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The Minnesota Vikings' 29-19 Week 1 victory over the New Orleans Saints seems like ages ago. Sam Bradford was Minnesota's signal-caller that day, and he connected early and often with wideouts Stefon Diggs and Adam Thielen, who torched the Saints secondary. New Orleans couldn't get much going on offense all game and was down 26-9 early in the fourth quarter before scoring 10 late points.
New Orleans' defense is much improved since then, however, and Case Keenum is now leading the Viking charge after Bradford suffered a knee injury.
They'll face off again on Sunday with an NFC Championship berth on the line. It should be a fun game, likely one that's closer than their Week 1 matchup.
Here's a look at the television and live-stream information as well as analysis and a pick.
Schedule
Sunday, January 14, at 4:40 p.m. ET on Fox and Fox Sports Go: No. 4 New Orleans Saints at No. 2 Minnesota Vikings
Case Keenum, Jerrick McKinnon and Kyle Rudolph Lead Vikings to Victory
The Saints defense has fared well for most of the season, but it has struggled in recent weeks. In Week 17, the Saints allowed 31 points to the 5-11 Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Quarterback Jameis Winston threw for 363 yards, and wideouts Chris Godwin and Adam Humphries each eclipsed 100 receiving yards.
The Saints then hosted the Carolina Panthers in the wild-card round and held on for a 31-26 win. However, Panthers running back Christian McCaffrey and tight end Greg Olsen each posted over 100 yards, and quarterback Cam Newton accounted for 386 (349 passing, 37 rushing).
For those scoring at home, the Saints have now allowed four players to hit 100 receiving yards in the past two weeks, in addition to giving up 300-yard performances to quarterbacks in each contest.
That's not a good sign leading into the divisional round against the Minnesota Vikings, who lost just one game in U.S. Bank Stadium this year.
The Minnesota offense has flourished under the leadership of quarterback Case Keenum, who has formed a solid rapport with offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur and his teammates en route to throwing 22 touchdown pass and completing over 67 percent of his attempts.
Minnesota has scored 23 or more points in each of its home games outside of a 14-7 loss to the Detroit Lions in which it lost running back Dalvin Cook for the season after the rookie suffered a torn ACL in the third quarter. In other words, the Vikings can be forgiven for losing that one given the devastating mid-game loss of their star running back.
The Saints' top three defensive players (in no particular order) are outside cornerbacks Marshon Lattimore and Ken Crawley and edge-rusher Cameron Jordan. They have caused problems for opposing offenses all season en route to helping give the Saints the 10th-best scoring defense in the NFL.
But the Vikings have the offensive weapons to avoid those players. For example, quick passes to running back Jerrick McKinnon out of the backfield could go a long way toward winning this game.
As noted before, Christian McCaffrey found success against the Saints in the playoffs, so the Vikings should rip a page out of the Panthers' playbook and feature McKinnon often.
The fourth-year pro is capable of producing big games through the air, as he caught seven passes for 114 yards against the Cincinnati Bengals in December.
Although the Saints have fared well against tight ends this year (per Football Outsiders, they allowed only 36.2 yards per game to the position), tight end Kyle Rudolph is a tough matchup. The 6'6', 265-pounder has 57 catches for 532 yards and eight touchdowns. He's the team's premier red-zone pass-catching threat and has scored 21 times over the past three years.
The other problem the Saints have is that they have to keep their heads on a swivel: The Vikings also have two fantastic wideouts in Stefon Diggs and Adam Thielen in addition to running back Latavius Murray, who has scored eight times. It will be hard for them to contain everybody, and the guess here is that Rudolph and McKinnon are the ones who take advantage.
Give the edge to the Vikings in this one, although don't expect them to run away with this game like they did in Week 1.
Pick: Vikings 24, Saints 16
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