Seattle Seahawks vs Minnesota Vikings: Wilson's chance to make his case

Vikings on the road with revenge on their mind

Minnesota scared their fans in their last game when they trailed 20-0 at halftime against the Broncos. I believe that they didn't take their opponent seriously enough and were in their minds already in the bye week that followed. But, knowing Mike Zimmer, that halftime speech in the locker room wasn't very pleasant. But it worked. They regrouped, came out of the locker room focused and turned the game around, winning it 27-23 in the end.

They are traveling to Seattle this week to face the Seahawks on the MNF. They suffered an ugly loss here last season, and be sure that they've got revenge on their minds here. It was the defeat that was that cost John DeFilippo his job. Mike Zimmer thought that the former offensive coordinator is not complying with his offensive philosophy, which is based on the running game. Personally, I thought that DeFilippo was right to play to their strengths and use Diggs and Thielen in the passing game as much as possible, but Zimmer showed that his style works, Under Ken Stefanski the offense is much more balanced. They are running the ball wall with Cook and Mattison and also using their backs often as receivers out of the backfield.

MVP

Both of these teams are currently holding a wildcard spot in the NFC, even though they've won 8 and 9 games respectively. It just shows how tough are the division that they're playing in. Especially Seattle's, who is competing with 49ers, the Rams and the ascending Cardinals team from Arizona. It makes their 9-2 record even more impressive and most of the credit goes to Russell Wilson, who is in serious MVP discussion, considering the level of his performance this year.

He doesn't have a dominant defense to lean on anymore. The running game is not as good as it was last year. So the Seahawks surrounded him with some weapons in the passing game and hanged their hopes on his arm. And he is successfully carrying this team on his back. They had some issues with injuries on the defense lately. Guys like Clowney, Woods, Kendricks, and Reed all trying to get cleared for tonight's game. If some of these guys won't be able to go, it might affect their ability to stop the Vikings' running game

Seahawks vs Vikings best bet

If I remember that game from the last year well, Minnesota had a very good defensive plan in place to slow down the opposing offense. Their main issue was that they were not able to capitalize on a solid defensive performance and put some points on the scoreboard. It might be slightly different this time around with Russell Wilson having some big weapons on the outside at his dissposal (Lockett, Metcalf, Gordon). But I'm pretty sure that Vikings secondary can match them stride for stride with no weak link in the back end of that defense. On offense, they should have much more success than last year though. Cook will help them stay on schedule and help offense avoid 3rd&long situations.