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Divisional Round: Vikings vs. Saints, Week 19


Riddle

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2 minutes ago, SteelKing728 said:

@Riddle If/when we win, you are making all the the GDTs this postseason. You have to help take us to Valhalla, or be sent to the Pit of Misery (Skol Edition). Dilly Dilly!

Haha deal. I did not expect that this would be a controversial move; just excited about the game, but I can live with the pressure of my actions! SKOL VIKES!

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Honestly, While watching the Saints/Panthers, I started to feel more comfortable playing the Saints. I just feel like we match up well against them when I started thinking about it. It's pretty simple. 

Our 2nd ranked passing defense should be able to at least limit their 5th ranked passing offense, same goes for our 2nd ranked rushing defense

This is a team that relies heavily on their offense to wins games. I think our defense will shut them down/at least limit them.

Then on offense, I really think we will do just fine against their defense. The Saints have a quite mediocre defense. 413 yards for the Panthers offense today, actually more than the Saints offense. This game really doesn't scare me. Plus I don't want to play the Panthers again anyways and have to see Cam Newton again, one of the more despicable players in the NFL, he's such a jerk, IMO. I wouldn't want to have to add another variable with his ability to scramble and run to worry about. 

Vikings 27, Saints 14 is my prediction

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3 hours ago, vikingsrule said:

Might turn into a shootout. I hope the OL is ready to go and Keenum is comfortable potentially having to win the game for us. Need some explosive plays from Thielen and Diggs. 

I don't think we can win this one relying on the defense keeping the Saints to under 20 points again. 

 

its not going to be a shootout.

both teams will try and run, only vikings will succeed. saints will try to pass their way out but will not best our secondary

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The Rams and the Panthers were the two teams that I wanted to avoid in the playoffs the most.  I know we could beat both of those teams, but they both have such a good pass rush that I was worried our OL would get too banged up to be able to make a deep run.  Riley Reiff and Pat Elflein are essential for us to be able to win.

I’m think as long as we find a way to avoid Cameron Jordan and Marshon Lattimore then we should be fine.  Rhodes won’t have a problem shutting down Thomas.  They Saints are usually a lot better at home than they are on the road.

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4 minutes ago, CriminalMind said:

its not going to be a shootout.

both teams will try and run, only vikings will succeed. saints will try to pass their way out but will not best our secondary

Agree, it won’t be a shoot out and think we win the the game. We may need 27 points out of the offense though.

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Happy the Saints won. Want to beat them again for so many reasons.

I also think they're a better matchup for us than the Panthers. In particular, I think the Vikings defense matches up better against the Saints with Brees at his best than the Panthers with Newton at his best.

My main fears for this playoff run are dominant IOLs leading power runs up the middle and dominant interior pass rushes getting in Keenum's face. The Vikings pass defense relies on playing a light box, and Barr and Kendricks are good but not great interior run defending LBs. The Vikings OL is much improved but Easton is out, Elflein is a rookie, Berger is ancient and Keenum is 6 feet tall. 

The Saints have a good DL and IOL (though Peat will be done for the year, fractured fibula), but the Rams and Panthers are clearly better in the middle of the trenches on both sides of the ball. As are the Eagles, the other team I'm afraid of, if Foles somehow catches lightning in the bottle and beats Atlanta. 

I'm much less worried about the Vikings having to stop a QB with a precision downfield passing attack. The Vikings defense is geared to stop Rodgers and Stafford; Brees is great in his own right but the Saints passing attack more of what we're used to. Rhodes and Waynes match up perfectly with Thomas and Ginn respectively. And Kamara isn't going to do any better as a receiver than any other RB we faced this year (RB receiving yards vs MIN: Freeman 7, Cohen 11, Bernard 13, McCaffrey 18, Gurley 19, Kamara 20...)

The Saints run game doesn't scare me at all. The Vikings run defense allowed 55 yards per game, on only 2.82 YPC at home this year. Only one RB had more than 44 yards in a single game against them at home (Abdullah with 94), and only one had a YPC above 3.4 on at least 5 carries (Abdullah again at 4.7). The Vikings defense only allowed 4 runs of 10 or more yards against at home this year: 2 by Abdullah (29 and 12 yards), one by Tarik Cohen (10) and one by Michael Campanaro, the Ravens WR (19 yards on an end around). The 5th longest run they allowed this year was the 9 yards Adrian Peterson gained on the 1st play of the season. 

Meanwhile I think the Saints defense has 2 great players -- Jordan and Lattimore -- and is otherwise just OK.

In coverage, they can pick their poison with Lattimore covering Diggs or Thielen, and Keenum will still have the other one to target downfield. Their LBs are going to be challenged -- Shurmur can send Diggs on shallow crossing routes, run Rudolph down the seam and attack underneath with McKinnon in the screen game. They don't have a second legitimate outside pass rusher opposite Jordan, and Rankins is a good interior pass rusher but he's no Aaron Donald. They're don't have a great run defense. If we keep pounding it, we can control the clock and the field position.

And all of this is going to happen in front of an insanely loud home crowd. Zimmer's been egging on the fans the last few weeks ("we need them to be loud"). They have the Skol chant and the horn. He's kept the team completely focused through the long second half of the season. They're going to be great on Sunday. 

It's set up for a classic Zimmer victory: 35+ minutes TOP, less than 14 points allowed until garbage time, grinding the clock in the 2nd half, winning by 2 or 3 scores. 

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