Hardly anyone expected something quite like this from Ryan Tannehill.
Hardly anyone expected something quite like this from Ryan Tannehill.
He took the reins at quarterback from Marcus Mariota in the midst of Week 6’s shutout loss to the Denver Broncos, and the Titans haven’t looked back since.
And that’s with good cause.
Tennessee’s offense was mostly stagnant at the beginning of the year, but has gotten rolling with Tannehill at the helm.
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But he’s not just gaining recognition in Nashville. Heading into Week 14, Tannehill leads the league in passer rating (113.9).
Behind Tannehill are the Minnesota Vikings’ Kirk Cousins (111.9), the Seattle Seahawks’ Russell Wilson (111.1), the Baltimore Ravens’ Lamar Jackson (109.6) and Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
So far in 2019, Tannehill has lost just one game as a starter for the Titans.
He’s 128-of-176 passing for 1,602 yards with 12 touchdowns and four interceptions.
In last week’s 31-17 win over the Indianapolis Colts, Tannehill completed 17-of-22 pass attempts for 182 yards for two touchdowns, and took care of the football, finishing the contest without an interception.
Tannehill and the Titans will look to stay hot as they face the Oakland Raiders at 3:25 p.m. CT on Sunday in Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum.
Through 12 games, Cousins has thrown for 3,032 yards, 23 touchdowns, and four interceptions
The Vikings may have lost in Week 13 against the Seahawks, but it’d be wrong to put that on Cousins. He threw for nearly 300 yards to go with two touchdowns and an interception that went off the hands on Stefon Diggs.
On the season, Cousins has thrown for 3,032 yards, 23 touchdowns and four interceptions. That has him on pace for 4,042 yards and 30 touchdowns. More importantly, he has the Vikings to an 8-4 record.
In NFL.com’s quarterback rankings, Cousins ranks seventh, which is where he was last week as well.
Here’s a snippet of what was written about him:
The good news is he has a scrumptious matchup with the Lions’ defense this weekend. Cousins has averaged the longest time to throw in 2019 (2.97 seconds), and he’s been tremendous when he has 2.5+ seconds to throw (18 TDs, 3 INTs). Why do I mention this? Because Detroit has given opposing QBs 3.05 seconds to throw this season, making it the only team to allow more than 2.9 seconds to throw. Seems like the perfect time for Kirk to heat right back up.
Cousins has a huge opportunity to not only have a big game, but also lead the Vikings to a much-needed win at home against the Lions.
To round out the NFC North, Aaron Rodgers ranks fifth, Mitchell Trubisky ranks tied for 26th and David Blough ranks 31st.
Recalling Russell Wilson versus Kirk Cousins in the 1st Big Ten Championship Game between the Wisconsin Badgers and Michigan State Spartans
Monday night — December 2, 2019 — Russell Wilson’s team defeated Kirk Cousins’ team, 37-30, in a big December game which would help determine where the respective teams would play in January.
Saturday night — December 3, 2011 — Russell Wilson’s team defeated Kirk Cousins’ team, 42-39, in a big December game which would help determine where the respective teams would play in January.
Deja vu, baby. Russell Wilson doesn’t have a perfect record against Kirk Cousins — the Seattle Seahawks lost to the Washington Redskins at home in the 2017 NFL season (but only because Seahawk kicker Blair Walsh missed three field goals in a game the Redskins won, 17-14) — but Wilson does keep winning the biggest meetings between the two quarterbacks. The Seahawks and the Minnesota Vikings are both playing for division titles and home games in the NFL Playoffs (with the possibility of a first-round bye included). Monday night’s game in Seattle was high-stakes poker.
Eight years earlier, Wilson and Cousins met in a supremely important game, the first Big Ten Championship Game in Indianapolis. Wisconsin’s first trip to Indy started something special. The Badgers are returning to the Hoosier State for their sixth Big Ten title game appearance. Michigan State has made three such trips, but the Spartans haven’t been back to Lucas Oil Stadium since 2015.
That Big Ten title game — played in a dome instead of freezing outdoor weather — invited conditions suitable for a track meet. That’s exactly what the game became. Moreover, it began a full decade in which Big Ten title games have usually been high-scoring rather than grind-it-out slugfests. This is proof of the evolution of college football. It is also proof that the old Big Ten of Woody and Bo no longer lives among us.
