If Mike Zimmer's mentor, Bill Parcells, were in charge this week, he might be hanging mouse traps from the ceilings over at Winter Park.
Parcells did that at least once in his Hall of Fame career to remind his players not to fall into the trap of looking past a game that everyone assumes will end in a W.
Overview: In this particular case, the Vikings are 4-0 and favored by 6 1/2 points at home, where they're 2-0. The Texans are 3-1, but all three wins are at home, two of them came against the Bears and Titans, and they no longer have their best player, J.J. Watt, who was placed on injured reserve on Sept. 28. And their only road game ended with them losing to Bill Belichick's third-string quarterback 27-0 in New England. Throw in next week's bye for the players to look ahead to and the pressure is on for Zimmer to keep his players from assuming they'll bag another AFC South lightweight.
To the tape: …
Top 8 thoughts while watching the Texans' 27-20 win over the Titans at NRG Stadium:
—Quarterback Brock Osweiler definitely has a $72 million arm and 6-foot-8 stature that allows him to see the field beautifully. But he sometimes looks like a guy who has had only 11 NFL starts to train that big arm. He started the Tennessee game by completing 12 of his first 13 passes for 160 yards and two touchdowns. But he completed only 13 of his final 24 passes for 96 yards and two interceptions.
—Osweiler's first touchdown pass was a good throw from 14 yards out, but a better catch by C.J. Fiedorowicz. When I saw the 6-6 tight end's full vertical extension between two defenders to grab Osweiler's high pass in the end zone, I immediately thought, "Who the heck is C.J. Fiedorowicz?" A 2014 third-round pick from Iowa, he has 27 career catches. But keep an eye on this No. 87. And the other tight end, No. 84 Ryan Griffin, as well. They combined for seven catches for 102 yards against the Titans.
—Watching Sunday's game, it's hard to believe DeAndre Hopkins was a 100-catch, 1,500-yard receiver a year ago. The Titans eliminated him from the game. And when Osweiler and the Texans grew impatient and forced the ball to Hopkins, bad things happened. Two of the first three throws to a tightly-covered Hopkins resulted in both of Osweiler's interceptions. The DBs were just more physical and the throws never should have been made. Hopkins isn't clicking with the new QB. A year ago, there were only two games in which Hopkins was targeted fewer than nine times. This year, he's had that happen three times in four games. He caught one ball for 4 yards in the fourth quarter of the Titans game.