I've decided, after enough idle time trying to come to terms with what we saw almost 100 hours ago in the Vikings' 33-30 overtime win over Buffalo, that it all started with Dalvin Cook.
The mayhem in Buffalo: Everything that happened before everything happened
If you're still thinking about the Vikings' 33-30 win over the Bills on Sunday, you aren't alone.
November 17, 2022 at 7:40PM
This is where the chain of unlikely events truly began: 1:34 left in the third quarter, and Cook awakens a slumbering Vikings offense with a one-play, 81-yard TD drive of his own on a burst down the left sideline.
Without it, none of the rest of the game happens: ESPN analytics gave the Bills a 96.8% chance of winning just moments before it, after the Bills had kicked a field goal to go ahead 27-10. The Vikings were going nowhere until that point. After that point?
The chain continues: Stefon Diggs' one-handed catch on third-and-15 from Buffalo's 21, the last play of the third quarter, tilts momentum back in Buffalo's favor.
Without that play: There is not the first Patrick Peterson interception of Josh Allen, with Buffalo trying to again put the game away near the Vikings' goal line.
Because of that: The Vikings got the ball back and grinded out an underrated first down when K.J. Osborn took an end around for two very tough yards on 4th-and-1.
If Osborn hadn't converted: We wouldn't have seen an even better fourth down conversion, with tight end T.J. Hockenson getting 12 yards on a 4th-and-6 pass from Kirk Cousins. That play was essential in the Vikings' TD drive to get within one score.
But: Kicker Greg Joseph missed the extra point.
Without those two improbable Vikings touchdowns: Justin Jefferson's miraculous one-handed catch on 4th-and-18 never happens. Buffalo is probably just grinding out the clock with 2 minutes left.
Instead: Jefferson gets the Vikings down to the 1 with yet another tough catch, one initially ruled a touchdown, on fourth down.
If the previous extra point had been made: The Vikings would have been down 3 instead of 4. Might they have been playing for the field goal instead of pressing so hard for the touchdown?
If they would have kicked a field goal: There is no Cousins stopped on a sneak from two inches. There is no Allen fumble in the end zone recovered for a touchdown.
Maybe at that point the game still goes to overtime and there's drama there: But the overtime is entirely different than the one we saw that had more greatness from Jefferson and Peterson.
So thank you, Dalvin Cook.
When he was hired after the disastrous 2016 season to reshape the Twins, Derek Falvey brought a reputation for identifying and developing pitching talent. It took a while, but the pipeline we were promised is now materializing.
