Kirk Cousins invested the vast majority of his energy giving off as Oakland surrendered 211 yards on the ground.
The Vikings lapped the Raiders at U.S. Bank Stadium on Sunday by holding fast to an equation from which, more then likely, they’d favor not to veer off.
They kept running for 211 yards against a hapless Oakland barrier, cruising to a three-touchdown lead for the subsequent straight home game and again successfully consigning Kirk Cousins to a supporting job after his tragic day at Lambeau Field in Week 2.
Be that as it may, a Week 3 triumph at home, 52 weeks after 2018’s out-of-body involvement against Buffalo, didn’t have to accompany numerous qualifiers.
“[It] feels a great deal like Week 1: we advanced out beyond ahead of schedule and the resistance played so well early — continued getting this show on the road the ball back,” Cousins said. “The manner in which we ran the ball had a major effect and truly recounted to the account of the game.”
In the Vikings’ 34-14 win, Dalvin Cook turned into the first player in Quite a while history to keep running for 100 yards in every one of his initial three games, amazing with his agile feet on a 16-convey, 110-yard day. Alexander Mattison devoured a major opening in the Raiders’ resistance for a 10-yard score, decreasing to one side and jumping into the end zone from the four for his first vocation touchdown.
Indeed, even third-stringer Mike Boone burst through for a 24-yard keep running in the final quarter, by a point in the game where Cook’s activity was to favor the sidelines as the U.S. Bank Stadium video sheets nitty gritty his factual achievements.
It enabled the Vikings to pursue a significant part of indistinguishable recipe against the Raiders from they utilized against the Falcons in Week 1. On Sunday, Cousins tossed only 21 passes, finishing 15 of them for 174 yards — including a 35-yard score to Adam Thielen he let fly from a spotless pocket. His first final quarter go at U.S. Bank Stadium won’t come until in any event Oct. 13; Cousins didn’t toss one in the Falcons game, and he didn’t toss one again on Sunday.
“Little example size still a smidgen — just three games,” Cousins said. “I feel that will most likely even itself out as the year goes on. In any case, in the event that it doesn’t, I would shrug my shoulders and state, ‘What difference does it make? We don’t have to. Allows simply win, anyway we need to do that.'”
The Vikings have had the option to run the ball at home while up by three touchdowns; they were likewise ready to do so a week ago in Green Bay when they were moving out of a 21-point opening. Be that as it may, at home, with the U.S. Bank Stadium swarm taking care of business, the Vikings’ guard could receive the rewards of home-field advantage against a Raiders protection missing two beginning hostile linemen.
They kept wellbeing Harrison Smith in profound inclusion all the more frequently on Sunday, constraining Derek Carr to make underneath tosses and endeavor to continue drives against their resistance. As indicated by NFL Next Gen Stats, only eight of Carr’s 34 pass endeavors voyaged at least 10 yards down the field. His first touchdown — on a bug glint from the Vikings’ 29 — went ahead a downfield toss, yet so did the block attempt he tossed to Smith, who was holding up over the highest point of the Vikings’ safeguard in the wake of making a pre-snap change in accordance with a two-profound wellbeing look.
With handles Linval Joseph and Shamar Stephen controlling the line of scrimmage, linebacker Eric Kendricks had space to run, on a day where his seven handles incorporated various run stops close to the line of scrimmage. Also, despite the fact that Raiders tight end Darren Waller (who had 134 yards on 13 gets) turned into the main contradicting collector to outperform 100 yards at U.S. Bank Stadium, he did so generally on brisk tosses from Carr after the game was distant. At the point when things were still close, the Raiders quarterback had couple of choices downfield.