The Minnesota Vikings have had a bit of an up and down season to this point.

Eight games in Minnesota Vikings Womens Hoodie , and they’ve been both good and bad. At times, both the offense and the defense have looked great. And at times, they’ve both looked pretty bad. I don’t know if today was the most complete win the Vikings have had this season, but it was, in a lot of ways, the most satisfying, as they dominated the Lions 24-9. A win today against Detroit was almost essential for the Vikings post season hopes as they looked to go to 1-0-1 in the division, with two more division games coming out of the bye and two road games against Seattle and New England tacked on after that. Danielle Hunter understood the urgency of today, as he decided to announce his presence with some authority, and end the discussion as to whether or not he was an all star caliber player. Didn’t he, Smash Mouth?It’s a cool place and they say it gets colderYou’re bundled up now, wait till you get olderBut the meteor men beg to differJudging by the hole in the satellite pictureThe ice we skate is getting pretty thinThe water’s getting warm so you might as well swimMy world’s on fire, how about yours?That’s the way I like it and I never get boredHey now, you’re an all-star, get your game on, go playHey now, you’re a rock star, get the show on, get paidAll that glitters is goldOnly shooting stars break the moldThe SMR that just sacked Matthew Stafford AGAIN follows.Blue Chip Stocks:Danielle Hunter, DE: Danielle Hunter had the most dominating single game performance from a Vikings defensive player I think I’ve ever witnessed. And I don’t say that with any hyperbole or hype, at least I don’t think so. I’ve been watching the Vikings since I was a kid, during the Purple People Eaters era, and I’m having a hard time recalling when a Vikings defensive player had such a dominating game. And hey, for all you other old timers out there that think I’m blowing smoke, let me know. I have two off the top of my head that were close, though: Alan Page had a game against the Lions back in 1974 or 1975, where he absolutely went OFF and had a tackle for loss and two sacks on three consecutive plays after he got pissed at the refs for not calling holding on Detroit. There was also Antoine Winfield against the Saints on Monday Night Football, when he had a blocked FG that he returned for a TD and an interception, but they still didn’t match what Hunter accomplished today, I don’t think.He almost single handedly kept the Vikings in the lead in the second quarter after an awful pick by Kirk Cousins, as he had a half sack and then a full sack on consecutive plays that forced the Lions into a field goal. He then delivered the dagger in the fourth quarter with his scoop and score off the Matthew Stafford ‘LOL what the hell was that’ option play fumble.Hunter had 3.5 sacks total and his last sack set the single game Vikings franchise record of ten sacks in a game. He shut down runs to his side, and seems to have taken his game to a legitimately elite level. His play reminds me of someone else early in his career...only he might actually be better, even if their sack dance celebration was eerily simlar:Dalvius Murrok, RB: Dalvin Cook and Latavius Murray are finally healthy at the same time, and what we saw today is a tantalizing glimpse of how good this combination can be. Cook finally looks healthy, and his speed, which we saw on his 70 yard run, mixes very well with Murray’s power running between the tackles. Both guys are really good catching the ball (Cook 20 yards receiving, Murray 16), and both are above average pass blockers. As the Vikings head into the last seven games coming out of the bye, having both healthy will be huge for this offense.Heck, the rest of the defensive line: Tom ‘Sebastian Thunderbucket’ Johnson was very disruptive against Detroit, registering 2.5 of the team’s 10 sacks, and he helped make life generally miserable for Lions QB Matthew Stafford. Stephen Weatherly had a ‘hey that reminded me of Jared Allen against the Giants on the Josh Freeman MNF game’ sack, Everson Griffen looked like he is close to returning to his dominating self, and Sheldon Richardson was disruptive all afternoon, too, lodging half of a sack. On a day when Linval Joseph was out, everyone needed to step up and have a big game, and they did.Bill ‘Boom Boom’ Brown, RB and Vikings Legend: A couple hours before the game, news broke on the passing of Vikings legend Bill ‘Boom Boom’ Brown, a tough nosed fullback from back in the Vikings glory days of the Purple People Eaters. I don’t really remember Brown from his playing days, as he was a year or two before my time...but he was my Dad’s favorite player until the very end. My Dad loved Boom Boom more than I loved Randy Moss, and we would go round and round on Moss v. Brown. I would roll my eyes and shake my head when Dad would bring up Brown, and he would say ‘Son, I don’t care what you say. You’re wrong. Bill Brown represented EVERYTHING the Vikings were back then—tough, hard nosed, and didn’t give an inch. Moss was incredible, but Bill Brown? If you created a mold for a football player back then, that’s EXACTLY what you’d get.’ Dad, wherever you are, I’m not arguing this one today. You win this argument. Rest in Peace, Boom Boom, and enjoy your seat of honor in Valhalla. Godspeed, sir, and Skol. Solid Investments:Chad Beebe and Laquon Treadwell, WR: When Stefon Diggs didn’t practice this week due to a rib injury, and then it was determined he wouldn’t play, his shoes would need to be filled by someone. Or...someones? And they were, to a large extent, by Beebe and Treadwell. Between them, they had five catches for 58 yards Womens Customized Minnesota Vikings Jerseys , and they both made some big playes when they were really needed. I kind of found it interesting that Beebe was targeted early, during what most folks think is the ‘scripted’ portion of the Vikings offense. Just an observation...Matt Wile, P: Wile was a surprise addition at the end of training camp, and he’s been solid all season long. Today, he only had four punts, but two of them were downed inside the five yard line. The last one was late in the game, with about a minute or so left. Lions head coach Matt Patricia (who looks like a laid off truck driver or Longshoreman and I mean no disrespect to truck drivers or Longshoremen) had burned his three timeouts to try and get the ball back down 24-9, and instead of at least making the effort to push the ball upfield...the Lions essentially quit. Patricia had Stafford sneak the ball up the middle and run the clock out. Game over.If Matt Patricia gets fired after one year, it will be for a litany of reasons, and getting punked by a punter in their loss to the Vikings will be on the list. Dilly Dilly.The Vikings linebackers. With Anthony Barr out, it was up to Eric Wilson, Eric Kendricks, and Eric The Red Eric Ben Gedeon to step up, and they did. Each one had a solid game, and at least once I said for each of them ‘man, that was a nice play’, be it in run support or pass protection. Junk BondsI’m having a hard time finding a junk bond today. There were several plays that stood out as less than optimal, but I don’t know that there was any one player that had a game that was so bad it needs to be called out. Heck, even Dan Bailey made all his kicks, WHEEEEE!Buy/Sell:Buy: Kirk Cousins throws to Kyle Rudolph and Aldrick Robinson. The reason the Vikings signed Kirk Cousins to an $84 million, fully guaranteed contract, were for throws like those. The throw to Robinson was beautiful, and if he catches that the ball game is over halfway through the third quarter. The throw to Rudolph was an ‘NO NO NO NO NO GREAT THROW’, but it was a throw that only a few QB’s in the game can make. And Cousins is one of those quarterbacks.Sell: Kirk Cousins throw to whoever the hell that interception was going to. And on the flip side of the Kirk Cousins Experience is one or two throws a game where you go ‘what in the name of Spergeon Wynn was that all about?’ His interception was just baffling—it couldn’t have been to Adam Thielen, who was well covered, and he couldn’t have been throwin it away, unless he was. Just terrible.Buy: A pitch out is not a cutesey play. The Vikings were up 17-6 in the fourth quarter, and had the game in control. On a second and six call, Cousins pitched out to Cook, who fumbled the ball, and Detroit recovered. For as bad as the Lions had played, they got the ball at the 28, had almost 10 minutes left, and a quick TD by Detroit makes it a brand new ball game. It wasn’t a bad call, though, as some folks think. A pitch out between a QB and a RB is as basic a play as a handoff, and it’s something that should be executed 14 times out of 10.Sell: A pitch out to Dalvin Cook was the right call there. Yes, the Lions have Snacks Harrison now, who is really good against the run, and yes, it’s second and six, and yes, Cook was in the game and hadn’t been partcularly effective between the tackles. So...bring in Murray, run him off tackle, and now it’s third and short. It’s a minor point of order here, I get it, but having the game somewhat in doubt that late in the game, after the Vikings had played that well overall was kind of frustrating.Buy: I think the Vikings are back. Four wins in five games gives me a ton of confidence as the Vikings head in to the bye week. It’s coming at a perfect time, and guys like Stefon Diggs, Anthony Barr, and Linval