Minnesota Vikings‘ Kirk Cousins and Stefon Diggs took flight against the Philadelphia Eagles, beating Carson Wentz & Co., 38-20, at home on Sunday.
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Final Score
Minnesota Vikings 38, Philadelphia Eagles 20
Minnesota Vikings
Cornerback Trae Waynes was constantly picked on by Carson Wentz. While he gave up several catches, he had a mulligan for his biggest mistake of the game. With 9:03 left in the third quarter, Waynes dove and missed on an attempt to break up a pass to Alshon Jeffery, who stepped out of bounds after catching it with nothing but open space in front of him. Had he stayed in bounds, it would've been a 55-yard touchdown to cut the Eagles' deficit to 24-23.
The Vikings' front seven had trouble bottling up Wentz. On multiple occasions, they forced pressure, but he was able to escape outside of the pocket and make a play downfield.
Kirk Cousins continued to trend his play in the right direction, following up a strong performance against New York with an even more impressive game against the Eagles. He fired darts all day long, including a number of long ones to Stefon Diggs for touchdowns. His lone interception was an accurate pass to Diggs that banged off his helmet and up into the air.
Diggs feasted on a shaky Eagles secondary all day long, scoring three touchdowns in the process. Allegedly upset with his target share and role in the offense, today's events could prove to go a long way in changing his outlook.
Philadelphia Eagles
After a slow first quarter, Wentz found his rhythm in the second frame with the use of play-action, RPOs and screen passes. Jeffery was his best target, as he was often open by a couple of strides.
One of the biggest mismatches on the field was running back Miles Sanders against the Vikings' linebackers. Sanders caught two wheel routes for big gains, including one for a touchdown. The first was a 32-yard score early in the second quarter against Eric Kendricks. The second was a 45-yard strike against Anthony Barr, which put the Eagles at the four-yard line for an eventual touchdown.
Philadelphia's secondary struggled all game long to contain Diggs, Adam Thielen and the Vikings' passing game. Rasul Douglas, in particular, was on the wrong end of a number of big Viking passing plays, including two long touchdowns to Diggs, although one appeared to be some kind of coverage miscommunication.
Fletcher Cox dominated fill-in Minnesota lineman Dakota Dozier all day long, and the rest of Philadephia's defensive line played an overall solid game, but this was not enough to offset the explosive Minnesota passing game.
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