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Halftime Studs & Duds: Saints Lead the Vikings at the Half, 7-6

A sputtering offense is being offset by a lights-out defense against Minnesota.
Doug Joubert|
Saints EDGE Chase Young Fumble Recovery against the Vikings
Saints EDGE Chase Young Fumble Recovery against the Vikings | New Orleans Saints X Account

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At the half, the Saints lead the Vikings in the Caesar's Superdome 7-6. Here is what we saw that has worked and what hasn't.

Studs

Saints Bend-but-Don't-Break Defense

Yes, they gave up over 100-yards to the Vikings in the first quarter, but they also only gave up a field goal and a got a turnover when Chase Young picked up a loose ball deep in New Orleans territory.

Minnesota was moving the ball up and down the field at will early, but the Saints D stopped them when they needed to. Then, as the second quarter wore on, the Saints kept Vikings quarterback Kyler Murray confused in their coverage, allowing the pass rush to get to him, including this Carl Granderson sack.

Kendre Miller

After that Young fumble recovery, the offense put together one of its longest drives of the season, going 15-plays gobbling up 66-yards and consuming over 7-minutes off the clock. Though Alvin Kamara did some damage, fourth year back Kendre Miller did the most, rushing 6-times for 26-yards in that drive, pile-driving defenders and getting the last two yards for the go-ahead touchdown.

Our Predictive Meme

Before each game, we come up with a meme that hopefully helps get Saints fans pumped up for the contest. We didn't realize how Nostradamas-like this one would be.

Saints-Vikings Meme
Saints-Vikings Meme | Saints On SI - Doug Joubert

Duds

Pedestrian Saints Offense

True, the Saints are facing the best defense in the NFL (or close to it), however, except for their touchdown drive, the New Orleans offense is not showing much rhythm, picking up a paltry 121-yards in the first half.

Quarterback Tyler Shough is wearing a glove on his non-throwing, left hand, so things are not quite normal for the Saints starting QB, but as the first half has progressed, we have seen more of a stop-and-start offense for the Saints than we're used to.

Saints Special Teams

Despite some boomer punts by Ryan Wright, he's averaging 60-yards a punt in the first half, and a healthy return man in Barion Brown, it was the Vikings who were getting the big plays, including a huge punt return by the Vikes while there was nothing but purple and white facing Brown when he tried to return the ball.

The Saints special teams have been good this season. Not today.

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Doug Joubert
DOUG JOUBERT

Doug has been around Saints football since its inception. He was in Tulane Stadium when John Gilliam ran back the opening kickoff for a touchdown in 1967. Though he was in attendance for the Tom Dempsey field goal in 1970, he left early, something he regrets to this day. He covered the Saints at their training camp in Ruston, Louisiana in 1985 while he was working in Monroe, Louisiana as an award-winning radio sportscaster. He was the host of the New Orleans Saints Pre-Game and Post-Game show on Sports 1280, WQUE in the early 1990s. Doug is also the publisher of the Tulane site for On SI.

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