Five thoughts from the weekend in sports:
1. The biggest stat of the Vikings' game was the Saints' third-down conversion rate. The Vikings under Mike Zimmer had been quite good in that category in the first two weeks of the season, allowing opposing offenses to convert just nine of 28 third downs into first downs — in line with what Zimmer consistently accomplished as defensive coordinator with the Bengals.
That all fell apart Sunday, though, as the Saints converted nine of 13 third downs into first downs.
On one of the game's most important third downs, though, the Vikings should have been off the field with a big stop. With New Orleans up 13-9 and facing third and long, Captain Munnerlyn blitzed off the corner, wrapped up Drew Brees and threw him to the ground. The hit was deemed too rough, Munnerlyn was flagged, and the Saints wound up driving for a huge touchdown.
Quarterbacks are stronger and more elusive than ever. Munnerlyn is doing anything he can to bring down a bigger player (yes, even Brees is bigger than him). The league continues to show it has overcorrected in protecting quarterbacks. And in doing so, the Vikings were cheated out of a big third down stop.
2. If you are a Vikings fan whose only recourse during a tough season is to root against the Packers, this could be a glorious year. Green Bay's offensive line might finally be so bad that even an otherworldly QB like Aaron Rodgers can't compensate. That's how it looked when the Packers fell to 1-2 Sunday and gained just 223 yards of offense in a 19-7 loss to the Lions.
3. The fact that the Gophers could run for 380 yards without any threat of a passing game on Saturday is impressive. But it's depressing that in their fourth and final nonconference game, against an inferior opponent, they could only complete one of seven pass attempts. That obviously won't work in the Big Ten, and the Gophers — with 30 completions in four nonconference contests — clearly haven't used their early games to fine-tune a critical part of its offense.
4. The Twins have a pair of magic numbers, and they're both 1. They need one more loss for their fourth consecutive 90-loss season, which would put them in the company of the 1997-2000 Twins as the only teams since the franchise moved to Minnesota more than a half-century ago to lose 90 in that many years in a row. Of course, they also need just one more victory for the very small honor of having the best record for a Twins team since 2010.
5. Vance Worley, after pitching eight shutout innings for the Pirates on Sunday, is 8-4 with a 2.93 ERA this season. For his career, he is 26-17 with a 3.35 ERA in nearly 400 innings for teams other than the Twins (all in the National League) and 1-5 with a 7.21 ERA with the Twins. As the Twins' starting pitching has stumbled again this season, it's hard not to wonder if they gave up on Worley too soon.
MICHAEL RAND
