4 games to watch on Sunday without Vikings football

There is still plenty of intrigue on Sunday

With the Minnesota Vikings playing on Thursday night and improving their record to 9-2 on the season, Vikings fans will have to look elsewhere on Sunday for their football needs.

There aren’t a lot of landmark, must-see games this weekend due to the NFL having three of them on Thanksgiving Day, but there are still some hidden gems.

With the Vikings not playing on Sunday due to them having a Thursday night game. There is still a lot that can impact the Vikings and is worth watching this Sunday.

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NFL Week 12 TV broadcast maps

With the Vikings not playing, make sure you know who to watch on Sunday

With the Minnesota Vikings playing on Thursday night and improving their record to 9-2 on the season, Vikings fans will have to look elsewhere on Sunday for their football needs.

There aren’t a lot of landmark, must-see games this weekend due to the NFL having three of them on Thanksgiving Day, but there are still some hidden gems.

Each market will get three games on the day with one coming on CBS and two from Fox. Here’s who you will get to see in your market courtesy of 506 Sports.

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4 takeaways from Vikings’ Thursday night win vs. Patriots

The takeaways from this game were blatant

The Minnesota Vikings made a statement during primetime on Thanksgiving night with a 33-26 win. Kirk Cousins found a new alter ego that trumps his primetime struggles: Thanksgiving Kirk Cousins.

He was in his bag all game. The interception wasn’t even on him as he made the correct read but he wasn’t able to step up into the throw and it missed the mark. Outside of that, he was tremendous and the numbers reflected it.

The game was loaded with different storylines, but there were four major takeaways that are the focus of this team moving forward.

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Vikings threw the ball with nearly historic success against Bill Belichick on Thanksgiving

Vikings threw the ball with nearly historic success against Bill Belichick on Thanksgiving

The Minnesota Vikings beat the New England Patriots on Thanksgiving night 33-26 and improved their all-time record on Turkey Day to 7-2. There were a lot of impressive things about the Vikings’ win, but the efficiency of how they threw the football was tremendous.

Kirk Cousins completed 30-37 passes for 299 yards, three touchdowns and one interception with Justin Jefferson getting in on the fun by completing his only pass for 11 yards.

The Vikings completed 81.6% of their passes, which was the second-highest ever against a Bill Belichick-coached Patriots team.

In 2008, the Dolphins completed 18 of 21 pass attempts (85.7%) against the Patriots in the famed “wildcat” game.

The Vikings’ win over New England on Thanksgiving was the sixth time that Cousins has topped 80% completion percentage on 30 or more passes. Only four others players have more such games.

It was a really impressive win all around for the Vikings.

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The Vikings did something no other NFL team has done before

The Vikings continue to surprise people

The Minnesota Vikings rebounded in the biggest of ways on Thanksgiving night beating the New England Patriots and out-scheming Bill Belichick in a 33-26 win.

The win was impressive in many ways, but the way the offense was able to overcome the struggles of the defense was tremendous and borderline unprecedented.

There are a lot of scenarios that you can find where teams with a certain set of circumstances are undefeated. Well, the Vikings found a way to buck that trend, dropping the first loss in 171 such occasions.

This is a major testament to what the Vikings were able to overcome on the defensive side of the ball. The offense was able to lift the defense up and put them on their back.

This team feels different and it showed on Thursday night.

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Zulgad: Kevin O’Connell gets plenty of credit for Vikings’ impressive bounce back

From @jzulgad: Kevin O’Connell stepped up in a big way and led his team to a very impressive victory

Kevin O’Connell’s second loss as an NFL head coach wasn’t an ordinary defeat: It was the destruction of his Minnesota Vikings.

The 37-year-old knew as he departed U.S. Bank Stadium last Sunday, following that 37-point loss against the Dallas Cowboys, that there were plenty ready to dismiss the Vikings as legitimate NFC contenders, even though they had eight wins and a strong hold on first place in the NFC North.

