Minnesota Vikings: 3 Key players to beating Saints in Divisional Round
By Derek Snyder
3. Kyle Rudolph
Again, this New Orleans defense the Vikings will be facing this weekend is much different than they were three months ago. Sure, they still have the same pieces, but the Saints young secondary has gotten much better with increased experience over the course of 2017. That means yardage could be hard to come by for Minnesota’s wide receivers, Adam Thielen and Stefon Diggs.
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With that said, a player like Kyle Rudolph becomes extremely valuable for a Vikings offense who’ll need to find different ways to keep moving the chains. Not only will that be important to keep Drew Brees on the sideline, but points, of every kind, will mean everything in this matchup on Sunday evening.
While these are two fantastic offense meeting up this weekend, I don’t foresee this being a high-scoring battle. Instead, you can expect each team’s rushing attack and defense to decide which team advances onto the conference championship.
That means Rudolph will become a key factor in helping the Vikings block for Jerrick McKinnon and Latavius Murray. Not to mention, he’ll also become a major problem for the Saints defense in the red zone.