Minnesota’s Kirk Cousins on Sunday threw a four-yard touchdown pass to Kyle Rudolph 4 minutes, 20 seconds into overtime as the Vikings upset the New Orleans Saints 26-20 to reach the second round of the playoffs.
The Vikings quarterback achieved his first career playoff victory by marching Minnesota 75 yards in nine plays, sparked by his 43-yard completion to Adam Thielen to the Saints two-yard line three plays before the winning touchdown throw.
“Just happy we won. It was a great game. It was a great team win,” Cousins said after his 14th career game-winning late drive.
Photo: AP
Dalvin Cook ran 28 times for 94 yards and two touchdowns for the Vikings, who travel to National Football Conference top seeds the San Francisco 49ers on Saturday.
The Seattle Seahawks defeated the Philadelphia Eagles 17-9 in the other first-round playoff game to book a date on Sunday with National Football Conference second seeds the Green Bay Packers.
“Anticipating snow. Anticipating a great game,” Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson said of Green Bay. “It’ll be a great matchup.”
New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees, 10 days shy of his 41st birthday, completed 26 of 33 passes for 208 yards and a touchdown, but costly turnovers foiled the favored Saints.
“I’m so proud of the way we fought,” Rudolph said. “Nobody gave us a chance to win today but us.”
Cook’s one-yard touchdown run with 3:23 remaining in the third quarter capped an eight-play, 64-yard march to give Minnesota a 20-10 lead, but the Saints answered with an 85-yard drive in eight plays, which ended on a 20-yard Brees touchdown pass to Taysom Hill with 10:31 remaining, pulling New Orleans within 20-17.
Brees went five of five for 71 yards in the scoring march.
Brees moved the Saints down field again, but Jamaica-born Danielle Hunter of the Vikings knocked loose a fumble, Brees’ first of the season, and Minnesota’s Jalyn Holmes recovered with 4:18 remaining.
Saints defender A.J. Klein appeared to have recovered a Cook fumble and returned it for a touchdown on the next Vikings possession, but a video review overturned the play, ruling Cook was down before losing the ball, keeping Minnesota ahead.
New Orleans had a final chance in regulation and Wil Lutz kicked a 49-yard field goal with two seconds remaining to pull the Saints level at 20-20 and force overtime.
In Philadelphia, the Eagles suffered a major setback when quarterback Carson Wentz was ruled out in the first quarter after taking a helmet-to-helmet hit from Seattle’s Jadeveon Clowney.
“We knew we had to step it up in the playoffs,” Clowney said. “We knew we had to stop them up front.”
Josh McCown, a 17-year NFL veteran who had retired and worked as a TV commentator before returning to the Eagles aged 40, made his playoff field debut by replacing Wentz, who missed the end of Philadelphia’s two prior campaigns after knee and back injuries.
A five-yard touchdown run by Seattle’s Marshawn Lynch with 66 seconds remaining in the second quarter lifted the Seahawks to a 10-3 halftime lead.
Elliott added a 26-yard field goal on the first Eagles drive of the third quarter, but the Seahawks answered when Russell Wilson connected with D.K. Metcalf on a 53-yard touchdown pass to give Seattle a 17-6 advantage.
Wilson completed 18 of 30 passes for 325 yards.
“We stayed consistent. We answered the call,” Wilson said. “More than anything else we believe — there’s no doubt in us.”
Elliott added a 38-yard field goal later in the third quarter, but the Eagles failed twice on fourth downs deep in Seattle territory in the fourth quarter and Seattle ran down the clock to seal the victory.
FRUSTRATION: Alcaraz made several unforced errors over four sets against Bosnian Damir Dzumhur, who had never made it past the third round in a major competition Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz reached the fourth round of the French Open after laboring past Damir Dzumhur 6-1, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 in the Friday night session. The second-seeded Spaniard had never before played Dzumhur, a 33-year-old Bosnian who had never been past the third round at any major tournament. “I suffered quite a lot today,” Alcaraz said. “The first two sets was under control, then he started to play more deeply and more aggressively. It was really difficult for me.” Dzumhur hurt his left knee in a fall in the second round, and had treatment on Friday on his right leg during the
‘DREAM’: The 5-0 victory was PSG’s first Champions League title, and the biggest final win by any team in the 70-year history of the top-flight European competition Paris Saint-Germain won the Champions League for the first time as Luis Enrique’s brilliant young side outclassed Inter on Saturday in the most one-sided final ever with teenager Desire Doue scoring twice in an astonishing 5-0 victory. Doue supplied the pass for Achraf Hakimi to give PSG an early lead and the 19-year-old went from provider to finisher as his deflected shot doubled the advantage in the 20th minute. Doue scored again just after the hour mark, ending any doubt about the outcome before Khvicha Kvaratskhelia ran away to get the fourth and substitute Senny Mayulu, another teenager, made it five. Inter were
The horn sounded on Wednesday night to signal a third straight trip to the Stanley Cup Final, as the Florida Panthers celebrated merely by hopping over the boards and several heading over to congratulate goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky. It was a subdued celebration seemingly more befitting a regular-season win for the reigning Cup champs. “I remember a few years ago, it felt like such an accomplishment from where we were at one point,” forward Matthew Tkachuk said, adding: “It’s all business and we’ve got a bigger goal in mind.” The Panthers closed out the Carolina Hurricanes in five games, with a 5-3 victory in
The Edmonton Oilers on Thursday defeated the Dallas Stars 6-3 to book their place in the Stanley Cup Finals, setting up a repeat of last year’s NHL showpiece against reigning champions the Florida Panthers. The Oilers, bidding to become the first Canadian team to win the NHL’s championship series since the 1993 Montreal Canadiens, head to Florida for Game 1 of the best-of-seven series set for Wednesday. Florida, who are to play in the NHL showpiece for the third straight season, won last year’s title 4-3 to extend Canada’s decades-long Stanley Cup drought. Connor McDavid led Edmonton back to the championship series on
RSS