~~The New England Patriots (0-1) come to TCF Bank Stadium on Sunday September 14th to play the Minnesota Vikings.
Game time: noon
Channel: CBS
Broadcast Team: Ian Eagle and Dan Fouts with Jenny Dell on the sidelines.
Las Vegas has New England favored by 3.
The last time New England lost in week 1 was back in 2003 and that year they won the Super Bowl.
Tom Brady and Bill Belicheck are indeed Hall of Fame worthy but for at least this Sunday they will leave Minnesota 0-2
New England has the distinction to say they will have played Minnesota in 4 different stadiums as they have played in Memorial, the Old Met, the Metrodome and now TCF. I can’t think of a better team to open up with than the New England Patriots. It would have been nice to see the Packers in week 1 so it is still nice to get a power house to come to town.
A Minnesota win would be the first time since 2009 that the team will have opened up the season 2-0.
New England does lead the series 7-4 with the Vikings being 2-2 at home. I am all in for the fact after Sunday the team will be 3-2 at home. The last time the Patriots played in Minnesota was Week 8 in 2006 and that game saw the Patriots come out with a 31-7 win. The last time these team met was in New England in Week 8 in 2010 with the Patriots winning that one 28-18.
The last Minnesota win outdoors at home was back on 11/15/81 when the Vikings beat the Saints 20-10.
VIKINGS PLAYER NOTES:
Vikings quarterback, Matt Cassel was drafted in the 7th round in 2005 by the New England Patriots. He was the backup to Tom Brady before moving onto Kansas City Chiefs. Matt has never faced the New England Patriots.
Harrison Smith’s 81 yard interception for a touchdown now ties him for 1st place in Vikings history having 3 returns for touchdowns.
The Vikings defense allowing only 6 points was the 2nd best effort on opening day, with the best being only giving up 3 to Atlanta back on 9/09/07.
THOUGHTS ON THE PATRIOTS
The Patriots without a doubt are going to come to Minnesota looking to take some frustration out after their rare week 1 loss.
Bill Belicheck and Tom Brady are quite the duo and know how to win. Rob Gronkowskii will look to have a big day vs the Vikes secondary.
Vikings coach, Mike Zimmer knows how to beat the Patriots as he proved it last year in week 5. Zimmer lead Bengals defense gave up only 6 points to the Patriots. The Bengals also had the distinction of being the team to end Tom Brady’s 52 games in a row throwing a touchdown.
I feel the home crowd at TCF and Zimmer’s ability to produce defensive gems will be the key to success.
Miami Dolphins showed last week with the consistent defensive line pressure that Brady can’t produce the way he is used to. The Vikings now have a defensive line that showed last week they know how to pressure the quarterback. The ability to rotate d-line will really help in making Brady’s day miserable.
I look for the Vikings offense to explode. I f Miami can score 33 and I don’t feel they have the weapons like the Vikes have, just how much will the Vikings score?
I also look for Kyle Rudolph to have a fantasy lover’s day. He will get in the end zone once again.
Cassel does not need to go for 300 just give it to AP and a few handoffs to Cordarrelle Patterson and with the receivers stable the Vikings now have Cassel can keep the drives going.
I look for a big day out of Blair Walsh both on kickoffs and field goals. The weather will be interesting to see if and how it affects Walsh. I feel he is not going to miss a beat.
The Vikes win going 2-0 with the score 35-13.
This will be weird having to look for a weather forecast for a Vikings game.
Thanks for reading
Purplestick
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