The Minnesota Vikings defense shut down the Colts offense on Sunday, leading to a 16-10 victory. We saw the first unsuccessful field goal of the year for the Vikings, so at least that’s out of the way. The offense continues to sputter, but the defense is looking like world beaters. The game was perfectly sealed by future Hall of Famer Harrison Smith’s interception.
Blake Cashman
Cashman was everywhere on Sunday. It seemed he was in the backfield and somehow in the secondary at the same time. Nearly
intercepted passes that resulted in series ending incompletions, a sack to end the 2nd quarter drive and take away the Colts’ final attempt at the end zone, and another sack to start the 2nd half off right.
Harrison Smith
Smith recorded his 40th career interception on Sunday. He’s just the 4th player to achieve 40 career interceptions and 20 career sacks. Hall of Famers Larry Wilson, Charles Woodson, and Ronde Barber are the other three. Smith baited Jones into a throw, during the Colts’ final attempted drive. Smith was also credited with 1/2 a sack on a play he and Dallas Turner went unblocked off the edge and took down Daniel Jones. Overall, it’s another win and another reminder that Harrison Smith still knows exactly where the football is going.
Will Reichard
I am putting this man up there because I saw how bad kicking is around the league. Reichard had his first recorded miss of the year on a blocked 59-yard attempt in the 4th quarter. He was 4/4 on other kicks and excellent on kick-off duty. Better blocking and he’d probably still be perfect on the year.
Dallas Turner
Turner was in the backfield all day. He only got 1/2 the sack with Harrison Smith, but was clearly there first. Turner spent the afternoon making sure Daniel Jones never got comfortable in the pocket. Turner has stepped into Jonathan Greenard’s role without missing a beat this season.
