Five extra points: Vikings dial up a blitz, Harrison Smith back and Dalvin Cook's presence felt

Give embattled Vikings defensive coordinator Ed Donatell his due. An entire week in which everyone, including his boss, criticized his soft four-man rushes ended with Ed dialing up extra pressure after halftime while helping the Vikings stage the biggest comeback in NFL history, a 39-36 overtime win after trailing the Colts 33-0 at halftime of Saturday's game at U.S. Bank Stadium. "The second half, we made some adjustments and put some pressure on them, for sure," linebacker Eric Kendricks said. These eyeballs counted 12 blitzes, 10 coming after halftime, including a key one that produced Kendricks' first sack of the season. "The hole opened so wide open," Kendricks said of the sack that surprised Matt Ryan on first down with 2:11 left in a tie game. "I thought it was a screen, it was so wide open." The other two sacks – 1 ½ by Danielle Hunter and a half-sack by Za'Darius Smith — came on Donatell's preferred four-man rushes.

It didn't seem like a big play when it was 33-0 at halftime, but safety Harrison Smith's return to the Vikings lineup after missing the Lions loss last week was felt big-time on a goal-line stand six minutes into a scoreless game. The Colts had moved 51 yards in nine plays and faced third-and-goal at the 1. Smith raced past the left tackle and into the backfield. "We had a good plan there," Smith said. Smith, who had only four tackles, registered no stats on that play, but he made the play. "I missed the tackle," he said. "I need to make that tackle." He caused running back Zack Moss to retreat, which allowed Za'Darius Smith and Dalvin Tomlinson to drop him for a 7-yard loss. It cost the Colts four points in a game they lost by three. "It wasn't pretty," Smith said, "but winning is tough."

Like a lot of Vikings, punter Ryan Wright just shook his head and said, "That's the wildest game I've ever been a part of." Wright's first punt was blocked and returned for a touchdown and a 10-0 deficit. "I just hope I wasn't too slow on that one," he said. His next time on the field produced his second fake punt pass of the season. It came on fourth-and-1 from the Vikings 31-yard line four minutes after the offense was stuffed on fourth-and-1 from its 31 the previous drive. "The fake is on me because I threw it a little high," Wright said of the incompletion to Jalen Nailor, who caught Wright's other pass for 13 yards and a first down earlier this year. "I have the arm to do it when they call on me." His last two punts were a 63-yarder downed at the Indianapolis 2 and another punt inside the 20 in overtime.

Former Vikings defensive end Ifeadi Odenigbo, saying he had "made some mistakes," hadn't been on the Colts punt return team in more than a month. But his block led to JoJo Domann's 24-yard return for a 10-0 Indianapolis lead. "They came to me on Friday and said they needed me on this one package," Odenigbo said. "And I was supposed to be the decoy. They just needed a D-lineman so the center would block me." On his only punt return rep, Odenigbo split snapper Andrew DePaola and the right guard, Luiji Vilain. "I had good get-off and I was like, 'Wow, that was easy. I'm almost there,' " he said. "Then I just kind of nonchalantly stuck out my hand and the ball hit it. If you had told me I'd block a punt, I never would have believed you."

The Vikings lost last week at Detroit in large part because Dalvin Cook didn't have his typical big game against the Lions. They were down 33-0 at halftime against the Colts with Cook having only five touches, all runs, including a lost fumble. After halftime, he had 16 touches for 135 yards and a 64-yard touchdown off a screen pass. Hallelujah! A screen pass to Dalvin. One of two nice ones he had while racking up 95 yards on four catches after halftime. "I thought we were starting to weather the storm a bit," Odenigbo said of the Colts' second-half collapse. "But then Dalvin had that 64-yarder to tie it up and you could just feel this place explode. Kind of like the Minneapolis Miracle back when I was here." Cook's best game as a receiver under Kevin O'Connell before Saturday was five catches for 30 yards. More screens, Kev. More screens.