Joseph can rest up and get healthy for the stretch run. With four games against the Bears, Packers, Pats, and Seahawks, the Vikings look to be peaking and getting healthy right when they need to be. Sell: The Vikings are definitely back. But those four games are a tough stretch, and we need to see if those key injured guys will play coming out of the bye. The Vikings needed a bounce back game after the Saints letdown, though, and they got it. The offense was efficient, the defense was dominant, and if Minnesota can keep this momentum up after the bye, they’re going to be a factor in who represents the NFC in the Super Bowl at the end of the season.Don Glover Quote Of The WeekThe news of Bill Brown’s death kind of hit me today, because he was my Dad’s favorite player. There were 3-4 times today when a Vikings running back got stuffed, and all I could think, every time, is what my Dad would have said after that no gain:‘Bill Brown would have gotten four yards there, son.’Yeah Dad, he would have. I hope you guys got to watch the game together. As we do every week, it’s time to take a look at things from the other sideline leading up to this week’s Minnesota Vikings contest. This week, the Vikings are taking on the New Orleans Saints, and that means we’re exchanging questions with the folks from Canal Street Chronicles, SB Nation’s home for everything relating to Saints football.I had the opportunity to exchange questions with Christopher Dunnells, and whenever they post my responses to the questions they had for me, I’ll link them here and put them at the top of our page. In the meantime www.vikingsauthorizedshops.com , here are the questions I had for him, along with his responses. Enjoy!One of the keys for offensive success for the Vikings on Sunday night? Find Ken Crawley.Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports1) Last season, after a rough start, the Saints’ defense rounded into one of the better units in the league. This season, things haven’t quite followed, as the Saints are currently near the bottom of the league in points allowed, passing yardage, and passer rating allowed. What’s changed to derail a pass defense that appeared to be moving in the right direction at the end of last year?Regression from the Saints cornerbacks, most notably in #2 CB Ken Crawley. This is the primary reason the Saints went out to trade for former 1st Round Pick Eli Apple from the New York Giants. Hopefully the addition of Apple will help reinvigorate the Saints secondary and we can see a group that performs to the level of the second half of 2017.Demario Davis has been a key to the Saints’ NFL-best run defense thus far.Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports2) Conversely, the run defense has been very good, allowing the fewest yards/carry in the NFL and the fewest rushing yards/game in the league. What has been the key to the Saints’ outstanding play against the run through their first six games?The Saints defensive line has been stout against the run this year, but I would say there are two reasons why the Saints have a top-ranked rush defense: 1) the Saints linebackers are playing great - specifically, Demario Davis is having an excellent season in his first year in New Orleans. You could argue he’s playing at a Pro Bowl level right now, but he hasn’t quite gotten the recognition from the talking heads just yet. And 2) the Saints have struggled so mightily against the pass, opposing teams aren’t really choosing to try to run the ball. When you could previously just keep throwing at whoever Ken Crawley was covering, why in the world would you try to run between the tackles?The draft day trade for Marcus Davenport is just part of the reason the Saints have just one pick in the first four rounds of the 2019 NFL Draft.Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports3) With the trades they’ve made recently, the Saints now have just one pick in the first four rounds of the 2019 NFL Draft. Combined with the age of Drew Brees, does this make the 2018 season “Super Bowl or Bust” for the Saints in your opinion?You could see the Saints were going all-in on 2018 when they traded their 2019 1st Round Pick to draft DE Marcus Davenport and passing on QB Lamar Jackson. That made the Saints front office’s direction very clear. At the same time, the Saints had arguably one of the best draft classes in 2017 in the history of the NFL, with the reigning offensive and defensive rookies of the year (first time that happened on the same team since the award’s inception), plus numerous other key, young players.Combine the 2017 rookies with a young core that includes Cam Jordan, Michael Thomas, Marcus Davenport, Tre’Quan Smith, Demario Davis, Eli Apple, and one of the best offensive lines in football, and the Saints team wouldn’t have too many holes to fill in the 2019 draft regardless. The biggest concern would be the Saints’ lack of a QB of the future, but if the Saints are able to keep Teddy Bridgewater (heard of him?) a la Jimmy G. in San Francisco after the trade from the Patriots, then I have no issues with the Saints sparse draft picks next year.Taysom Hill does a little bit of everything for the Saints.Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports4) Give us one player on each side of the ball that Vikings’ fans might not necessarily know about that you think will play a role in deciding the outcome of Sunday’s game.Well I’ll start with the aforementioned Demario Davis. He’s been great thus far in New Orleans. He’s played the run exceptionally, holds his own in coverage, and has looked great when asked asked to rush the passer on a linebacker blitz. He would absolutely be someone to be aware of when the Vikings offense is on the field. Now when I’m asked to address a player on the “other side of the ball,” I’m going to go a little off script and go Taysom Hill. Taysom, the quarterback, halfback, tight end, wide receiver, gunner, holder, kick returner, hair stylist, travel agent, and tire salesman... OK, I might have gotten a little carried away there at the end, but seriously, check out these numbers:Taysom is an absolute monster right now, and a player the Vikings have absolutely spent hours preparing for.He’s the up back on punts, and the Saints have already successfully executed two fake punts already this season - one was where Taysom threw a pass against the Giants, and the other a rush up the middle by Taysom against the Ravens. He also is seemingly unstoppable when running the read option. He’s let Alvin Kamara run up the middle, but he absolutely prefers to tuck the ball himself and run outside. The Saints have now shown a couple of looks where he’s thrown a pass out of the read option, and the Saints have also had Taysom run a sweep outside only to pitch the ball back to Kamara. Last week, they handed the ball to Taysom like a traditional running back. They’ve also shown multiple looks where Taysom is in blocking like a tight end.The Saints and Sean Payton continue to expand the Taysom Hill Playbook, and it wouldn’t be surprised to see another wrinkle added on Sunday. When Taysom is in at quarterback, Drew Brees stays on the field out wide. You just know Sean Payton is waiting to call some sort of double-pass. Taysom is also the primary holder for field goals and extra points, but we haven’t seen Payton break out the bag of tricks on those plays just yet.He has sub-4.40 speed and is used primarily on special teams, though. He wants to bring every kick that’s not deep in his own end zone out for a return. He’ll also lay the wood to opposing returners when he’s on the coverage unit. No matter how he gets used this week, when #7 goes on the field, Saints fans hold their collective breath in excitement.The last time we saw professional doucherocket Sean Payton, he was doing this. Will we see a repeat on Sunday?Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports5) How do you see the game playing out? Do the Saints get a measure of revenge for January?Mike Zimmer is giving lip service to Xavier Rhodes and Anthony Barr’s chances of playing on Sunday. I think a lot of this game will come down the Vikings ability to stop the Saints on offense. The Vikings will score against the Saints secondary. Adam Thielen will go off and Kirk Cousins will seemingly be able to pass at-will, even behind a shaky offensive line. I’ve just come to terms with that. I think this game will come down to the other matchups - when the Saints are on offense. Can the Vikings get enough stops to win a shootout? To me, if Rhodes is out or limited, I like my QB’s chances in a shootout over yours. Mine has done it before. Yours still has a lot to prove.I like the Saints 35-31, assuming no/limited Rhodes. If Rhodes and Barr are back and at full strength, I could easily see the score flipped.But “revenge?” Revenge for what? The 2009 NFC Championship Game? Your memory must be faulty - the Saints won that game on their way to a Super Bowl (do you know what those are? “Super Bowls?”). There’s nothing there to need “revenge.”But really - good luck this week, and as they say: may the Saints team win. Or something like that.As always, thanks to Christopher for taking the time to answer our questions, and man. . .who needs Cajun seasoning when you got that much salt, eh?I kid. . .Christopher is one of, like, a dozen decent Saints fans, so this was all in good fun. I think. I’m relatively sure. I hope.More on this week’s game as kickoff gets closer.