Many of those same critics expected the New England Patriots would add even more reason to dismiss the Vikings when the teams met on Thanksgiving night.

The only way O’Connell could prove them wrong would be by getting his players to believe they could rebound from the franchise’s worst home loss in 59 years and put together a plan that could beat one of the greatest coaches of all time, Bill Belichick.

That was the same Belichick who drafted O’Connell, a quarterback, with a third-round pick in 2008 and the same Belichick whom no Vikings coach had beaten since Dennis Green did it in 2000. The Patriots had gone 5-0 since then against teams coached by Mike Tice, Brad Childress (twice) and Mike Zimmer (twice).

To make it more challenging O’Connell didn’t have his outstanding left tackle (Christian Darrisaw) and was down to his fourth option at the right cornerback spot (Duke Shelley).

Combine all of these things and it’s even more impressive that the Vikings rallied for a 33-26 victory on Thursday night that featured their sixth fourth quarter comeback of the season.

“I know sometimes I stand up here and talk about things like culture, I talk about our locker room in my opinion being one of the most connected, close-knit groups in the entire National Football League that I’ve been around,” O’Connell said. “I think sometimes people shrug their shoulders, shake their head (and say), ‘Yeah, that’s not going to matter.’ Four days time to turn around after a loss could leave a lot of teams searching. Our guys searched, they wanted to show up back to work, on a short week, prepare. Our coaching staff put together a great plan. They came out here and had a ton of energy.”

As has been the case all season with the Vikings, there will be plenty of things to pick apart when O’Connell and his team watch the film. The defense had a rocky night, giving up 382 yards passing and two touchdowns to Mac Jones. The Patriots finished with 409 yards of total offense facing a defense that had to start Shelley because of injuries to Cam Dantzler, Akayleb Evans and Andrew Booth Jr.

Kirk Cousins, who has often struggled in prime-time games, threw a first quarter interception that the Patriots turned into one of Nick Folk’s four field goals in the game. But Cousins, as he has done so often this season, came through when it mattered most and finished with 30 completions, 299 yards passing and three touchdowns.

That was in large part because Justin Jefferson continues to deliver when it matters the most. Jefferson caught nine of the 11 passes directed his way for 139 yards and a touchdown and made a few catches he had no business making. That’s become the norm for Jefferson as he continues to deliver on his quest to be considered the NFL’s best wide receiver.

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Cousins gets the credit for his completions to Jefferson, but the reality is there is no one else on the Vikings, or many other teams, that can do what Jefferson does.

Jefferson’s ability to make the miraculous seem routine is another reason why there seems to be a belief in the Vikings’ locker room that things will work out for them. O’Connell has spent plenty of time since he was hired last offseason talking about culture, but such discussion can’t be dismissed when it’s clear the message has had a major impact.

The loss to Dallas would have caused doubt for many teams. That could have impacted the Vikings in the third quarter when Folk’s 25-yard field goal gave the Patriots a 26-23 lead. The Vikings could have easily started to second-guess themselves when their opening-drive touchdown in the first quarter was followed by a five-play, 75-yard TD drive by the Patriots. Or when New England went 75 yards on eight plays for a touchdown to go ahead 23-16 early in the third quarter.

But O’Connell’s ability to keep his team believing, and executing when it matters most, enabled the Vikings to get right in quick fashion and forget just how wrong things had gone a few days before.

“My goal here is to have our organization ready to put it all together, even when people don’t give us a chance or when adversity hits,” O’Connell said, “that’s when I happen to believe the best parts of our team come out.”

It was hard to argue with that assessment after what the Vikings did Thursday.

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Judd Zulgad is co-host of the Purple Daily Podcast and Mackey & Judd podcast at www.skornorth.com

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Studs and Duds from Vikings’ 33-26 win in Week 12 vs. Patriots

The studs outweighed the duds on Thanksgiving night

The Minnesota Vikings bounced back in the biggest of ways on Thanksgiving night by beating the New England Patriots 33-26.

