The Minnesota Vikings take on the New England Patriots on Thanksgiving night in what will be the first game the Vikings have ever hosted on Thanksgiving.
As we have previewed the game so far this week, the matchup between the two teams is a fascinating one for multiple reasons, but mostly with how Patriots head coach Bill Belichick will stop superstar wide receiver Justin Jefferson.
To get a full preview of this game, we reached out to the former managing editor of Vikings Wire and current Patriots Wire managing editor Jordy McElroy to get a sense of who the Patriots are and where they are at so far this season.
Matt Judon leads the league in sacks. How do you stop him from getting to the quarterback?
There are a bunch of offensive line coaches out there that know way more than me asking themselves the same question: How do you stop the man with the red sleeves? One surefire way to keep Kirk Cousins from becoming Judon’s sack lunch would be getting the ball out quicker. This Patriots’ defense is too good up front for the Vikings to just sit back and wait on long plays to develop. Justin Jefferson will get all of the attention, but I feel like the players that could really hurt the Patriots are Dalvin Cook and T.J. Hockenson on those short, chain-moving passing plays.
Bill Belichick loves to stop what you do the best. How will he contain Justin Jefferson?
I don’t see anyone containing Justin Jefferson, who I vehemently believe is the best receiver in football. It’s especially hard when the Vikings have so much talent at the skilled positions. Jefferson, Cook, Hockenson, Adam Thielen, K.J. Osborn—it’s absolutely ridiculous with that offense right now. And yet, none of it will matter if the defensive front puts Cousins in a pressure cooker. Christian Darrisaw being out is blood in the water, and the Patriots’ sharks will be looking to feast as the Dallas Cowboys did on Sunday.
Where are we at with Mac Jones in his development?
So far, the Patriots have written the book on a 1,000 different ways to ruin a young quarterback. Mac Jones’ development hasn’t exactly been ideal with Josh McDaniels leaving to coach the Las Vegas Raiders. Maybe he’ll sink that franchise into the ground enough to get the boot, and then he can return to New England and fix the broken offense.
Hey, a man can dream, right?
But to be fair, reality isn’t all that bad when Jones isn’t turning over the football. He looked as efficient as ever in the Patriots’ Week 11 win over a talented New York Jets defense. Granted, the offensive line is an absolute disaster, and Jones was getting body-slammed every time the Patriots even sniffed the red zone. But there was clear progress in his last outing.
How does the Patriots' offense plan on moving the football against the Vikings?
This rushing attack for the Patriots is ferocious. Forget about “You Got Mossed” and let’s talk about “You Got Grown Manned On” by Rhamondre Stevenson. As the Jets learned, the second-year running back could run through a brick wall to keep the chains moving.
Rhamondre Stevenson, wow, what an effort. pic.twitter.com/tvA92C5owm
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) November 20, 2022
Damien Harris is also healthy and back to serving in his role as a sledgehammer coming out of the offensive backfield. The Patriots will be able to move the ball on the ground against the Vikings defense as long as they don’t allow themselves to become too predictable. That means the team is going to have to buckle up, hold onto their butts and let Jones sling the ball around a bit.
I loved some of the play-action calls on the early downs, which is something Patriots fans have been begging to see when Jones is under center. New England might lack Minnesota’s household names at receiver, but they do have a bevy of guys that can make plays if Matt Patricia doesn’t goof up the play-calling.
Are there still issues with the offensive playcalling?
A longtime defensive coordinator serving as the de facto offensive coordinator for the Patriots—what could possibly go wrong?
There’s been some good mixed with some really bad and downright awful play-calling decisions by Patricia. It’s a concern down the stretch, especially with the offensive line banged up and the schedule getting significantly tougher. Patricia needs to find a way to break the patterns and get a bit more creative on offense. We saw a little of that with the utilization of the tight ends, Jonnu Smith and Hunter Henry, in the offensive backfield as part of the full house formation against the Jets.
But then again, there are far too many times when it’s run, run, pass on third-and-long and punt.