Get this: Of the eight Big Ten Championship Games which have been played, only two have involved fewer than 58 total points, only one with fewer than 48 (Michigan State 16, Iowa 13, in 2015). If you told a 1985 Big Ten fan that the most important Big Ten game of the season in the decade of the 2010s would average 64.25 points scored per game, s/he would have laughed at you. Yet, that’s the reality we have.
Russell Wilson and Kirk Cousins got the party started in 2011.
Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports
Both men threw for three touchdowns that night, in a seesaw game which was pure popcorn. Wisconsin took a 21-7 lead in the first quarter. Michigan State stormed back with 22 points (yes, a 2-point conversion on a fake extra point) in the second quarter. The teams went to the fourth quarter with Michigan State maintaining an eight-point lead at 36-28, but guess what happened? Russell Wilson took over in the fourth quarter, leading two touchdown drives for a come-from-behind 42-39 victory. It’s what he did then. It is what he is still doing now with the Seahawks. Some things never change, right?
Wisconsin won the Big Ten in 2010, the last year without divisional play. That was due to a tiebreaker involving Michigan State. In 2011, the Badgers and Michigan State settled it on the field, and in the end, Russ won, Kirk Cousins lost. Cousins was not at fault for Michigan State’s loss that night, but as Green Bay Packer fans could tell you, Cousins has not owned the fourth quarter in the NFL the way Wilson has, or the way Aaron Rodgers so often has. He tried his best Monday night, but Wilson had the final say.
Russell Wilson usually gets the last word… and such was the case in the first Big Ten Championship Game, part of a streak of three straight Big Ten titles the Badgers won from 2010 through 2012. It is delicious for Wisconsin-based football fans to see a Badger hurting the Vikings and helping the Packers these many years later. The fun began on one night in Indianapolis, eight years ago.
The Vikings defense allowed 444 total yards, and 218 of those yards came from the Seahawks run game.Â
The Minnesota Vikings lost their fourth game of the season after nearly completing a comeback against the Seattle Seahawks. In one of the hardest atmospheres to play in in the entire NFL, the Vikings ended up losing 37-30.Â
Going into halftime, the Vikings had all of the momentum. After a rough third quarter, the Vikings tried to claw back into the fight but ended up falling short. A valid effort led by Kirk Cousins and Kevin Stefanski fell short due to mistakes and poor play of Mike Zimmerâs defense.Â
The tables have officially turned after the Monday Night Football loss, and the defense is no longer the strong suit for the Vikings. The Vikings defense allowed 444 total yards, and 218 of those yards came from the Seahawks run game.Â
Not only did the Vikings front seven get gashed by Seattleâs rushing attack, but a few key mistakes in the secondary combined for the perfect storm. Cornerback Xavier Rhodes allowed a game-changing touchdown reception to David Moore thinking he had coverage over the top. It wasnât a good night for the Vikings highest paid corner.Â
Xavier Rhodes entered the game surrendering a 126 rating and 9.5 YPA, ranking 11th worst out of 135 CBs per PFF.
Not only has Rhodes regressed in coverage, but he also leads the Vikings in penalties with eight total accepted penalties in 2019. The 2017 version of the Vikings cornerback is nowhere to be found, and he also had a crucial unnecessary roughness penalty in the back half of the game on Monday night.Â
The secondary issues have been a problem all season for the Vikings, but even more so in the last three games. Over the last three games, the Vikings are allowing teams on average to throw for just under 300 yards.
The scary part about that stat is the fact that the Vikings just allowed more than 200 yards on the ground against Seattle. The Seahawks run game is one of the best in the NFL, but the Vikings are known for being great run stoppers nonetheless. If teams are able to continue to expose the Vikings defense both through the air and on the ground, it could be an ugly finish to the Vikings season.Â
The national media is already putting up story lines of Kirk Cousins being 0-8 on Monday Night Football, and he did have one turnover. However, that turnover bounced off the hands of Stefon Diggs, similar to his last interception that happened nearly two months ago.Â
This loss should not be put on Cousins. Instead, he is the reason the Vikings were able to get back into the game. He is playing MVP worthy football, and is a huge reason the Vikings are still four games above .500.Â
Even with the one turnover and multiple penalties, this loss falls on the hands of Zimmerâs defense. The offense has shown how much fight it has in the last two weeks, it just wasnât enough to pull of a win in Seattle.Â
It will be critical down the stretch for the Vikings to find some sort of balance between their offense and defense in the final quarter of the season and potentially into the playoffs. With how well the offense has performed since the loss in Chicago, the Vikings could make a run in the playoffs if the defense can get back on track.Â
Who stood out and who didn’t as the Seattle Seahawks beat the Minnesota Vikings Week 13 on the national stage to advance to No. in the West.