The game was a tremendous back-and-forth contest with all 12 scores either tying the game or having one team take the lead. Both quarterbacks were dealing and the offensive lines protected their quarterbacks well for the majority of the game.

The game was excellent and the performances from the Vikings were mostly positive as the studs outnumbered the duds two to one.

Vikings rebound in a big way, beat Patriots on Thanksgiving

The Vikings bounced back in a huge way on Thanksgiving night

The Minnesota Vikings definitely showed up in primetime on Thanksgiving night and beat the New England Patriots by a score of 33-26.

The game was an oddity as all 12 scores in the game either tied the game or took the lead. It was incredibly competitive throughout but the Vikings’ star players found a way to seal the deal.

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The Vikings came out of the gates blazing with an eight-play, 80-yard drive that was sealed by Justin Jefferson, who broke and extended NFL records on Thursday night. As usual, he was tremendous on the day with nine catches for 139 yards and even threw an 11-yard pass to Adam Thielen in the first quarter.

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Kirk Cousins found a new alter ego that overpowers his struggles in primetime: Thanksgiving. He is now 2-0 on Thanksgiving, having won with Washington in 2017.

Cousins finished the day 30-37 for 299 yards and three touchdowns. That early interception wasn’t great, but it was more on the pressure than him making a bad throw.

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The Vikings did a good job moving the football, but the running game was not there the entire night, as they ran it 27 times for 57 yards. The Patriots’ defensive front was excellent in getting pressure and stopping the run.

The Vikings didn’t miss Christian Darrisaw that much on the day, but Josh Uche did cook Blake Brandel in the second half as the Vikings were in the red zone.

For the Patriots, all the success was based upon the success of the offensive line. Mac Jones had all day to throw until the final two drives where the Vikings finally got to him and got two critical sacks. Jones had his best game of the season, completing 28-39 for 382 yards and two touchdowns.

Rhamondre Stevenson was excellent as well. He was running with speed, power and elusiveness, giving the Vikings fits. He had only 16 touches but accounted for 112 yards, including a 40-yard screen pass.

Ultimately, timely penalties extended two Vikings drives and they took advantage, including on the final touchdown drive where Cousins found Adam Thielen in the back corner of the endzone with 9:34 remaining.

Overall, the Vikings did what they had to do: they showed that they are a team that is still one to be reckoned with and bounced back in a huge way from that loss to the Dallas Cowboys.

Up next for the Vikings, the New York Jets come to town to wrap up the three-game homestand.

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WATCH: Kene Nwangwu burn the Patriots’ special teams for a touchdown

The Vikings got a much-needed boost in the third quarter

The Minnesota Vikings came into Thursday night seventh in return yards per kick return at 23.9, but only had a long of 39 on the season.

After making the Pro Bowl last season with two return touchdowns, Kene Nwangwu finally busted one out with a 97-yard kick return touchdown.

Considering the Vikings third-quarter struggles on offense this season, getting a big return from Nwangwu was massive.

The Patriots try to pin Nwangwu deep on the right side of the field to help prevent a long return. The Vikings seal off the incoming pressure and Nwangwu uses great vision to get the edge and takes it 97 yards for a touchdown.

With his third return touchdown since the beginning of 2021, he leads the NFL in that category.

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T.J. Hockenson joins Justin Jefferson in setting NFL records

The Vikings’ offense continues to set records

The Minnesota Vikings offense is setting all kinds of records on Thanksgiving night against the New England Patriots.

First it was Justin Jefferson who broke Randy Moss’ record of 4,163 receiving yards in a player’s first three seasons in the National Football League.

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Tight end T.J. Hockenson joined Jefferson in setting an NFL record on Thursday night by catching the most passes by a tight end in his first four games with a new NFL team. He currently has 25 catches through three and a half games with the Vikings.

It’s no secret that the Vikings are prioritizing Hockenson, as they believe that a high-end tight end will be worth more than a high-end wide receiver two considering their cost comparison.

Hockenson will continue to be a force with the Vikings.

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