The New Orleans Saints, winners of two straight traveled to the land of 10,000 lakes to take on a Vikings team that was on a four-game win streak. Minnesota would be without starting quarterback Kirk Cousins and had recently acquired Joshua Dobbs line up under center. Jameis Winston would fill in for Derek Carr, who got taken out of the game due to a concussion and shoulder injury. Winston brought the Saints back but couldn’t come up in crucial moments as the Saints fell 27-19.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
Minnesota received the opening kickoff and drove down the field as Joshua Dobbs connected with rookie wide receiver Jordan Addison multiple times, including a 27-yard gain where Saints cornerback Paulson Adebo tipped the ball in the air. Adebo would come up with a pass breakup on Addison on third down and the Vikings would settle for a Greg Joseph 40-yard field goal.
New Orleans would tie the game late in the first quarter a couple of drives later. Alvin Kamara and Taysom Hill got the ball early then rookie A.T. Perry made a 23-yard catch across the middle. Foster Moreau’s holding call pushed the Saints back as Blake Grupe would make a 48-yard kick with 1:19 left in the first quarter.
Following that, the Vikings had an 11-play 75-yard drive that took six minutes off of the clock. Dobbs found T.J. Hockenson on the run on 3rd & 5 for a pickup of 24. Two plays later, Dobbs motioned out of the backfield, and running back Ty Chandler caught the wildcat snap and ran it into the endzone from two yards out to put Minnesota up 10-3.
Midway through the second quarter, the Vikings extended their lead. Dobbs connected with Addison and Hockenson for big gains of 29 and 21 yards. Dobbs would avoid multiple defenders and scramble for the seven-yard touchdown to put the Vikings up by 14 with 3:30 to go in the first half.
Minnesota added one more touchdown late as they drove 76 yards in seven plays. Hockenson made the 28-yard touchdown grab. That score would put the Vikings up 24-3 at the half as Hockenson had 10 catches for 128 to this point.
New Orleans got the ball to start the third quarter, but Kamara got stuffed on 3rd & 1 and Trevor Penning got flagged for a false start before the offense could go for it on fourth down.
After that punt, Minnesota got down to the New Orleans 15-yard line. Pressure by the Saints’ defensive line on third down led to Joseph coming on for a 33-yard field goal.
The Saints responded with a 10-play 75-yard drive. On 2nd & 16, Derek Carr found Chris Olave for a 15-yard gain down the middle. Carr would get injured on the play and Jameis Winston would come in. Kamra picked up the first down on 4th & 1, then Winston went to Olave twice, one for a 20-yard pickup and the other going for a 14-yard touchdown as Olave mossed Byron Murphy Jr in the back on the endzone. Kamara rushed for the two-point conversion to make it a 27-11 game with 5:26 left in the third quarter.
Minnesota picked up a couple of first downs on 3rd & Medium, both by Hockenson to get into New Orleans territory. Brandon Powell got tackled short of the first down and Joseph missed the 54-yard attempt to open the fourth quarter.
A penalty by Danielle Hunter gave New Orleans a fresh set of downs, then on 4th & 2, Winston found Olave on the run for a gain of 26. On 3rd & 8 Winston rolled out left, set his feet, and threw a rifle across the field to the opposite side of the endzone to A.T. Perry for the 15-yard touchdown. Kamara ran in for the two-point conversion again to cut the deficit to eight with 11:40 left in the fourth quarter.
New Orleans be near midfield on 3rd & 3. The Vikings would send a blitz and Winston threw up a prayer that wasn’t answered by a Saints receiver and instead got intercepted by Mekhi Blackmon at the Minnesota 18-yard line with 3:13 left in the fourth.
The Saints would get another chance to tie the game with two minutes to go. Winston decided to keep going deep and paid the price as Murphy picked him off. Minnesota punted after Dobbs slipped on third down.
Winston would go for the Hail Mary with six seconds left and Minnesota would hold onto the win 27-19 as the Saints head into the bye with a 5-5 record after the pass fell incomplete.
BIG NUMBER: 2
Jameis Winston came into the game and threw two big touchdowns to get the Saints back into the game, but also threw two horrible interceptions later in the ball game as the Vikings ended up coming out on top 27-19.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Joshua Dobbs
Dobbs made plays with his arm and legs throughout the game as he completed 23 out of 34 passes for 268 yards and a touchdown. Rocket Man also carried the ball eight times for 44 yards and a score as the Saints moved back to .500 on the season.
UP NEXT: The New Orleans Saints will have their bye next week and won’t return until Sunday, November 26th when they travel to play the Falcons. Kickoff in Atlanta will be at noon.