The New England Patriots (8-3) welcome the Minnesota Vikings (6-4-1) into Gillette Stadium Sunday at 4:25 to close out the NFC portion of the Patriots schedule.
Next week is a big game for the New England Patriots. The surging Minnesota Vikings are fresh off a 24-17 primetime victory over the Green Bay Packers while the Patriots pulled out an ugly 27-13 win over the lowly New York Jets.
Heading into the season, both of these teams had Super Bowl aspirations, as they both made it to their respective Conference Championship games last year. The Vikings made a huge splash in free agency, signing Kirk Cousins to a monster deal this past offseason.
Before the season started, I predicted that the Vikings would come in and actually beat the Patriots, and given how these two teams have performed this season, I could actually see that holding true.
Hopefully, the Patriots can manage to pull it off, as any loss could be the difference between playing on Wild Card Weekend, or resting and getting ready for a Divisional round matchup.
If the Patriots wish to start a new winning streak after the bye, there are key players from the Vikings that they need to stop, here are three players to Patriots need to slow down if they wish to beat Minnesota.
Quarterback – Kirk Cousins
This is a no brainer. Kirk Cousins enters this game with 3,289 passing yards with 22 TD and 7 interceptions. Cousins is 5th in the NFL in passing yards and is averaging 299 passing yards/game.
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He has multiple weapons to throw to, led by his two top receivers in Adam Thielen and Stefon Diggs. Cousins also has a strong tight end in Kyle Rudolph and weapons out of the backfield in Dalvin Cook and Latavius Murray.
Cousins has performed well against top defenses earlier this season, throwing for 422 passing yards against the Rams in Week 4, 301 yards vs the Eagles in Week 5, and 359 yards vs the Saints in Week 8.
The Vikings signed Cousins for exactly that reason, to perform well in big games against tough opponents. This week he will have the same goal in mind, the Patriots need to slow him down however they can on Sunday.
The Patriots allow on average of 270 passing yards a game to opponents and have also allowed 22 touchdowns through the air and only have 12 interceptions.
The Patriots secondary needs to step up against the weapons the Cousins has at his disposal, if not, we may see another big game from him come Sunday.
Defensive Tackle – Everson Griffen
The Minnesota Vikings have a stout defense, led by a strong defensive line and a complimentary secondary. Defensive End Everson Griffen is an absolute force on the defensive line and should cause havoc on the Patriots offensive line come Sunday.
Griffen has 3.5 sacks this season and with Tom Brady being sacked 16 times so far this year, expect Josh McDaniels to help out his tackles by adding Rob Gronkowski to help slow him down off the snap.
Griffen should draw a lot of attention from the Patriots, which could ultimately free up Sheldon Richardson, Danielle Hunter, and Linval Joseph to find their way into the backfield. The Vikings defense is going to cause headaches for the Patriots and he needs to be slowed down on Sunday.
If not it may be a long day for New England Patriots fans, and Tom Brady may be spending lots of time on the ground.
Running Back – Dalvin Cook
The second-year running back has been plagued by injury, especially this season. He has missed 5 games with a nagging hamstring but seems to be back to his old self the past three games.
Cook has 29 attempts for 130 rushing yards and 10 receptions for 65 yards and 1 TD over that span. He is a quick shifty back that can make you pay if he gets into space. Cousins also loves to throw to him out of the backfield too.
The Vikings also have a complementary back in Latavius Murray who can also come in to spell Cook when needed.
The Patriots have allowed 105 rushing yards per game over their last 5 games. The New England defense has to continue their success against the run if they wish to limit the Minnesota backfield on Sunday.
If the Patriots can get to an early lead, they could make the Vikings one dimensional and force Cousins to throw it, abandoning the run.
The New England Patriots could definitely use a victory on Sunday, as they look to maintain their hold on the 2 seed in the AFC. Each game is critical with 5 games left in the regular season. Let’s hope the Patriots can come away with a victory against the Vikings in week 13.