It’s a good time to be a cardiologist in the Seattle area thanks to all these heart-pounding Seahawks games. For the second time in three games, the Seahawks were back on “Monday Night Football” and yet again it came down to a wild fourth quarter.
The Seahawks downed the 8-win Vikings in front of a national audience to improve to 10-2 and take first place in the NFC West. Meanwhile, the Vikings stay put at the No. 6 seed and a game and a half behind the Green Bay Packers in the NFC North.
For whatever reason, the Seahawks can never seem to play a normal game as they always come down to nail-biters late. As a result, here’s who stood out in the Seahawks’ explosive win.
Kirk Cousins kept the Vikings in it late, but the defense wasn’t able to stop Seattle at all.
This one wasn’t on Kirk Cousins.
The Vikings fell to the Seahawks 37-30 on Monday Night Football despite Cousins leading Minnesota back from a 34-17 defecit. The Vikings trailed 34-30 with less than three minutes left in the game, but a shorthanded Minnesota team ended up turning it over on downs.
The loss bumps the Vikings down to 8-4 on the season. That’s still good for the final wild card spot, but Minnesota fell a full game back from the Packers in the NFC North and the Vikings are now just a game up on the Rams for playoff spot.
What killed Minnesota in this game was its defense. Cornerback Xavier Rhodes continued to look completely lost and the Vikings allowed the Seahawks to run for more than 200 yards.
Cousins threw for 276 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. He kept the Vikings in it when many fans were getting ready to go to bed. Cousins is now 0-8 on Monday Night Football, but this one especially can’t be pinned on him.
In news that could be really bad, Vikings running back Dalvin Cook suffered a shoulder injury while fumbling the ball in the third quarter. He did not return. We’ll get the severity of his injury likely on Tuesday.
Not a great night for the Vikings, but it also wasn’t totally unexpected.
They’ll have a chance to bounce back next week at home against the 3-8-1 Detroit Lions.
After failing to find the end zone the first six weeks of the season, Rudolph has now done so six times in the six games since.
For the sixth time in the last six games, Minnesota Vikings tight end and Notre Dame product Kyle Rudolph found the end zone, cutting the Seahawks lead on Monday Night Football to just four.
Like we’ve seen from Rudolph time and time again, it was a one-handed snag that wound up a score.
The Seattle Seahawks won yet another thriller on Monday Night Football, this time beating the Minnesota Vikings, 37-30, to move to 10-2.
A back-and-forth affair on Monday Night Football resulted in a narrow Seattle Seahawks victory, 37-30, over the Minnesota Vikings.
The win brings the Seahawks to 10-2 on the season, and gives them sole possession of first place in the NFC West over the 49ers – who have an identical record but who Seattle holds a tiebreaker over.
The Seahawks and Vikings kept things close in the first half, with Minnesota heading into the locker room with a 17-10 lead after drilling a field goal as time expired.
The score would have been tied had it not been for a bizarre interception thrown by Russell Wilson. Wilson threw a pass that was batted away at the line by defensive tackle Armon Watts. Wilson attempted to knock the ball through the air to a receiver but it was instead picked off by defensive back Anthony Harris who ran it in for a touchdown.
Seattle rebounded with a strong third quarter however, as the team rattled off 24 unanswered points, 17 in the third, thanks to a one-yard touchdown run from Rashaad Penny, a Jason Myers field goal and a 60-yard bomb from Wilson to David Moore with five seconds remaining in the quarter. It was the first passing touchdown of the game for either side.
Seattle carried that momentum into the fourth, with a Tre Flowers interception leading to the second passing touchdown of the game, this time a 13-yard reception by Rashaad Penny – his second score in another remarkable performance for the second-year pro.
However, Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins got in on the fun shortly after, finding Laquon Treadwell on a 58-yard touchdown to bring the score within 10.
Seattle looked to have the game in hand midway through the fourth, but a costly DK Metcalf fumble allowed Cousins to march back down the field, and he found veteran Kyle Rudolph for a touchdown to bring the game within four, thanks to a missed PAT by Dan Bailey.
