it would be an ill-timed interception, or a goofy fumble on a sack or an overthrow on a deep pass to a wide open receiver. The absence of wide receiver Adam Thielen (hamstring) didn’t help matters.

“I’m going to talk to (Cousins) a little bit about some of those things,” Vikings coach Mike Zimmer said a few days back. “He needs to just focus on his job, focus on getting guys in the right place and doing what he’s supposed to do. There’s always some emotions when you’re playing a team that you went against.”

Cousins might have felt those emotions but he never let them against the best of him in the Vikings’ 19-9 victory over Washington. The Vikings’ fourth consecutive victory put them at 6-2. They could be tied with Green Bay atop the NFC North if the Packers lose on Sunday night in Kansas City.

Cousins wasn’t dynamic on Thursday but he didn’t need to be. What the Vikings needed was a solid game and Cousins provided exactly that. He completed 23 of 26 passes for 285 yards with no touchdowns, no interceptions and registered a passer rating of 112.3. Cousins’ 88.5 completion percentage was the highest in franchise history. It was Cousins’ 24th start with the Vikings and only the second time he has not thrown a touchdown. The first time came in the Vikings’ Week 4 loss at Chicago. That left Vikings fan infuriated. This time? Hey, Cousins won the game, right?

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

Winning ugly is better than losing ugly

Coming into this game, the Minnesota Vikings had been on an historic run. QB Kirk Cousins set an NFL record with yards passing and passer rating over three games, the Vikes offense had been on a three game stretch that’s been more productive than at any other point in team history, and the 1-6 Washington Redskins were just supposed to be another bump in the road.

That bump almost turned into a pothole, as old friends Case Keenum and Adrian Peterson returned home wearing the colors of the opponent, and they gave the Vikings everything they could handle. But on an off night when things weren’t going the way things were supposed to, new friend Kirk Cousins played almost mistake free football, and the Vikings made enough big plays to get a win on night when they weren’t firing on all cylinders. […]

Solid Investments

Alexander Mattison, RB: Officially, Mattison had 61 yards on 13 carries, including a remarkable 28 yard run on third and 19 that daggered the Redskins. Unofficially, he had about 247* yards on 17 carries that were nullified due to penalties. Seriously, on that epic drive that ended the game, he had 30 yards on consecutive plays that were nullified by holding penalties. Mattison is making the folks that called him a mistake pick in the third round look foolish, and he is one of the most violent runners in the NFL.

*Maybe not that much, but it kinda seemed like it.

Kirk Cousins, QB: Tonight was bit of a weird game, and it’s kind of evidenced in Cousins’ statline: 23/26, 285 yards … and no touchdowns. But, he also had not interceptions, and no turnovers. Cousins and the Vikings did a really good job of moving the ball between the 20’s, but self destructed once they got in the red zone. Whether it was an inability to run, bad protection, or bad play calls, the Vikes were just not as efficient down there as they have been the last three weeks. But, on the flip side, Cousins played a solid game and didn’t make any mistakes, and when the Vikes did get within the shadow of the end zone, they did come away with points.

Junk Bonds

Xavier Rhodes, CB: It’s becoming more and more apparent that one of two things has happened to Xavier Rhodes: he is either playing hurt at a level that he probably shouldn’t be playing, or his skill set has diminished so much he is no longer feared by opposing teams. Tonight, Case Keenum and the Washington Redskins targeted Rhodes, and whoever he was covering they threw to, and Rhodes either allowed a completion, allowed a completion and missed a tackle, or was flagged for pass interference.

Pat Elflein, G: Elflein has had some rough games, but this might have been his worst. He was called for three holding penalties, one of which was in the red zone and one of which cancelled out a nice Mattison run. Washington was also able to generate a lot of pressure up the middle, and Elflein was a big reason for that. I still don’t know what Mike Zimmer has against Brett Jones, but I think we need to have a discussion about seeing what Jones could do. And as a Pat Elflein fan, it pains me to say that.