Vikings improve to 5-1 with road win in Miami
For the second week in a row the Vikings survived a scare thanks in large part to a member of the secondary forcing a huge fumble late in the fourth quarter.
Leading 16-10 with Teddy Bridgewater and the Dolphins driving, Jalen Waddle caught a pass over the middle and picked up 14 yards before Harrison Smith punched the ball out with his left hand and Cam Bynum recovered it.
Two plays later Dalvin Cook sprinted up the middle for a 53-yard touchdown to put the final nail in Miami's coffin. Cook, in his homecoming to Miami, had 17 yards on nine carries before breaking away for his longest run of the season.
The victory puts the Vikings in cruise control in the NFC North. They're 5-1 overall and a perfect 3-0 against division opponents. The Packers' 27-10 home loss to the Jets has them reeling at 3-3 while the Bears (2-4) and Lions (1-4) don't appear to be a threat.
The 24-16 victory ended on a high note but Minnesota's offense was inept for the majority of the game. Kirk Cousins and the offense had 14 possessions and ten of them lasted only three plays.
The key player on the drives that didn't falter was Justin Jefferson, who led the Vikings with six receptions for 106 yards. His 47-yard catch and run set up Kirk Cousins's 3-yard touchdown pass to Adam Thielen early in the fourth quarter, and he had catches of 20 and 24 yards on Minnesota's first touchdown drive that ended on a Cousins to Irv Smith Jr. touchdown.
WR @JJettas2 (3,670) passed WR's Jerry Rice (3,575) and Mike Evans (3,578) for most receiving yards through a players first three seasons in the NFL.
— Vikings Communications (@VikingsPR) October 16, 2022
Cousins finished the day 20-of-30 for 175 yards and two touchdowns.
Teddy Bridgewater played most of the game for Miami after rookie starter Skylar Thompson left the game with a thumb injury on this throwing hand. Bridgewater was sacked six times and finished 23-of-34 for 329 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions.
He hit tight end Mike Gesicki for a second touchdown with 1:24 left in the fourth quarter to cut the deficit to eight points, but Miami failed the onside kick attempt and the Vikings kneeled three times to seal the win.
Za'Darius Smith (2), Patrick Jones II (2), Danielle Hunter and Jordan Hicks accounted for the Vikings' sacks.
Harrison Smith and Patrick Peterson had interceptions for the Vikings.
Tyreek Hill had 12 catches for 177 yards and Waddle had 129 yards on six catches.
Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen. His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011. Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play. Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers. Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17.