Seattle managed to hang on however, and while it wasn’t pretty, and Wilson certainly didn’t do anything to help his MVP candidacy, (240 yards, two touchdowns, one interception, 98.9 passer rating) the Seahawks are now in possession of first place in the NFC West, and dramatically improved their odds of securing a playoff spot and potentially a first round bye.
The Seattle Seahawks and Minnesota Vikings can impact the NFC playoff picture on Monday Night Football, maybe helping the New Orleans Saints
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The Baltimore Ravens stunned the San Francisco 49ers during Sunday’s win, opening the door for the New Orleans Saints to lay claim to the top NFC playoff seed — if they can get a little help on Monday Night Football. Now that the 49ers are 10-2 (tying New Orleans), the surging Seattle Seahawks can match their record with a win over the Minnesota Vikings in prime-time. The Seahawks handed San Francisco their first loss earlier this season, giving Seattle a tie-breaker should they improve to 10-2.
If that happens, a ripple effect will flood throughout the NFC playoff picture. The Seahawks would jump ahead of the 49ers in the NFC West standings, demoting San Francisco to a wild-card spot as the NFC’s fifth seed. Because the Saints beat the Seahawks head-to-head back in September, New Orleans would rank ahead of them while both squads share a 10-2 record; in other words, the Saints would have the first seed, the Seahawks would sit in the second seed, and the 49ers would fall to the fifth seed.
Of course, that’s contingent to the Seahawks winning at CenturyLink Field. They’re favored by just 2.5 points per BetMGM, Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins is notoriously spotty in night games (he’s gone 7-13 in his career on that stage, and is 3-4 there since joining the Vikings) and laid an egg in this same venue in these same circumstances last year, losing 21-7 to the Seahawks on Monday Night Football in early December. On top of that nasty precedent, Cousins will be playing without wide receiver Adam Thielen, his favorite target who was preemptively ruled out with a hamstring injury.
So chances are good that the Saints will be able to (temporarily) grab the top seed in the NFC playoffs picture after this game. Just to be sure, root for the Seahawks to win — not that Saints fans will need much encouraging to pull against the Vikings, given the rocky history between those two teams. If nothing else, this added drama will stoke the intensity when the Saints and 49ers kick off next Sunday from inside the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.
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Keys to victory for the Seattle Seahawks and Minnesota Vikings as the two teams square off Week 13, Monday night at CenturyLink Field.
The Seattle Seahawks are set to host the Minnesota Vikings in a prime-time affair Monday night at CenturyLink Field. The game is crucial to both NFC contenders, who are still eyeing their division titles but currently fighting for the top seed of the wild-card spots.
Here are the Week 13 keys to victory for both the Seahawks and the Vikings.
Vikingsâ keys to victory: The Vikings are coming off their bye week well-rested and ready to face the Seahawks in primetime. Minnesota, like Seattle, is second in their divisional standings and canât afford an NFC loss in the final stretch of the season.
The Vikings will need to rely heavily on their quarterback Kirk Cousins, one of the better signal-callers in the league with 21 touchdowns to only three interceptions. Cousins, whose record in primetime is less than sub-par, is actually in the midst of the best campaign of his career.
Minnesotaâs defense, however, will have to find a way to stop Seattleâs own QB, Russell Wilson, who is enjoying an MVP-caliber year.
Seahawksâ keys to victory:Â Seattle has been a better road team this season and desperately needs a win in front of the home crowd. Hard to beat on the national stage, Wilson and Co. will need to stick to basics, relying on running backs Chris Carson and Rashaad Penny to pound the ground and set the tempo for a Week-13 win.
The Seahawks have finally found a way to rush the passer, which is exactly what they will need to do to stop Cousins and the Vikingsâ offensive attack. That being said. . .Â
Matchup to watch: Vikings QB Kirk Cousins vs. Seahawks defensive ends Late in the season, Jadeveon Clowney has truly emerged as one of Seattleâs most formidable defensive weapons. Recently battling a hip/groin injury, his health could be a question mark heading into Monday night. Fortunately for Seattle, Ziggy Ansah has stepped up and will likely factor heavily into the game plan.
Who wins? The Seahawks will find a way to seal the deal with a statement win on Monday night but it might require some last-minute Wilson heroics to get the job done.Â
