5 Vikings at Saints Game Observations
https://www.vikings.com/news/saints-game-observations-week-5-aaron-jones
Vikings at Saints Game Observations: Aaron Jones Rolls & Defense Dominates
NEW ORLEANS — Aaron Jones, Sr., went a marching and mashing his way into the end zone.
He refused to be denied, stiff-arming through safety Julian Blackmon at the 5 and stretching the ball across the goal line.
Blackmon had forced a fumble by Jones in the first quarter, shifting momentum for the first time of the game, but on what proved to be the clinching touchdown, Jones recorded his 75th career touchdown and broke a tie at 13 with 14:06 remaining in an eventual 23-13 victory.
Jones also helped send the Vikings offense into victory formation with a late 15-yard scamper as Minnesota wore down New Orleans by possessing the football 38:59, compared to 20:23 for the Saints.
Jones finished with 113 yards on 25 rushes, good for his 24th career game with a "century party" and cruising past 8,000 career rushing yards.
He participated in a postgame interview with Ben Leber for the Vikings Audio Network before greeting dozens of fans in the stands.
Minnesota is 20-4 when Jones rushes at least 10 times.
The Vikings improved to 5-0 on the season, the second time in the past three seasons, and won their 10th consecutive game. Minnesota will now have a chance to rest during its Week 6 bye.
Here are four more observations.
1. Defense dominates
The Vikings defense completely mystified the Saints. New Orleans QB Tyler Shough was limited to 16-of-25 passing for 96 yards.
Shough was getting the ball out fast to avoid sacks, but Andrew Van Ginkel eventually got him late, continuing Minnesota's streak of games with at least one sack to 33 contests.
The Vikings also capitalized on turnovers with Byron Murphy, Jr., intercepting Shough twice. The QB finished with a passer rating of 38.1.
New Orleans only scored one touchdown on offense, converting a pair of fourth downs during the drive, but six of the Saints nine possessions netted 5 or fewer yards gained.
The Saints went 2-for-10 on third downs.
2. Kyler Murray opens hot & shows wheels
Minnesota outgained New Orleans 364 to 142.
Kyler Murray opened the game with 12 consecutive completions, setting a personal best and building momentum from his fourth quarter showing in Week 4.
He finished 24-of-30 passing with 229 yards and an electrifying 15-yard TD pass to Justin Jefferson, who celebrated his homecoming with The Griddy. That pass was thrown into an exceptionally tight window to defeat triple coverage on third down.
Murray also hurt the Saints with his legs on scrambles.
Including three kneel-downs that were each minus-1 yard, Murray finished with 10 rush attempts and 51 yards.
The biggest backbreaker Murray delivered was an 18-yard scramble to convert a third-and-10. Three plays later, he converted third-and-6 with the brilliant TD to Jefferson.
The Vikings went 9-for-18 on third downs.
3. Spreading the football around
Jefferson led Minnesota with 79 yards on six catches, but the Vikings spread the football to 10 different players.
Gavin Bartholomew stepped up after Minnesota lost T.J. Hockenson on the first pass play of the game. Hockenson landed head first at the end of a reception. Bartholomew finished with five catches for 33 yards.
Jeshaun Jones, who was elevated from the practice squad Saturday, recorded his first career reception for a gain of 32 as a host of teammates filled in for missing starters.
4. Special teams continue to excel
Reichard extended his consecutive field goals streak to 33 with a 3-pointer to cap Minnesota's first and final possessions of the first half.
Reichard aimed true from 40 yards to give Minnesota a 3-0 lead with 9:04 remaining in the first quarter. The opening possession covered 51 yards across 5:56.
He closed a seven-play drive that covered 33 yards with a 54-yard field goal to make it 7-6 on the way into halftime.
Reichard made his 34th consecutive field goal—blasting a 55-yarder midway through the fourth quarter that would have been great from 60-plus—and trails Gary Anderson's franchise record by one.
Myles Price ripped off a 43-yard punt return, and a major momentum shift happened on the opening kickoff of the second half when Jake Golday forced a fumble recovered by Jeshaun Jones.
LIVE WELL ~ LOVE MUCH ~ LAUGH OFTEN
While it may not have been super flashy on offense they took care of business (other than the two fumbles), this team played a complete game with:
The defensive turnovers, sack, only allowing one TD, holding them under 100 yards passing and 55 yards rushing
The STs turning the ball over, big returns, and another three field goals
The offense rushing over 150 yards and throwing for almost 230 yards with a TD in the air and on the ground
This is a recipe for success in the playoffs.
IceRatz16 wrote:
While it may not have been super flashy on offense they took care of business (other than the two fumbles), this team played a complete game with:
The defensive turnovers, sack, only allowing one TD, holding them under 100 yards passing and 55 yards rushing
The STs turning the ball over, big returns, and another three field goals
The offense rushing over 150 yards and throwing for almost 230 yards with a TD in the air and on the ground
This is a recipe for success in the playoffs.
Funny how teams are so afraid of the Flores factor, they completely abandon their offense to avoid sacks.
