Vikings-Raiders Notebook: Taking Care Of Business

The Vikings bounced back from a loss in Green Bay with a commanding blowout win over the Raiders on Sunday.

Below are my notes, observations and takeaways from the game and from the postgame press conferences and locker room availability.

Home sweet home

Through three games, the Vikings have looked like two completely different teams at home and on the road. The Packers are better team than the Falcons and Raiders, but that shouldn't take away from how great the Vikings have looked in their home stadium. They jumped out to a 28-0 lead against the Falcons and a 21-0 lead in this one. Once that happens, it's borderline impossible to come back on a team that is this good at playing defense and running the football.

"If you fall behind against this team early, they have the closers that make it very difficult on you, and the noise doesn't help," said Raiders coach Jon Gruden postgame.

U.S. Bank Stadium was absolutely rocking all afternoon, which may have contributed to Derek Carr rushing a throw that sailed into the hands of Harrison Smith for a huge early turnover.

Play-action finally creates a big play

In addition to their emphasis on running the football, a major offseason talking point for the Vikings was increasing the play-action passing opportunities for Kirk Cousins, who had been effective out of play-action throughout his whole career. Through two weeks, though, play-action hadn't resulted in much production for Cousins and the Vikings.

That changed right away against the Raiders. On the sixth play of the Vikings' opening drive, Cousins faked a handoff to Dalvin Cook, rolled to his left and threw back to his right for a 35-yard touchdown to Adam Thielen. The play-action rollout gave Cousins plenty of time, and Thielen facing man coverage against a backup safety was never going to go well for the Raiders.

Adam Thielen is elite.

Knock on wood if you’re with me.

(via @Vikings)pic.twitter.com/2dOZRx2h4u
— Bally Sports North (@BallySportsNOR) September 22, 2019

"When I can get the edge and stand there and be able to wait on Adam to cross the field, that's the key to the play," Cousins said. "Last week they were taking away those edges...so those plays weren't able to develop."

Continuing to have success in the play-action passing game will be critical for the Vikings' offense going forward.

Rookies playmakers shine on offense

The stars of the offense were Cook, who continues to be absolutely incredible, and Thielen, who recorded his first career rushing touchdown. There isn't much more that can be said about those two. They're ballers.

Instead, let's focus on the performances of the Vikings' two skill-position rookies. It was a breakout game for TE Irv Smith Jr., whose 60 receiving yards led the team. Smith was extremely impressive as a route-runner and was able to pick up chunks of yards after the catch. With Kyle Rudolph looking like a shell of his former self, Smith is the future at tight end for the Vikings and a potential budding star.

"His skills are what they've been from day one, which is he's got great movement skills, he's got speed," Cousins said.

It was also another impressive day for rookie running back Alexander Mattison. He spelled Cook effectively with 58 yards on 12 carries, highlighted by this leaping score.

#Vikings RB Alexander Mattison with his first career TD. Nice run young man. MIN up 28-7 on OAK pic.twitter.com/qTBa03JFuq
— Sean Borman (@SeanBormanNFL) September 22, 2019

Eric Wilson has up and-down day filling in for Anthony Barr

Speaking of talented young players, third-year linebacker Eric Wilson got a second consecutive start. Last week he was filling in for Ben Gedeon and this time it was for Barr, who missed the game with a groin injury that isn't believed to be serious.

Wilson got off to a strong start, making a nice tackle on the Raiders' first drive and shutting down a running lane for Carr on the second. Carr slid behind the line of scrimmage to avoid being hit, and Wilson was credited with the sack.

He had a bit of a rough moment when he bit on a flea-flicker that gave the Raiders their first touchdown. But Wilson continued to play well, recording a second sack on a blitz and finishing with a team-leading 11 tackles.

It's clear that the Vikings have a heck of a fourth linebacker. It's also clear that they'll be hoping to get Barr back next week in Chicago.

Hughes looks solid in return

Cornerback Mike Hughes finally made his return from the ACL injury he suffered almost a year ago. He was involved right away, covering Carr's intended receiver on the Raiders third offensive play and helping force an incompletion.

Zimmer said he was glad Hughes could get out there and "get his feet wet," noting that he missed some tackles and will continue to improve as he gets less apprehensive about his knee. Hughes said he felt 100% healthy and wasn't thinking about his knee at all. Regardless, he'll be an important piece of this defense the rest of the way.

Special teams: Abdullah excellent, Beebe struggles

Ameer Abdullah's career may not be where he might've hoped after racking up over 5,000 yards from scrimmage at Nebraska and being taken in the second round of the 2015 draft, but he's been able to prolong his time in the NFL by becoming a special teams ace.

For the second straight week, Abdullah made an outstanding tackle as a punt gunner. He flew down the field and laid a big hit on the Raiders' returner after a punt late in the first half.

"He's playing with great effort and gets down there and makes tackles, and you saw one today," Zimmer said. "He's really, really taking that role, and that's good. We need more guys that continue to do that."

Meanwhile, Chad Beebe's job as punt returner may be in danger, as he muffed a punt for the second game in a row. "I'll have to keep looking," Zimmer said. "We can't muff punts. I don't think that was a hard one to catch, so we'll look."

Perhaps Abdullah, who is the kick returner, could add that to his duties. More likely might be Hughes getting some reps in that role.

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