Like their first two home games, the Minnesota Vikings jumped out to a huge lead against the Philadelphia Eagles.
But unlike the previous two, Sunday’s opponent didn’t roll over. An early 24-3 edge turned into a spine-tingling second half as Philadelphia rallied back to pull within four. But it was the Vikings offense that put the team on its back and strung together two pivotal touchdown drives to vault Minnesota back in front by 18 in the fourth quarter en route to a 38-20 win.
Kirk Cousins put together his second straight gem, passing for four touchdowns, 333 yards and a 138.4 rating. The Eagles seemed to have little answer for the steady diet of Adam Thielen and Stefon Diggs, who went off for a combined 224 yards. Philadelphia’s battered secondary, even with Sidney Jones back in the mix, were overmatched as Rasul Douglas and Jones were burned on deep balls, while former Vikings Craig James was beaten on Diggs’ third touchdown.
Just two weeks ago, Diggs’ name was attached to trade speculation. Sunday afternoon, he looked like he was having the time of his life.
STOCK UP: Stefon Diggs
STOCK DOWN: #Vikings frustration level pic.twitter.com/snVO3KNEQV
— Zone Coverage (@ZoneCoverageMN) October 13, 2019
It seemed like another breezy Vikings victory on their home turf in the early going. Kirk Cousins — perhaps fueled by former teammate Zach Brown’s scathing critique on Friday — threw three of his touchdowns in the first half, one to Thielen and two to Stefon Diggs for 62 and 51 yards. He nearly threw a third to Diggs in the second quarter but barely missed him deep over the middle. That overthrow seemed to sap the Vikings of their momentum at the time as Philly made it a game.
The Eagles responded assertively to their early deficit. On arguably their most important drive of the game, down 24-3, Carson Wentz led them on a snappy five-play, 75-yard drive and connected with rookie running back Miles Sanders for a 32-yard touchdown against linebacker Eric Kendricks. Sanders proved to be a pivotal weapon on Philadelphia’s next scoring drive when he beat Anthony Barr for 45 yards to set up Wentz’s touchdown pass to Alshon Jeffery to start the second half, making it 24-17.
Just like that, it was a game.
The Eagles got a chance to tie it midway through the third quarter but settled for a field goal. They wouldn’t score again. Meanwhile, Cousins engineered a nine-play, 75-yard drive that put the Vikings comfortably in front. After dropping two passes following his first two scores, Diggs refocused and made three catches on the drive for 32 yards and ran for eight yards on a designed reverse. His final catch of the drive came on a gorgeous toe-tap in the back of the end zone, giving him his first-ever three-touchdown day and Cousins his second four-touchdown day as a Viking.
CAN YOU DIGG IT?!?!? pic.twitter.com/rDOMrIfYOp
— Zone Coverage (@ZoneCoverageMN) October 13, 2019
For good measure, Cousins led an 88-yard drive on Minnesota’s next possession to seal the Vikings’ second straight win over Philadelphia. Cousins hit Irv Smith Jr. on a 29-yard play-action pass and Alexander Mattison — once again hurdling defenders — raced for 35 yards on Minnesota’s longest carry of the day to set up Dalvin Cook’s one-yard touchdown.
Thielen
Diggs
CookWho’s next? pic.twitter.com/yqXwRU4454
— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) October 13, 2019
From that point on, the Vikings defense forced two turnovers to prevent the Eagles from threatening again. They’ve now held all of their first six opponents to 21 points or fewer.
The Vikings went over 400 yards as a team for the second straight week and moved to 4-2 on the year and 3-0 at home. They rushed for over 100 yards against the league’s top run defense. And Cousins beat an opponent that had a winning record going into the game.
With two wins in a row under their belt heading into Detroit next Sunday for a divisional tilt, Minnesota is firmly back in the mix in the NFC.
Stay tuned to ZoneCoverage.com for more postgame coverage.
