After getting up 20-10 at the half against the Miami Dolphins last Sunday, the team was outscored 23-0 in the second half en route to a 33-20 loss. It was the first loss for the Patriots in a season opener since 2003. The key to the Patriots’ loss was in the trenches. Miami was able to run on the Patriots’ front seven for 191 yards and the Patriots’ offensive line allowed four sacks to Cameron Wake and company in the defeat. Now, the Patriots will get set for their second straight road game of the season, this one against the Minnesota Vikings at TFC Bank Stadium (1:00 PM ET, CBS).
The Vikings got their season off to a great start last Sunday against the St. Louis Rams. Even though St. Louis was down to their third string quarterback when Shaun Hill got injured, give Minnesota credit for dominating the football game in a 34-6 win. The Vikings made changes in the offseason to their coaching staff by hiring former Bengals’ defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer to be the head coach and longtime NFL head coach Norv Turner to be the offensive coordinator.
However, the Vikings will be without their All-Pro running back Adrian Peterson for this game. Peterson, who ran for 21 carries and 75 yards last week vs. the Rams, was deactivated by the organization for this Sunday’s game after he was indicted in Montgomery County in Texas late Friday afternoon on a charge of reckless or negligent injury of a child.
While the team drafted Louisville quarterback Teddy Bridgewater in the first round of the draft back in May, former Patriots’ quarterback Matt Cassel won the competition in the offseason and will start in this game. He had two touchdowns against the Rams last week. It was a great start for Minnesota’ defense to only give up six points considering that they had the second worst defense in terms of yards per game a season ago (Only Dallas was worse).
Here are my three keys for this Patriots-Vikings matchup:
1. Containing Cordarrelle: After a rough Patriots’ debut for Darrelle Revis, his likely assignment this week will be against the dynamic receiver, Cordarrelle Patterson. Patterson was the player the Vikings took in the first round of last year’s draft with the pick that was traded to them by the Patriots. The second year receiver out of Tennessee had nine combined touchdowns last season (four receiving, three rushing, two kick returns). Last week, Patterson had 26 yards receiving, but had a 67-yard rushing touchdown on an end around play. Keep an eye on Patterson for one of those reverse/jet sweep kind of plays. Greg Jennings also had a good game last week, catching six passes for 58 yards and a touchdown.
2. Vikings Blitzing with Barr: When the Vikings hired Mike Zimmer as the head coach, the emphasis was to improve the defense. In Week 1, the Vikings had five sacks in their win over the Rams, with two of them coming from defensive end Emerson Griffin. Griffin was third on the team in sacks last season with 5.5. However, I want to put the focus on the other Vikings’ first round pick out of UCLA, outside linebacker Anthony Barr. Barr was second on the team in tackles last week with six. Barr is one of those versatile linebackers that can pass rush and do a good job in coverage.
Mike Zimmer knows how to draw up a scheme to contain Brady and the Patriots’ pass offense. Keep in mind, last season, the Bengals held Brady to no touchdowns in a defense that was schemed by Zimmer. Yes, there is no Geno Atkins for Minnesota, but they still have talented players on that side of the ball. As for the Patriots’ pass rush, the key for them this week is to put Chandler Jones and Rob Ninkovich in better position to get after the quarterback. New England had one sack on Ryan Tannehill last week and while Jones had some good hits, he did have a couple of penalties as well.
3. Ridley Me This, Pats Need A Ground Game: Last week, Tom Brady threw the ball 56 times in the loss to the Dolphins. With an offensive line that is a work in progress, to say the least, New England needs to go back to the ground attack that was successful for them towards the latter part of last season. In the loss down in Miami, New England ran the ball just 20 times with Shane Vereen and Stevan Ridley combining for 57 yards on 15 carries. In the second half, New England managed just 55 yards of offense, 37 coming on the final drive of the game. While Adrian Peterson should have a solid game against New England’s front seven, New England goes against a Minnesota defense that gave up 72 yards on the ground against the run and was 16th in run defense a season ago. Even if its just completing short screen passes to Julian Edelman or even Danny Amendola, New England needs to use the ground game and short passing game for favorable third down situations. Otherwise, the Vikings will be able to generate pass rush and force Brady to throw downfield, a situation where the Patriots’ quarterback struggled mightily last week.
PREDICTION
You have to expect the atmosphere to be great for the Vikings’ home opener in a place other than the Metrodome for the first time since 1981. Like last week, the Patriots’ opponent comes in with something to prove. I would pick this game to be a lot closer, but with the absence of Peterson, I don’t think the combination of Matt Asiata and Jerick McKinnon will be able to exploit the Patriots’ run defense, which was a major weakness last week.
With Gronkowski getting healthier by the week, I expect him to see more snaps in this game, which will benefit the Patriots’ offense. If the Patriots can find enough balance on offense and can generate more of a pass rush than last week, they should be able to win the game against Matt Cassel and the Vikings. It’s tough to expect the defense to have two very bad games in a row and have the Patriots drop to 0-2 for the first time since 2001. If the Patriots can contain Patterson and prevent the big plays to tight end Kyle Rudolph, they should be able to win this game to get their season back on track.
PATRIOTS 27 VIKINGS 14
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