Playing like a team with everything it takes to play with and potentially beat any other team. STs and D, crazy solid and great. The offense? Coming around big time. Maybe it was me, but Joe Huber played a hell of a game, pulled like a MFer. He's no Donovan Jackson but he appears to be a very underrated backup. Aaron Jones, what a hell of a player. Trucked a guy for that TD and everyone went nuts. That offensive line is firing in the run game and nice work by Brederson and Bartholomew. The culture on this team is outstanding, you can see it every game. As Greed mentioned, New Orleans completely gutted any kind of offense to protect Shough....he got put into the blender anyway.
I can't tell you how big 5-0 is right now. 4 NFC wins and 2 in the division. More home games than away left on the schedule. And a bunch of guys coming back after the Bye. Right now....smoke 'em if you got 'em.
I shall bask in the warmth of an undefeated season for the next 2 weeks.
StickierBuns wrote:
Playing like a team with everything it takes to play with and potentially beat any other team. STs and D, crazy solid and great. The offense? Coming around big time. Maybe it was me, but Joe Huber played a hell of a game, pulled like a MFer. He's no Donovan Jackson but he appears to be a very underrated backup. Aaron Jones, what a hell of a player. Trucked a guy for that TD and everyone went nuts. That offensive line is firing in the run game and nice work by Brederson and Bartholomew. The culture on this team is outstanding, you can see it every game. As Greed mentioned, New Orleans completely gutted any kind of offense to protect Shough....he got put into the blender anyway.
I can't tell you how big 5-0 is right now. 4 NFC wins and 2 in the division. More home games than away left on the schedule. And a bunch of guys coming back after the Bye. Right now....smoke 'em if you got 'em.
One thing to note about the run game, I believe the Saints lost 2 of their DTs to illness over the weekend. So while the run game looked great, we were facing some backups and probably practice squad guys on the interior.
Still, I think the play calling was pretty good, the 1st flea flicker was great except for the throw and catch. The second, not so great. KOC stuck with the ground game as the passing game started to catch up. Balance was good, some nice designs.
Felton showed up in the passing game.
StickierBuns wrote:
Maybe it was me, but Joe Huber played a hell of a game, pulled like a MFer. He's no Donovan Jackson but he appears to be a very underrated backup. Aaron Jones, what a hell of a player. Trucked a guy for that TD and everyone went nuts.
IMO Huber needs to replace Fries next year and hopefully we can drop his contract on someone else. Draft another guard.
Saw a stat earlier that we are employing more gap than zone (or gap was more effective) in the run game.
Fries days are numbered. Huber will be RG in 27.
“Hell is empty and all the devils are here”
Shakespeare
SurfnRide wrote:
IMO Huber needs to replace Fries next year and hopefully we can drop his contract on someone else. Draft another guard.
Pretty sure Fries has no guaranteed money in his contract next season. He can be released with no dead money against the cap.
Knucklehead wrote:
Pretty sure Fries has no guaranteed money in his contract next season. He can be released with no dead money against the cap.
That’s correct. Dunzo
“Hell is empty and all the devils are here”
Shakespeare
JustInTime wrote:
That’s correct. Dunzo
Good lord looking back at the drunken sailor spending spree has me reaching for my Tums:
Allen
Hargrave
Fries
Kelly
Hurry-up Vikings, we ain't getting any younger!
Knucklehead wrote:
Pretty sure Fries has no guaranteed money in his contract next season. He can be released with no dead money against the cap.
Yeah, it was essentially a two year deal.
I was so wrong on Fries. That tells me that he was really dependent on Kelly next to him. I wonder if Kelly was such a mentor that those two just worked great together and Fries is really struggling on his own. MB posted some stats of Fries in Indy that were less than impressive. He had a good year going until injury. The year before that, which I think was 2023, he did not rate out well. I will give credit to MB. He deserves it and deserves respect.
Knucklehead wrote:
Pretty sure Fries has no guaranteed money in his contract next season. He can be released with no dead money against the cap.
Great news. I thought he had one more year. Good Bye and good riddance. All 4 of those IDL and IOL signings under Kwesi. 0-4. Just like our Superbowls. ;)
Knucklehead wrote:
Pretty sure Fries has no guaranteed money in his contract next season. He can be released with no dead money against the cap.
While there's no guaranteed money left, there is $12 million in dead cap from the signing bonus proration if he's released/traded. That's still a $9 million savings over his $21 mil cap hit next year if we keep him.
RS_Express wrote:
While there's no guaranteed money left, there is $12 million in dead cap from the signing bonus proration if he's released/traded. That's still a $9 million savings over his $21 mil cap hit next year if we keep him.
Which we will take the savings and move on I am assuming. It was a team friendly deal in that way. The 3rd year was the out year if it didn't work. It hasn't. It is bad.
SurfnRide wrote:
Great news. I thought he had one more year. Good Bye and good riddance. All 4 of those IDL and IOL signings under Kwesi. 0-4. Just like our Superbowls. ;)
Just to be fair though he brought in Redmond our top three corners, VanGinkel, Cashman, Wilson, and Granard and Sam Darnold unfortunately we couldn’t keep him
solberg_kevin9 wrote:
Just to be fair though he brought in Redmond our top three corners, VanGinkel, Cashman, Wilson, and Granard and Sam Darnold unfortunately we couldn’t keep him
2024 was good. 2025 was awful.
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