Intro

New series this week! Introducing the Game of the Week (GOTW). It gives me a chance to get a little deeper on a particular game each week (picked relatively arbitrarily).

Game of the Week

The first half of this game was a little tough to watch. The Seahawks couldn’t get anything going, punting on their 3 first-half possessions. The Vikings leaned into the idea that the best defense is a good offense (plus a decent defense) and put up points on three of their four first-half possessions, mostly by feeding Dalvin Cook the ball and playing efficient ball-control offense. Which was pretty boring. They had the ball for over 20 minutes of the first half with only a single touchdown.

And then the second half happened. Dalvin Cook got injured on the first Vikings play of the second half, which led to the wheels falling off the Vikings bus. Minnesota’s first three second-half drives went like this: 3-and-out, Cousins fumble, Cousins interception. Both turnovers (which were back-to-back offensive plays), turned immediately into TDs for Seattle. TL;DR, 4 plays, 2 Viking turnovers, 2 Seahawk touchdowns. It’s safe to assume that Kirk Cousins did not, in fact, like that.

You like that?

Trailing by 6 with two straight turnovers, this game was on the verge of turning into a bloodbath, but Minnesota rallied late. Showing some determination, they went back to the run game, leaning on Mattison in place of the injured Cook, and scored on back-to-back touchdowns over 12 minutes of possession time, covering 164 yards. After a 4th quarter interception, it looked like they might even be able to put the game on ice. Unfortunately, failing to convert on fourth down at the 6-yard line, the Vikings turned the ball over up by five at the two-minute warning. Two minutes is too much for Russell & Co. The real cook (pun intended) of this game put together a gorgeous 1:42 minute, 94-yard drive ending in a touchdown to DK Metcalf to put the Seahawks up by one. Seahawks win, Russ for MVP.