"The Stack" 12-3-19
Anthony Harris had a wild pick-six, but it wasn't enough as the Seattle Seahawks ran all over the Minnesota Vikings in route to a 37-30 victory to get to first place in the NFC West.
The Stack is back on this Tuesday and it was a good Monday Night Football game last night…if you didn’t have to listen to the ESPN MNF crew announce the game, constantly gushing over Russell Wilson. It was nauseating. We’ll react to the game plus look back at the weekend in college football so let’s get to “the stack” for today, Tuesday, December 3rd:
Seahawks top Vikings in clash of NFC powers on MNF
What a game last night on ESPN’s MNF. Whether it was Booger McFarland saying that the Minnesota Vikings were on the wrong side of the Minneapolis Miracle (to be fair, he did correct himself at the beginning of the second half), officials missing multiple penalties against the Seahawks (holding and false start on special teams plus another false start and delay of game penalty later in the game) because they were staring at Russell Wilson (I presume), or ESPN going to a mic’d up Russell Wilson whenever they could in addition to gushing over him at all moments of the game, the game itself was pretty good.
The Vikings scored on their first possession in impressive fashion, methodically moving down the field and capping it off with a Dalvin Cook touchdown run. Seattle responded. They went ground and pound and they did it much of the game. They ran for over 200 yards against a Vikings defense that has given up less than 100 yards per game on the ground. The Vikings got a defensive touchdown in the second quarter after a batted ball was deflected by Wilson and safety Anthony Harris picked it off and ran it in. The Vikings held a 17-10 lead at half.
That lead quickly vanished. After the Vikings went three and out, the Seahawks scored to tie the game. Then Dalvin Cook fumbled and the Seahawks recovered. Adding injury to insult, Cook hurt his shoulder and was out the remainder of the game (he does not believe it is serious). The Seahawks scored a field goal and then later in the quarter, Wilson connected with a long bomb to David Moore on a busted coverage by Vikings cornerback Xavier Rhodes who thought he had safety help. An interception by Kirk Cousins to begin the fourth quarter (not his fault) resulted in another touchdown and just like that it was 34-17 Seattle. The Vikings batted back with Cousins throwing two touchdowns to cut the lead to 34-30. The Vikings got the ball back with a chance to win, but Cousins missed on his third and fourth down passes and that was it. The Seahawks ended up winning 37-30. They improve to 9-1 on the year in one score games. It’s a tough loss for the Vikings and Cousins who is now 0-8 in Monday Night Football games, the worst record of any quarterback in history. They now need to hope the Green Bay Packers trip up somewhere besides their week 16 meeting with the Vikings or the Vikings will be playing on the road in the playoffs. The Seahawks, meanwhile, are now in first place in the NFC West. That doesn’t make the 49ers very happy one would imagine.
College Football weekend recap
What a weekend of college football. That Alabama-Auburn game was something else. Alabama quarterback Mac Jones threw four touchdowns and two interceptions which were return by Auburn for touchdowns. A missed field goal by Alabama at the end stopped Alabama from tying the game at 48. Though Bama would have a chance to get the ball back, they had too many men on the field and Auburn would win 48-45. That is the cliffnotes version of the game. Alabama will not be in the College Football Playoff this year. Hard to imagine.
Elsewhere, Virginia beat Virginia Tech for the first time in 15 years, 39-30 to advance to the ACC Championship where they will promptly be slaughtered by Clemson this week. Ohio State thumped Michigan 56-27 to make Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh 0-5 in his career against their arch-rival. That’s not an insult, coach. It’s just a fact. Wisconsin got their axe back and a trip to the Big Ten Championship game after beating Minnesota 38-17. Have fun getting embarrassed by the Buckeyes. At least you’re there.
There were a number of other great finishes in rivalry games including Indiana beating Purdue 44-41 in double overtime. What a weekend. Looking forward to championship weekend this weekend.
Coming up Thursday: TNF pick plus picks for the college football championship games
