No Dalvin Cook, never mind.
An ankle injury had the Vikings running back without their star on Sunday, but the offense still flourished in a 30-17 win over Seattle in the home opener.
With no fans allowed to attend last year because of the coronavirus pandemic, Minnesota played a regular season game with fans at US Bank Stadium for the first time since December 29, 2019. And the Vikings gave it to them. To be very happy.
Alexandre Mattison filled admirably for Cook, hitting his career-high 26 runs with 112 yards. He also took six passes for 59 yards. Cook suffered an injury late in the September 19 game in Arizona but remained in the game. He didn’t practice all week but on Friday, Vikings coach Mike Zimmer said he had a chance to play.
Kirk Cousins completed 30 of 38 passes for 323 yards and three touchdowns as the Vikings recovered from a 17-7 second-quarter deficit. His favorite target was wide receiver Justin Jefferson, who caught nine passes for 118 yards and one touchdown. Jefferson, a rookie last season, was playing in front of fans for the first time at US Bank Stadium and performed his famous dance, “The Griddy”, after his 3-yard touchdown reception as the Vikings finished 21-17 with 16. did. There are seconds left in the first half.
The victory ended a seven-game losing streak by the Vikings against the Seahawks, all with Russell Wilson as Seattle’s quarterback. The Vikings’ previous win over Seattle was at the Metrodome in 2009, and Wilson arrived in the NFL as a rookie in 2012, when he defeated the Vikings for the first time in starter.
It looked a bit like the first half as if it would be much the same as the Seahawks took a 7-0 and 17-7 lead. But in the second quarter, with Seattle leading 17-7, a holding penalty on the Seahawks’ Ugo Amadi canceled Cousins’ third-down sack, and then the game changed completely.
Cousins soon threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to Adam Thielen, making the deficit 17-14, and then a forward touchdown throw for Jefferson. In the second half, Minnesota’s defense, after struggling in the first half, kept the Seahawks scoreless in the second half and Greg Joseph scored three field goals.
